The 26th-ranked University of Southern Indiana baseball team won the 2016 Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division crown with a doubleheader sweep of the University of Indianapolis, 7-3 and 3-1, Friday afternoon in Indianapolis. USI saw its record go to 32-16 overall and 19-7 in the GLVC, while UIndy finishes the first day of the series, 31-17 overall, 16-10 GLVC.
The Screaming Eagles have won a GLVC divisional title four times in the last seven seasons, taking the East Division three times (2011, 2014, 2016) and the West Division once (2010). USI has gone on to win an NCAA Division II national title in 2010 and 2014.
USI junior right-hander Colin Nowak (Carol Stream, Illinois) struck out a season-high nine batters, while sophomore second baseman Sam Griggs(Evansville, Indiana) and sophomore leftfielder Drake McNamara (Mt. Vernon, Indiana) homered to lead the Screaming Eagles to a 7-3 game one win.
Nowak (6-2) won his sixth game of the year by going eight innings, tying his longest outing of the year. He allowed three runs on six hits and a walk, while striking out nine Greyhounds. USI senior right-hander T.J. Decker (Brazil, Indiana) finished the game for Nowak, pitching a scoreless ninth inning.
The Eagles scored all of the runs Nowak would need in the third and fourth innings. Senior rightfielder Kyle Kempf (Evansville, Indiana) doubled in USI’s first run before Griggs made it 3-0 with a two-run blast.
McNamara upped the Eagles’ lead to 4-0 with a home run in the fourth. Griggs and McNamara have hit a team-best six home runs each this year.
Senior catcher Ryan Bertram (Zionsville, Indiana), who had a team-high three hits in the opener, gave the Eagles some insurance in the fifth and seventh by driving in a run in both innings, while senior centerfielder Hamilton Carr (Evansville, Indiana) sealed the victory with an RBI-single in the eighth.
In the nightcap, junior right-hander Lucas Barnett (Sellersburg, Indiana) won his sixth game of the year with his fifth complete game of the season. Barnett (6-4) allowed one run on five hits and one walk, while striking out four in seven innings of work.
Nowak and Barnett are tied for the team lead with six victories each this spring.
Trailing 1-0, USI’s offense came to life in the final three innings of the victory after being no-hit through the first four frames. Bertram jumped started the USI bats with a double and scored on a wild pitch to knot the game up 1-1.
Kempf put the Eagles out in front, 2-1, with a solo blast in the sixth inning. The home run was the senior rightfielder’s third of the season.
The Eagles picked up an insurance run in the seventh when senior third baseman Trent Gunn (Tell City, Indiana) singled in a run for the 3-1 final.
The Eagles and the Greyhounds concluded the regular season Saturday at 11 a.m. (CDT) with final doubleheader moving from the UIndy campus to Grand Park in Westfield, Indiana. Grand Park also will be the setting for the GLVC Tournament next week.
