The 20th-ranked University of Southern Indiana baseball team won the Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division title outright with a doubleheader split at Saint Joseph’s College on the final day of the regular season Sunday afternoon in Rensselaer, Indiana. The Screaming Eagles won the opener, 7-2, but dropped the nightcap, 4-3.
USI watched its record go to 32-17 overall and 22-6 in the GLVC, while Saint Joseph’s goes to 32-18, 14-14 GLVC. Â The game two loss snapped USI’s eight-game winning streak, the second longest of the season.
The Eagles scored five times in the seventh and senior right-handed starter Kyle Griffin (Morganfield, Kentucky) struck out a season-high 12 batters as USI won the opener, 7-2. The game one victory also clinched the GLVC East Division crown for the second year in a row. The Eagles have clinched the division title during the final weekend of the season each of the last two years.
Griffin was dominating on the mound for the Eagles as he became USI’s third six-game winner of the season. The junior right-hander allowed two runs, both in the third inning, on four hits and three walks, while striking out the season-best 12 Pumas. The 12 strikeouts surpassed the 11 against the University of Illinois Springfield last month.
At the plate, USI scored one in the first and tied the game, 2-2, with a tally in the fifth before setting off the fireworks in the seventh. Junior first baseman Nathan Kuester (Rockport, Indiana) drove in the first run of the seventh inning rally and the eventual game-winner.
Kuester was followed in the seventh by an RBI-single by sophomore catcher Logan Brown (Mt. Vernon, Indiana), an RBI-fielder’s choice by junior centerfielder Buddy Johnson (Shelbyville, Kentucky), and a two-run double by senior designated hitter Jaylen Quarles (Indianapolis, Indiana). The Eagles first run of the game was driven in by junior rightfielder Nick Gobert (Jasper, Indiana) with a first inning single, while Kuester scored on a passed ball to tie the game, 2-2, in the fifth.
The Pumas turned the tables on the Eagles in the nightcap by winning on a walk-off sacrifice fly, 4-3. USI had a 3-0 lead after five-and-a-half innings before Saint Joseph’s, in its final regular season game, scored three in the sixth and one in the ninth for the win.
Senior right-hander Justin Watts (Bryan, Ohio) took the loss in relief. Watts (5-2) allowed the winning run in the ninth after Saint Joseph’s loaded the bases on two walks and an error before the game-winning sacrifice fly.
The first eight innings on the mound was manned by sophomore right-handed Austin Krizan (Mt. Vernon, Indiana) and senior right-hander Mike Ringer (Springfield, Illinois). Krizan allowed three runs on seven hits, striking out five, in six innings, while Ringer gave up a hit and a walk, striking out four, in two frames.
At the plate, the Eagles, who left seven runners on, were led by junior shortstop Sam Griggs (Evansville, Indiana), who had two hits and one of the three RBIs. Junior leftfielder Drake McNamara (Mt. Vernon, Indiana) and Kuester also had a run driven in during the nightcap.
USI advances to play in the GLVC Tournament at 9 p.m. Thursday at US Ballpark in Ozark, Missouri. The Eagles’ opponent will be the fourth-seed from the GLVC West Division. More information about the league tournament pairings will be released on Monday.
