The UIS baseball team started their GLVC schedule this weekend, hosting the McKendree University Bearcats at the UIS Baseball Field.

Though the two teams split the four games with two wins apiece, the story of the weekend was the generally strong performance by the starting pitching staff.

Good pitching wasn’t the case for the Stars at first in Friday’s game one of a doubleheader, however, as the Bearcats held the Stars to a six-hit, 8-0 shutout.

After giving up three runs in the first, Matt Farrington settled in, retiring seven batters in a row, and was on his way to a quality start before the Bearcats scored another three in the sixth inning.

The Stars had opportunities to impugn McKendree pitcher Ryan Cates, as they had men on second and third base with only one out in the fourth inning.

However, Cates got out of the jam, going on to pitch eight innings, giving up six hits while striking out nine batters.

In the second game, the Prairie Stars figured out the McKendree pitching, as they scored seven runs on 12 hits en route to a 7-0 shutout of their own.

Among the key hitters of the day were first baseman Jason Galeano, who went 3-for-3 with an RBI, and outfielder Austin Muench, who belted his first home run of the season in the sixth inning.

Pitcher Chance Simpson had a complete-game three-hitter, striking out nine and allowing just one walk.

According to Simpson, the keys to his performance were “Throwing strikes, keeping the ball low and letting them hit groundballs, and your defense works around you, you got to trust your defense.”

With the win on Friday, Simpson pushed his record to a perfect 3-0 and his impressive ERA down to 0.98.

“Throwing strikes is what’s got me to this point honestly. I think my first outing I think I threw 88 pitches, and 75 percent of them were strikes,” said Simpson.

Friday’s game two narrative of dominant starting pitching and timely hitting translated to Saturday’s game one, as 12 hits, including homers by Galeano and Adam Warda, along with formidable pitching by Max Biedrzycki was too much for McKendree.

The Stars finished the first game with a 7-1 victory.

Biedrzycki held the Bearcats to one run on six hits while registering eight punchouts, earning his first victory of the season.

With a chance to win three out of four games in the series for the Stars, Jose Marin took a no-hitter into the sixth inning during the second game of the day.

Reliever Richard England combined to only allow four hits and no earned runs.

However, Bearcat starter Nick Yung pitched seven innings of two-hit scoreless ball, accompanied by relief pitching who would jointly hold the Stars to three hits afterwards.

The most pivotal play of the game was an error committed by shortstop Kyle Hunsinger in the top of the eighth inning, which led to the only run scored in the game.

The Bearcats held on and escaped a Prairie Star ninth inning threat with a 1-0 win.