Mitch Bonczkowski hit two home runs during the Tritons’ four-game weekend series against McKendree. The redshirt senior first baseman now has 17 home runs on the season and a school-record 26 in his career. (Photo by Patrick Clark/Athlete’s Eye Photography)
Baseball
University of Missouri–St. Louis first baseman Mitch Bonczkowski set school single-season and career home run records over the weekend while helping the Tritons baseball team split a four-game series against McKendree at the UMSL Baseball Field. Bonczkowski hit his record 16th home run of the season in the eighth inning of the Tritons’ 10-4 victory on Friday. Bonczkowski smashed another homer in a sixth inning of a 10-4 loss in the opening game of a doubleheader on Saturday, giving him 26 home runs for his career. That pushed him past former teammate Andrew Buescher on the school’s all-time list. After going hitless in a 4-1 loss in Saturday’s second game, Bonczkowski also had two hits, including a double, and a sacrifice fly in a 17-2 rout of the Bearcats on Sunday. Owen Faith delivered the loudest blast in that game with a sixth-inning grand slam that capped the scoring. Faith finished with three hits, four runs and five RBI. Garrett Strenger tied a single-game record with three doubles in the win. The Tritons had dropped a nonconference game against No. 17 Illinois Springfield 7-2 on Tuesday. UMSL (20-17, 14-6 Great Lakes Valley Conference) will visit Indianapolis for a four-game series beginning Friday at Bill Bright Field in Indianapolis.
Softball
The Tritons have now won 13 of their last 18 games after splitting a doubleheader at McKendree on Saturday and sweeping two games on the road against Illinois Springfield on Saturday. UMSL fell 4-2 in Saturday’s first game, scoring its only runs on Kiley Sullivan‘s sixth-inning double. The Tritons’ offense came alive in Game 2, producing 19 hits in a 12-8 victory. Simia Spahiev hat a four-hit day, and Sullivan and Kenzie Stoltz had three each. Sullivan’s hits included another run-scoring double in the third inning and her fifth home run of her freshman season in the seventh. Senior Ashley Borowitz won a pitcher’s duel in Sunday’s first game against the Prairie Stars, holding them to two hits and one walk with three strikeouts in a 1-0 win. Kaytie Kossina drove in the lone run when she reached on an error in the third inning. Phoebe Miller had three hits, including an RBI double in a four-run first inning in Sunday’s final game, as UMSL won 6-5. Jamie Widule had a pair of hits and capped her team’s scoring with her own RBI double in the fourth. Stoltz struck out four in three shutout innings of relief to collect the save. The Tritons (19-17, 12-4 GLVC) will play host to No. 7 Indianapolis in a matchup of the top two teams in the conference standings on Saturday and will take on Lewis on Sunday at the UMSL Softball Field.
Men’s Golf
UMSL finished 10th out of 18 teams at the Ken Partridge Invitational, which wrapped up last Monday at Purgatory Golf Club in Noblesville, Indiana. The Tritons posted a combined score of 898, including a final-round total of 295 to climb up three spots in the team standings. Trigg Lindahl led UMSL with a 54-hole score of 218 to tie for fifth individually. Logan Mayo tied for 20th at 223, including a final-round 71. Leo Baudry was the Tritons’ next highest finisher, tying for 60th at 230. Grand Valley State’s Manuel Coe was the individual medalist with a 54-hole score of 212 (68-72-72) winning by two shots over his teammate Ryan Gallagher. Grand Valley State also won the team title with a score of 863. UMSL will next play in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship, beginning April 22 at Rock Hollow Golf Club in Peru, Indiana.
Women’s Golf
The Tritons stood in second place after the first day of play in the UMSL Spring Invitational at Norwood Hills Country Club. UMSL posted a combined score of 595 through the first 36 holes of the tournament on Sunday, and it had three of the top 10 players on the individual leaderboard. Mayan Covarrubias was alone in third place with a total of 146, one shot better than Hillary Currier. Wilma Zanderau was tied for 10th at 149. Grand Valley State’s Evelyn Park and Heida Rakel Rafnsdottir were tied for first through 36 holes with scores of 143. GVSU also sits atop the team standings with a team score of 582. The tournament was set to conclude on Monday. The Tritons will then head to the GLVC Championship beginning Friday at Rock Hollow Golf Club in Peru, Indiana.
Women’s Tennis
UMSL went 2-0 over the weekend, following Friday’s 6-1 win over McKendree with a 4-3 upset of No. 43 Indianapolis on Saturday at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in Forest Park. The Tritons had strong doubles performances in both duals, winning the first two matches in both duals and leading in the third against McKendree when doubles play was decided. UMSL got singles wins from Aleksandra Lopez, Millie Wileman, Morgan Lint, Anna Favaron and Giuliana Cunza with all but Lint winning in straight sets. Lint wound up going the distance in her No. 4 singles match against UIndy’s Linya Chen on Saturday but wound up earning the clinching point in the dual with her 6-0, 1-6, 6-0 victory. It followed singles wins by Hannah Tse, who won 6-2, 6-1 over Maelys Thiery-James at No. 1 singles, and Wileman, a 6-3, 6-0 winner over Magda Kornijczuk at No. 3. UMSL (11-4) has now won five straight dual meets and will take on Maryville on Saturday at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center before closing the regular season at Illinois Springfield on April 25.
Men’s Tennis
The Tritons dropped weekend duals against McKendree and Indianapolis over the weekend, falling to the Bearcats 4-3 on Friday and losing 7-0 against the 15th-ranked Greyhounds on Saturday. Both duals were held at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in Forest Park. Tommy Griese, Percy Siercke and Andrea Ricart each won singles matches against McKendree with Griese topping Ignacio Paolini 6-2, 6-3 at No. 1, Siercke winning his No. 2 match 6-3, 7-5 against Stepan Mach and Ricart pulling out a 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 win over Felix Diedrichs at No. 5. UMSL had a tougher time against UIndy, losing all three doubles matches and all six in singles. Daniel Berdecio and Henry Roberts each split the first two sets at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, before coming up short in match tiebreakers. The Tritons will next play Maryville on Saturday at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center before wrapping up the regular season April 25 at Illinois Springfield.
