To say pitching is a strong point for the University of Illinois Springfield baseball team is an understatement.
It is everything for the 21-23 Prairie Stars. UIS had the 22nd-best team earned run average in NCAA Division II earlier this week. It is now 29th with a 3.55 ERA.
“Our four starters and three relievers are as good as it gets in our conference,” UIS coach Chris Ramirez said.
The pitching staff has helped compensate for a struggling offense. The Stars rank last in the Great Lakes Valley Conference in team batting average (.247).
“We know our offense is going to come around eventually,” UIS senior reliever Kyle Schildroth said. “We feel like it’s our job to make sure we keep the game in check and make sure nothing bad happens.”
The Stars’ top four starters are juniors Max Biedrzycki, Christopher Irwin, Jose Marin and Matt Farrington. The relievers are Schildroth, junior Richard England and junior Chance Simpson, who was previously a starter. Six of those seven pitchers weren’t even on the UIS roster last spring. Schildroth is the only one with more than one year under his belt with the Stars.
The team was featured by The State Journal-Register on April 25, 2015.
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