Kansas City – The UW-Parkside baseball team moved to 3-1 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play thanks to a doubleheader split on Sunday afternoon at Rockhurst University. The Rangers won game two, 9-2, after falling in the opener, 8-1. They also improved to 9-7 overall; the earliest they've reached nine wins since the 2004 team was 9-3 on March 14.
 
Jacob Chandler earned the win in game two with six strong innings. Taylor Nehls and Cody Gilles provided the offense, each hitting a home run with Nehls driving a grandslam.
 
UW-Parkside will now get ready for their home opener on Saturday against Drury University. The doubleheader will begin at 12:00 p.m. Sunday they'll host Missouri S&T; also at noon. The Rangers are scheduled to play ten straight games at Oberbruner Field.
 
Below are the recaps from Sunday's games in Kansas City.
 
Game One (Box Score)
The Rangers created plenty of opportunities in game one but could only cash in one run. They left eight runners on base and saw the home team pull away for the win.
 
Parkside scored its only run three batters into the game. John Brennan led-off with a double to the gap in left center. Eric Abel bunted him over to third before Corey Stonelake drove him in with a double down the right field line.
 
Rockhurst got the run right back in the bottom have with a couple of hits and a catcher's interference. The run came in on a ground out with the bases loaded.
 
The Rangers had a couple more chances putting runners in scoring position three more times over the next five innings. Kirk Haviland walked and Ben Korman singled in the second but were stranded there.
 
The Hawks then started to open things up with two in the third and two more in the fifth. They used a two-run home run in the third and three hits in the fifth to open up a 5-1 lead.
 
Parkside looked to get back in the sixth. They got two hits and a walk but two key outs on the bases killed the rally.
 
The Hawks closed out the scoring with three runs in the eighth, thanks in part to a pair of Ranger errors, to provide the 8-1 margin.
 
Parkside had just six hits in the opener, two of which came from Brennan. Haviland also reached base three times with two walks and a hit-by-pitch.
 
Andy Stochl took the loss going seven innings allowing five runs while striking out seven.
 
Game Two (Box Score)
The Rangers wasted no time in the night cap chasing the split. They scored two in the first and never relinquished the lead. Cody Gilles continued his big weekend, driving a two out, two-run home run four batters in to give Parkside a 2-0 lead. It was the third long ball of the weekend for Gilles.
 
The Hawks answered with three straight singles to cut the lead in half in the bottom of the inning against Jacob Chandler; his first run allowed this season.
 
Korman got that run back for the Rangers in the second, coming up with a big two-out single. That scored Nehls, who reached on a hit-by-pitch, to make it 3-1.
 
Rockhurst kept the pressure on scoring a run in the next half inning on just one hit. A single, sacrifice bunt, wild pitch, and balked trimmed the Parkside lead to 3-2.
 
From there Chandler settled in, retiring the next seven hitters while allowing just one hit over the next four innings. That allowed the Rangers' offense time to bust out and they obliged scoring six more runs to secure the split.
 
Tyler Giesking and Kirk Haviland started the fourth inning rally with a walk and a single. Korman reached on a fielder's choice before a Brennan walk to load the bases.
 
It appeared the Hawks may get out of the inning as they forced Haviland at home on another fielder's choice for the second out. But Mike Anderson came up next and drew a base on balls, bringing in Korman, for a 4-2 lead. Rockhurst then uncorked a wild pitch to send Brennan to the plate to increase the lead.
 
They put things away in the seventh on one swing from Nehls. Three straight one-out singles by Anderson, Gilles, and Stonelake jammed the bags. Nehls then cleared them with a booming homer to left for the grand slam and 9-2 lead.
 
Josh Geiger came on to throw a scoreless ninth to finish off the Hawks.
 
Gilles and Stonelake each collected two hits. Gilles also scored twice and drove in two. Nehls finished with four RBI.
 
Chandler improved to 2-0 as he allowed two earned runs in six innings of work. He yielded five hits and five walks while striking out three in his first start of the year.