LOUISVILLE – The UW-Parkside baseball program finished its most successful season since 2007 with a doubleheader split at Bellarmine University on Sunday. Andy Stochl continued his strong close to the season with a complete game 4-3 victory in game one. The Knights came back to win game two by the same score, 4-3.
 
The Rangers finished the year 19-30 overall and 12-24 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The 19 wins are the most since the 2007 squad won 19. Parkside has improved its win total in each of head coach Joel Weaver's first three seasons.
 
Corey Stonelake finished the season as the team's top hitter with a .290 batting average. Mike Anderson was the top run producer with 30 RBI while John Brennan scored 31 runs.
 
Mike Nicks led the pitching staff with a 2.74 earned run average while he and Ryan Windt both recorded five wins.
 
Below are recaps of Sunday's games against the Knights.
 
Game One (Box Score)
The Rangers jumped out early in pursuit of that 19^th victory. Stonelake singled and stole second base just two batters in. With two outs, Anderson kept his big weekend going with an RBI-single to centerfield to stake Parkside to a 1-0 lead.
 
They make it 2-0 in the third when Stonelake ripped his second hit. This one was an RBI-double which plated Eric Abel.
 
The Knights answered in the bottom half with a pair of runs to tie it. An error contributed to the second run but Stochl induced a groundball with the bases loaded to end the threat.
 
Parkside did not take long to recover those runs as they put up two in the fourth.
 
Anderson registered his sixth hit of the weekend to lead off the inning and moved to second when Taylor Nehls reached on a catcher's interference call. After a Tyler Gieseking sacrifice, the Knights elected to walk Cody Gilles to load the bases.
 
A wild pitch came next, allowing everyone to move up and give the Rangers the lead. After a ground out, Kirk Haviland laced a single up the middle to score Nehls and make it 4-2.
 
Bellarmine cut the lead in half with a couple of fourth-inning doubles. They kept the pressure on Stochl the rest of the day but each time he had an answer.
 
The Knights put two runners on in each of their final three at-bats. In both the sixth and seventh, Bellarmine had runners at first and second with just one out. Stochl however was not to be denied retiring the next two hitters each time to end the rallies.
 
Parkside out-hit the Knights, 8-7, with three players each recording two hits. Anderson, Stonelake, and Abel all had two knocks.
 
Stochl went all seven innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits. He finishes the year with a 4-4 record and six complete games, tying him for the fifth-most in a season in school history.
 
Game Two (Box Score)
The Rangers struck first with a couple of runs in third inning to grab the lead. Stonelake and Gieseking singled with two outs to load the bases.
 
From there Anderson and Abel both drew walks to force in runs and establish a 2-0 cushion.
 
Parkside starter Jacob Chandler was cruising along with a shutout into the seventh before the Knights broke through. They scored one with a double before chasing him two batters into the inning.
 
Alex Rejniak relieved, and despite seeing the score tied, had a chance to get out of the inning with no further damage. But a two-out throwing error allowed two runs to score to make it 4-2 in favor of the Knights.
 
The Rangers fought for a final time in the ninth inning before coming up just short. Abel singled with one out, and after a fly out, moved to second on a Gilles walk.
 
Chris Glynn's single then loaded the bases to put the tying run in scoring position. Haviland followed that up with a shot to center to move everyone up 90 feet and make it a 4-3 contest.
 
But Justin Strohmeyer was able to get Brennan to bounce out to first to end the game.
 
Rejniak was tagged with the loss despite not giving up an earned run. Chandler's final line was two runs allowed with five strikeouts and no walks in six innings.
 
Stonelake and Haviland each finished the finale with two hits. The Rangers once again out-hit the Knights 10-9 but left seven runners on base compared to just three for Bellarmine.