St. Louis –  The Maryville baseball team extended its winning streak to eight games with a doubleheader sweep of Wisconsin-Parkside, 3-2 and 8-4, Sunday afternoon at Weber Field. The eight-game winning streak is the longest the Saints have had in the Division II era.
 
Danny Covert opened the scoring for the Saints in the home half of the first inning with a solo blast over the left field wall to give Maryville the early 1-0 lead. The Rangers took advantage of a fielding error in the fourth inning to plate a pair of runs and grab a 2-1 edge. The Saints had an opportunity in the bottom of the inning as Mitch Carriger drove a double into right center and stole third base, but UWP got out of the inning on a strike out and groundout to hold on the 2-1 lead.
 
Maryville tied the affair in the bottom of the sixth as Dalton Schumer reached base on an error and moved to third on a Tyler Catlett single. Schumer tied the game when Conner Markell grounded into a double play to put the score at 2-2. Maryville took the lead in the seventh as Zack Ruckman smashed a single to right and advanced to third as both Matt Scheibel and Carriger walked to load the bases. Schumer laced a single to left field to plate Ruckman and give the Saints a 3-2 lead. Justin Laffleur entered the game in the eighth to relieve Saints starting pitcher AJ Dean and shut down the Rangers to earn his first save of the year.
 
Dean garnered his second win of the year going seven innings and only giving up four hits while striking out six Ranger batters on the afternoon. Covert paced the Saints at the plate by going 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored while Camden Mercier had a pair of hits as well.
 
Maryville opened game two of the twin bill with Covert knocking a single up the middle and moving to second base on a balk. He scored on a Scheibel double into the left center field gap to give the Saints an early advantage. Scheibel added the Saints second run of the inning as Carriger lifted a single into center field to give the Saints a 2-0 lead.
 
The Rangers plated a pair of runs in the second inning and took the lead in the top of the third, but the Saints rallied in the home portion of the fourth as Garrett Taylor opened the inning by reaching on an error. Taylor stole second and moved to third on a Troy Payton single to put runners at the corners. Taylor was thrown out at home on a Ruckman fielder's choice while Payton moved to third to again put runners at first and third. After a Covert walk loaded the bases, Scheibel unloaded a double into left center to clear the bases and give Maryville a 5-3 advantage. The Rangers plated a run in the fifth inning to close the gap to 5-4 and had bases loaded in the top of the sixth, but Schumer made an incredible backhand stop to get the Saints out of the inning.
 
Maryville added insurance runs in this sixth as Scheibel drove in his fifth run of the game with a single, and Carriger lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to extend the lead to 7-4. The Saints tacked another run in the inning as Schumer singled to left field to score Covert as it gave the Saints an 8-4 lead and the win.
 
Joey Lodes improved to 3-0 on the year by going four innings and giving up four runs on four hits on the day. The Saints bullpen once again got the job done as Alec Harris and Sam Danker combined to hold UWP to only two hits over the last three innings of the game. Scheibel lead the way at the plate for the Saints with four hits and five RBI's in the game. Carriger and Schumer each had a pair of hits and combined for three more runs batted in as the Saints improved to 10-5 on the year.
 
Maryville and the Rangers will conclude their four game series with a double header tomorrow at Weber Field stated to begin at noon.