The Maryville baseball team closed out the regular season Friday at McKendree with a four-game road sweep. The Saints claimed game one 11-4 and emerged with a thrilling 10-8 win in 10 innings. The Saints closed the regular season with a six-game winning streak and will await a bid to the 2021 GLVC Baseball Championships, which will be announced Sunday evening. The current winning streak is the longest by the Saints since a nine-game streak April 14-28, 2019. Maryville won all four games of a GLVC road series for the first time since taking all four contests at Illinois Springfield May 5-6, 2013.
 
Game One:
Austin Tapella smacked a solo home run in the top of the second to boost the Saints to the lead. McKendree tied the game in the bottom of the third but Jackson Burrell had the answer. The lefty drilled a two-run shot for a 3-1 advantage in the fourth. Michael Gould singled in two runs in the sixth to push the lead up to 5-1.
 
McKendree closed to 5-4 in the home half of the inning before the Saints put the game away in the seventh. Joey Polak smacked a solo shot, and Burrell drove in another run with an RBI single. With the bases loaded, Gould cleared them with a triple and cap a five-RBI day. Drake Salsman recorded eight strikeouts and sent the distance to record the win. The Saints lashed out 15 hits in the contest.
 
Winning Pitcher: Drake Salsman (2-2)
Losing Pitcher: Jacob Reinkemeyer (1-1)
Hitting Leaders: Michael Gould 2-for-5, five RBI. Austin Tapella 2-for-3, HR, Jackson Burrell 1-for-2, HR, two RBI.
 
Game Two:
Nick Hofmann walked in the top of the 10th, took second on a wild pitch and reached third base after a long fly out. Gould ripped a double down the line in right for a 9-8 led. Gould scored on a McKendree error for an insurance run and a 10-8 lead. In the bottom of the tenth, McKendree had the game-winning run up to bat, but Noah Arras struck out a Bearcat to end the thriller.
 
Down 3-2 entering the sixth inning, the Saints jumped ahead with four runs. Maryville strung four singles and took advantage of two McKendree errors to build a 6-3 lead. The Bearcats pulled two runs back but the Saints answered with two runs in the top of the eighth. Hopkins launched a solo home run, and a Hofmann RBI triple was good for an 8-5 lead. However, the Bearcats eventually tied the game at 8-8 to force extra innings.
 
Winning Pitcher: Ben Prywitch (1-2)
Losing Pitcher: Noah Dressler (0-1)
Save: Noah Arras (1)
Hitting Leaders: Ben Hopkins 3-for-5, HR, three RBI, two runs. Joey Polak 2-for-6, HR.
 
Records:
Maryville: 19-21, 17-15 GLVC
McKendree: 14-26, 7-25 GLVC