(LEBANON, Ill., April 9)—For the second time in as many days, the McKendree University baseball team picked up a doubleheader split Saturday afternoon at home against the University of Indianapolis. The Bearcats rolled to an 8-3 win in the opener before the visiting Greyhounds rallied to post a 13-7 win in game two.
 
McKendree and Indianapolis split their four-game weekend series in Great Lakes Valley Conference play. The Bearcats are now 12-19 overall and 4-8 in the GLVC. McKendree will step out of league play on Tuesday with a visit to the University of Missouri-St. Louis. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.
 
Junior outfielder Grant Anderson (Mackinaw, IL/Deer Creek-Mackinaw) had another big day at the plate on Saturday for McKendree. Anderson collected six hits – three in each game – along with five runs scored and two runs batted in. The productive afternoon also included Anderson's team-leading seventh home run of the season in the nightcap. Senior Connor Davault (Farmington, MO/Farmington) and junior infielder Isaac Fisher (Washington, IL/Washington) each chipped in with three hits on the day, while junior outfielder Ryan Cates (Anderson, IN/Yorktown) and junior catcher Chris Deaville (Rantoul, IL/Rantoul) had a hit in each game while driving in four runs for the Bearcats.
 
Sophomore right-hander Nick Yung (Smithton, IL/Freeburg) carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning of the opener against Indianapolis on his way to picking up the victory. Yung allowed three unearned runs with three walks and three strikeouts while improving to 3-1.
 
Deaville staked McKendree to a 3-0 lead in the second inning of game one when he belted a 2-1 pitch over the left field fence for a three-run home run. The blast was the first of the season for Deaville. The Bearcats added two more runs in the fourth inning to extend its advantage to 5-0. Anderson reached on a one-out, infield single and moved to second on a wild pitch. Davault followed by drawing his second walk of the contest. Two batters later, Cates delivered a two-run double to center field to score Anderson and Davault.
 
The Bearcats tacked on three more runs in the fifth inning to build an 8-0 cushion. Davault had the key hit in the inning with a two-run double to right-center field. Meanwhile, Yung held Indianapolis without a hit until Brendan Dudas reached on a one-out, infield single in the top of the fifth. The Greyhounds scored its three unearned runs in the top of the sixth before Yung shut the door in the seventh to finish off his first complete game of 2016.
 
Saturday's second game featured 20 runs on 31 combined hits. McKendree took a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Davault worked a leadoff walk, reached third base thanks to a pair of wild pitches and scored on an RBI groundout by Fisher. The Bearcats then plated two more runs in the second to grab a 3-0 advantage, which included a squeeze bunt by Cates.
 
Indianapolis battled back with a pair of runs in the top of the third to pull within 3-2 when an RBI single off the bat of Deaville in the bottom of the frame pushed McKendree out to a 4-2 margin. Cates then led off the bottom of the fourth inning with his first homer of the year, a solo shot just inside the left field foul pole, to give the Bearcats a 5-2 lead.
 
At that point, Indianapolis reeled off 11 unanswered runs to take the lead for good at 13-5. Anderson capped his memorable day at the plate in his final at-bat in the bottom of the ninth inning when he drilled a two-run home run to left-center field to account for the final margin.