For the UW-Parkside baseball team, the sky looked a little bluer Saturday afternoon at Owensboro, Ky.

After 18 straight losses to open the season, the Rangers broke into the win column Saturday in the second game of a Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader against Kentucky Wesleyan at Owensboro, Ky.

"They probably felt a sigh of relief because the monkey was finally off their back," Parkside coach Jarvis Brown said of the Rangers.

After being held to four hits in an 8-1 loss to the Panthers (5-19, 1-1 GLVC) in the first game of the doubleheader, Parkside (1-18, 1-1 GLVC) pounded out eight hits in the second game and got an outstanding pitching performance from Jon Kleinmeyer in an 8-3 Rangers victory.

Kleinmeyer (1-3) allowed seven hits, walked one and struck out four in a seven-inning complete game performance.

"He kept the ball down, got in a good rhythm, threw strikes and had good command of all his pitches," Brown said. "And they played good defense behind him."

Offensively, senior Andy Heller and freshman Vince Viverito led the way for the Rangers. Heller went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and Viverito went 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

Parkside took a 3-0 lead in the first inning, highlighted by Heller's two-run double and Viverito's RBI single.

After Wesleyan pulled within 3-2 in the fourth, the Rangers broke it open with a four-run fifth inning, highlighted by Viverito's two-run single, a bases-loaded walk by freshman catcher Nick Cozzi. Parkside's first run of the inning scored when, with the bases loaded, freshman Robert Bellish was hit by a pitch.

In the first game, Parkside starter John Olson was reached for seven runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.

CARTHAGE: The Red Men scored first and never lost the lead in a 4-1 victory over Otterbein at North Port, Fla.

Park High School graduate John Lequia went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a stolen base to lead Carthage (5-4), ranked 25th in the D3baseball.com national poll. Lequia singled in the first run of the game in the top of the first inning and hit an RBI groundout in the third.

Red Men pitcher Scott Danly pitched the first 4 1/3 innings, allowing five hits and one earned run. Tim Keyes (1-0) and Eric Rohe pitched three-hit ball the rest of the way.

Swimming

CARTHAGE: Led by Amanda Croix and Michelle Pelka, the Lady Reds finished ninth at the NCAA Division III Women's Swimming Championships at the University of Minnesota.

Croix finished third in the 50-meter freestyle in a Carthage-record time of 23.10 seconds and she was fourth in the 100 freestyle (school-record 50.29). Pelka was fourth in the 400 individual medley (school-record 4:25.24) and eighth in the 200 butterfly (school-record 2:05.14). Croix and Pelka also joined Sarah Reynertson and Alyssa Messina to finish sixth in the 200 freestyle relay (school-record 1:35.23). Croix and Pelka earned College Swimming Coaches Association of America All-American honors for their performances.

For the Carthage men, Stephen Schranck finished seventh in the 200 breaststroke (2:01.67) to earn CSCAA All-America honors.

Men's basketball

UW-PARKSIDE: LaVontay Fenderson is one of 20 players who were selected to play in the annual NCAA Division II Hall of Fame all-star game to be held in Springfield, Mass., Friday, March 27.

Fenderson, a senior, led the nation in scoring this past season, averaging 26.8 points per game. He was picked to the all-Great Lakes Valley Conference and all-region squads and is in contention for All-American honors.