SIUE Drops Games Against Austin Peay

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – SIUE dropped the opener of a three-game Ohio Valley Conference baseball series 6-1 at Austin Peay Friday night.

The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Cougars, who have won seven of their last nine. SIUE fell to 8-11 in OVC play and 16-23 overall. Austin Peay moved to 14-8 in OVC play and 22-18 overall.

Austin Peay broke a scoreless tie in the fifth scratching out a run on three hits against SIUE starter Collin Baumgartner. Baumgartner worked six complete, allowing only the run on five hits. He struck out seven, but fell to 1-5 with the loss.

"This was a really good game," SIUE Head Coach Sean Lyons said. "Collin did a really nice job and he pitched well enough to give us the opportunity to win."

The Governors' Garrett Kueber connected for a solo home run against SIUE reliever Chris Robinson in the seventh to put APSU up 2-0. Austin Peay then took advantage of two walks and a hitter batter to score four times in the eight to lead 6-0. David Martinez and Kueber each had two-out, two-run hits.

Robinson, uncharacteristically, allowed five runs on three hits and two walks in two innings.

"It was out of the norm for him," Lyons said. "He had the left-hander up (Garrett Spain) with two runners on. We felt like that was the guy Chris could get. We were unable to finish him off. I don't know if that at-bat took it out of him."

The Cougars managed a run on three hits in the ninth. Raul Elguezabal, started the inning with a hit. Jordan Ross and Brendan Ryan each picked up two-out hits to load the bases. Elguezabal scored on a wild pitch.

"The guys in the last inning did a nice job of just keeping it going," Lyons said. "Really we were one at-bat away from getting the heart of our order up with bases loaded or runners in scoring position."

SIUE finished with eight hits, but stranded 10 men on base. Cougars hitters struck out 14 times during the game.

"We had some opportunities offensively," Lyons added "We had a tough go at it early on. We had some runners in scoring position and just couldn't get the big hit. They (Austin Peay) made the pitch when they needed to.

"Late in the game we didn't make the pitch when we needed to," Lyons continued. "They were able to get some hits and separate themselves."

Saturday's Game -- Austin Peay 7, SIUE 1

For the second time in the series, Austin Peay used late offense to take down the Cougars, defeating SIUE 7-1 in the second game of a three-game Ohio Valley Conference baseball series at Raymond C. Hand Park.

The Governors have won the series from SIUE and improved to 15-8 in the OVC and 23-18 overall. SIUE dropped to 8-12 in the OVC and 16-24 overall.

SIUE managed only three hits against Austin Peay starter Jacques Pucheu and three relievers. Pucheu allowed the lone SIUE run on two hits. He walked five and struck out five in improving to 6-2.

"We were unable to get anything offensively," SIUE Head Coach Sean Lyons said. "Part of that is a quality arm and part of it is that we didn't have a very good approach at the plate today."

Cougars' starter Kenny Serwa pitched into the fifth and allowed two runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out four. He fell to 2-1 with the loss.

"Early on both starters weren't necessarily sharp, but both were able to wiggle out some jams," Lyons added.

The Cougars took a 1-0 lead in the third. Jordan Ross doubled to open the inning and later scored on a sacrifice squeeze bunt by Dustin Woodcock.

Austin Peay took the lead with two runs in the fifth inning. After singles to open the inning by Gino Avros and Malcolm Tipler, both eventually scored. Avros on an error and Tipler on a wild pitch.

Austin Peay all-time home run leader Parker Phillips connected for two-run shots in the seventh and again in the eighth. APSU designated hitter John McDonald added a solo home run in the eighth for the 7-1 score.

"When we went to the pen later we weren't able to execute quality pitches," Lyons said. "We advanced too many runners and gave too many bases without hits or balls in play."

Cougar pitchers combined for nine wild pitches over the course of the afternoon. Effingham graduate Braydon Bone went 0.2 innings in the seventh allowing one hit and striking out one.

Brendan Ryan and Eric Giltz had the only other hits for SIUE Saturday.

Tipler went 4-4 with a pair of runs scored. Phillips was 2-3 with the two home runs and four RBIs.

SIUE will look to salvage a win from the series Sunday. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.

"We talk about how important Sunday is," Lyons said. "Austin Peay has done a great job in the first two games. We need to find a way tomorrow to come out on top."

Sunday's Game

After two quiet days at the plate, SIUE put up 11 runs on 15 hits Sunday, but it came in a losing cause. Austin Peay defeated SIUE 13-11 to sweep the three game Ohio Valley Conference baseball series.

Among the Cougars' 15 hits was senior catcher Brock Weimer's 34th career homerun, establishing a new career record at SIUE. Weimer had been tied with Devin Caldwell, who hit 33 home runs from 2011-2014, since Tuesday.

"I am really proud of Brock and what he has accomplished at SIUE," SIUE Head Coach Sean Lyons said. "He is the epitome of what a Cougar is on the field and off. What a great accomplishment for him. I hope he hits a whole bunch more as they year goes on."

Weimer's record-breaking blast came leading off the third inning. He hit the first pitch from Austin Peay reliever Ryan Kouba over the left field wall for his 11th home run of the year.

The 15 hits were a season high for the Cougars, who fell to 16-25 overall and 8-13 in the OVC. Austin Peay improved to 24-18 and 16-8 in the OVC.

The Cougars and Governors traded runs each half inning from the second through the fourth, scoring 10 runs apiece.

SIUE posted four runs in the second on seven hits to chase APSU starter Brandon Vial. Jack Rigoni connected on his first career home run in the inning.

Austin Peay took the lead with six runs in the bottom of the inning before the Cougars tied the game in third inning. Aside from Weimer's home run, Justin Perkins added an RBI with a base hit.

Austin Peay regained the lead with a run in the bottom of the third before SIUE went on top 10-7 with four runs in the fourth. Weimer drove home a run with a sacrifice fly, Peyton Cordova-Smith doubled to bring in a run and Raul Elguezabal drove in a run with a triple. Elguezabal scored on a wild pitch.

"Offensively, we did a nice job getting out to the 4-0 lead and to be able to keep adding there for a few innings," Lyons said.

Austin Peay tied the game with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and both teams held for several innings. The Govs scored three times in the seventh to take the lead for good.  SIUE scored a run in the eighth, but didn't get any closer.

"They threw up a couple of zeroes in the middle innings and we just weren't able to get enough runs to win today," Lyons added.

Dustin Woodcock finished with three hits for the Cougars. Weimer, Elguezabal, Perkins and Rigoni had two hits each.

Four players had two hits apiece for Austin Peay, which finished with 13 hits as a team.

Tyler Hutchinson was charged with two runs in 1 1/3 innings in relief and took the loss to fall to 1-2. Greg Leban pitched the sixth and seventh innings scoreless for Austin Peay and improved to 3-0 with the win. Brett Newberg worked the eighth and ninth, allowing a run, to earn his sixth save of the year for Austin Peay. Bone pitched 1.2 innings allwoing two htis, one run, noe walk and striking out one.

SIUE plays a Tuesday contest at Saint Louis before playing host to Eastern Illinois at Simmons Complex for a three-game series beginning Friday.

"There's no time to feel sorry for yourself," Lyons said. "We have three OVC weekends to come and we have SLU on Tuesday. We need to come out ready to play Tuesday and then turn our attention to the weekend."