SIUE Finishes Baseball Season With Win

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIUE baseball wrapped up its 2019 season with an 11-9 win over Murray State Saturday, giving the Cougars the series win. Despite the win, SIUE was eliminated from contention for a spot in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament when UT Martin defeated Tennessee Tech earlier in the day.

SIUE finished the season at 19-32 overall and 11-19 in the OVC. Murray State is 23-28 overall and 16-14 in the OVC. The Racers will be the No. 5 seed in next week's tournament.

Prior to the game, SIUE recognized 13 seniors playing their final games for the Cougars.

 "First and foremost, I want to thank 13 seniors," SIUE Head Coach Sean Lyons said. "We finished with the win today, but unfortunately we couldn't control what the rest of the league did and we're going to fall short of the OVC tournament."

The Cougars trailed 9-5 before scoring six times in the seventh inning to take the lead for good.

Seniors Dustin Woodcock, Brock Weimer, Peyton Cordova-Smith and Jordan Ross all turned in a multi-hit day for the Cougars, who finished with a season-best 16 hits.  

"The win today and the way the guys came out is a testament to their character," Lyons said. "To come out after what was a pretty devastating loss last night and play the way we did proves that.

"The seniors were the big contributors," Lyons continued. "Brock Weimer, Peyton Cordova-Smith, Jordan Ross and Woody. Those guys picked up multiple hits and I am really happy for those guys."

David Llorens started and worked 4 1/3 innings. He allowed seven runs on five hits. Four seniors followed. Ryan Byrd allowed a pair of runs before Chris Robinson (4-3), Michael Shereyk and Tyler Hutchinson combined to throw 4 2/3 scoreless innings.

Robinson earned the win with 3 1/3 innings. He struck out three. Shereyk worked 1/3 of an inning and Hutchinson earned his second save of the season with a perfect ninth inning, including two strikeouts.

"I am really happy for Chris Robinson," Lyons said. "He has had his struggles down the stretch, but came out and was the Chris Robinson that we knew early in the year. Mike came in and got his job done and Hutch closed it out. I am happy for those guys and happy for this team to end the year with a win."

Effingham High School graduate Braydon Bone is a junior pitcher for SIUE.