March 16, 2011

Box Score

NORMAL, Ill. - Illinois State scored seven unanswered runs Wednesday to score a come-from-behind 8-2 win over Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in baseball at Duffy Bass Field on the ISU campus.

"That's been the story all year," SIUE Head Coach Gary Collins said. "Five good innings and we stop hitting, and the bullpen hurts us, and we lose."

The Redbird, 11-5, scored three times in the seventh inning and twice more in the eighth inning.

Josh Hoguet, 0-2, allowed four runs on four hits and suffered the loss in relief. Hoguet walked one and did not strike out a batter in an inning of work.

Illinois State took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on two hits against Cougar starter Ryan Daniels.

Daniels tossed five innings and did not figure into the decision. The right-hander allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out three.

"I thought he pitched well," Collins said of Daniels. "He wasn't the reason we lost. He's going to be just fine."

The Cougars, 4-12, scored a run each in the third and fourth innings to take a 2-1 lead.

In the third inning, James Vazquez took a two-out walk before Devin Caldwell ripped a triple to the wall in right center field to tie the game, 1-1. Joel Greatting led off the fourth inning for SIUE with a single he then scored on a two-out error when Redbirds' right-fielder Brock Stewart dropped a pop fly that would have ended the inning.

Illinois State scored a single run in the fourth inning to tie the game, 2-2. Ryan Court singled to start the inning and went to second on a throwing error. He scored on a sacrifice fly with two outs. The error was one of five miscues the Cougars committed Wednesday.

"The other part of the story today is we made five errors," Collins said.

Illinois State outhit SIUE 10-7. Caldwell and Greatting were each 2 for 4 at the plate.

The Cougars return home Friday to face Valparaiso. First pitch against the Crusaders is 6 p.m. at SimmonsCooper Complex.