March 4, 2011

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Southern Illinois University Edwardsville baseball opened the Bethune-Cookman Invitational Friday afternoon, falling 8-1 to Michigan State.

The Cougars dropped to 1-7 with the loss while the Spartans improve to 6-1. The two schools will meet again Saturday beginning at 3 p.m. E.T.

"We missed out on some opportunities to score," SIUE Head Coach Gary Collins said. "We'd get guys on. It seems like then we'd hit into a double play."

The Cougars hit into three double plays and left eight runners on base.

SIUE trailed 1-0 when it took advantage of a leadoff walk in the third inning to score its only run. Brian Sipe walked to start the inning before Travis Becherer laid down a sacrifice bunt to move him to second. Chase Green flied out to right field to move Sipe to third. James Vazquez singled through the left side of the infield to drive home Sipe and even the score 1-1. The RBI was the fourth of the year for Vazquez.

Vazquez finished the day 2 for 4 with the RBI. He was the only Cougar with more than a single hit. SIUE finished with just seven hits total.

Torsten Boss, Justin Scanlon and Jordan Keur each drove in a pair of runs for the Spartans, who broke the 1-1 tie with two runs in the fourth inning.

Michigan State scored three unearned runs in the sixth to go up 6-1. MSU added single runs in both the eighth and ninth innings for the final margin.

Spencer Patton, 0-2, suffered the loss for SIUE. Patton started and tossed the first 5 2/3 innings for the Cougars. He allowed six runs, just two earned, on 10 Spartan hits. Patton walked one and struck out three.

"He had good stuff," Collins said. "He just didn't locate like he needed to."

Tony Schaeffer allowed two runs in 3 1/3 innings of relief. Schaeffer walked two and struck out two.

"Tony didn't pitch bad," Collins said. "He pitched better today than he had been throwing."

SIUE will face Boston College Saturday beginning at noon ET before the rematch with Michigan State.