April 21, 2011

Box Score

PEORIA, Ill. - James Vazquez's two-out infield hit in the ninth inning scored Chase Green with the eventual winning run, giving SIUE baseball a 10-9 win over Bradley at O'Brien Field Wednesday night. The win is the sixth consecutive victory for the Cougars.

In a game in which both teams committed five errors, SIUE outhit Bradley 15-6.

"It was a sloppy game but we were able to hit out of a lot of our mistakes," SIUE Head Coach. "We just plain persevered and out lasted them."

"We swung the bats pretty well," Collins continued. "We took good at-bats."

Vazquez's game-winning hit was his third of the night. He was 3 for 4 with the RBI and three runs scored.

SIUE, 17-19, took a 3-0 lead in the first inning on three hits. Mitch Matecki and Devin Caldwell each drove in runs with sacrifice flies before Joel Greatting made it 3-0 with an RBI single. Bradley starter Eric Holmes allowed all three runs, and did not return for the second inning.

Bradley, 19-16, answered with three runs of its own in the first against Cougar starter Jake Stauffenberg.

The Cougars scored four times in the second inning to extend their lead to 7-3. Brian Sipe drove in a run on a fielder's choice and Caldwell plated two with a bases loaded single. Caldwell finished 1 for 4 with three RBIs.

Bradley cut the lead to 7-5 with two more runs in the third inning. The Braves cut the lead to one, twice, but the Cougars answered each time. Brad Kimball hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth to make it 7-6. Matecki added his second sac fly of the game in the sixth to make it 8-6. It was 8-7 in the eighth when Zach Hawkins drove home Vazquez with a sacrifice fly to extend SIUE's lead to 9-7. Hawkins finished 2 for 4 with the RBI.

Stauffenberg, making the first start of his Cougar career, allowed seven runs in 5 1/3 innings and did not get a decision. He struck out two.

"He gave us what we needed tonight," Collins said of Stauffenberg. "We needed some innings out of him."

Bradley evened the score in the bottom of the eighth against reliever Tony Schaeffer. Schaeffer worked two innings in relief. Brian Lorenz, 1-0, pitched 2/3 of an inning, to earn the win. Thad Hawkins worked a perfect ninth, striking out one to earn the save.

Chase Green was 3 for 5 in the win. Travis Becherer was 2 for 3.

The Cougars have now won 12 of their last 15 games. Collins said during a streak you have to win all types.

"You have to win some high-scoring games and some low-scoring games," he said.

SIUE returns home to host Austin Peay in a weekend series at SimmonsCooper Complex. The series begins Friday with a 6 p.m. first pitch.