April 6, 2011

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - SIUE baseball dropped its second consecutive game Wednesday night, falling at Evansville 5-3.

"We just haven't swung the bats well lately," SIUE Head Coach Gary Collins said. "We had opportunities tonight."

Evansville took an early lead, scoring twice in the first inning thanks to three hits against Cougar starter Travis Felax. UE second baseman Trentt Copeland made it 3-0 with a one-out solo home run in the second inning. Third baseman Cody Fick made it 4-0 with a leadoff homer in the fourth.

Felax suffered the loss, allowing four runs on five hits in five innings. He struck out four.

SIUE, 10-17, got on the board in the seventh, thanks to a defensive miscue by the Aces. Trailing 5-0, with two on and two outs, Chase Green hit a slow roller to the left side of the infield. Aces' pitcher Adam Culiver successfully fielded the ball, but threw high over first allowing Zach Hawkins and Brett Keeler to score, making it 5-2. Culiver then walked Matt Highland and James Vazquez to load the bases. Jake Nauman relieved Culiver and walked Travis Becherer to force in a third run in the inning.

The Cougars loaded the bases again in the eighth inning. Nauman hit Joel Greatting with a pitch then walked Keeler and Green. The Cougars, however stranded all three runners.

"We didn't drive in any runs tonight," Collins said.

SIUE managed just five total hits. No Cougar had more than a single hit. Becherer had the only RBI on the bases loaded walk. Zach Hawkins was 1 for 5 to extend a season-long hitting streak to 10 games. Vazquez was 1 for 4. Greatting was 1 for 3.Mitch Matecki, and Devin Caldwell also were each 1 for 5.

"We're just having a hard time stringing hits together," Collins said.

Dustin Quattrocchi allowed a run in an inning of work. Brian Lorenz and Luke Ingersoll combined fo a scoreless eighth inning. Thad Hawkins pitched a scoreless ninth.

"Our pitching gave us a chance," Collins said.

SIUE travels to UT Martin for a three-game series beginning Saturday.