Box Score ST. LOUIS – SIUE scored three times in the second inning Wednesday and made it stand, defeating Saint Louis 3-1 in non-conference baseball at the Billiken Sports Complex.
SIUE starter Drew Staples earned his first win as a Cougar, allowing one run on eight Billiken hits over six innings of work. He struck out one. Tony Schaeffer struck out three in two hitless innings in relief, before Dustin Quattrocchi worked a scoreless ninth for his 10th save of the year.
"Staples was good, Schaeffer was outstanding and Quattrocchi was Quattrocchi," SIUE Head Coach Gary Collins said.
With 10 saves, Quattrocchi is just the second pitcher in school history to record 10 or more saves in a single season. Bret Giaudrone's 14 in 2001 is the school record.
All four runs in the game came in the second inning. SIUE (21-20) scored three unearned runs in the top of the frame, taking advantage of a Saint Louis error. Devin Caldwell reached on the one-out error, before James Vazquez singled with two outs. Brian Sipe followed with a double to drive in Caldwell and Vazquez. Nick Lombardo followed with a double of his own to drive in Sipe to make it 3-0 SIUE.
Sipe led the Cougar offense. He was 2 for 3 with the two RBIs. Mitch Matecki was 2 for 4. He was the only Cougar aside from Sipe to have more than a single hit.
"The bottom of the order jumped up and scored some runs," Collins said. "It's good to get some production out of the bottom of the order."
All three SIUE runs came against SLU starter Damian Rivera, who pitched just two innings. He struck out one and dropped to 3-5 with the loss.
Saint Louis (26-14) picked up its only run of the game in the bottom of the second when Mike Levine was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Levine finished the game 1 for 4. Mike Vigliarolo and Grant Nelson each had two hits for the Billikens.
Collins admitted it was nice to be above .500 again, but said the season isn't over yet.
"We've still got some games left," he said. "We just need to stay there (above .500)."
SIUE travels to Murray, Ky. for a three-game series with Murray State beginning Friday afternoon.
