EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Morehead State left-hander Aaron Leasher flipped the script on SIUE Saturday, twirling a four-hit complete-game shutout one day after the Eagles were blanked by the Cougars. Morehead State won the second game of the three-game Ohio Valley Conference series 2-0.

"It was a well-pitched game on both sides," SIUE Coach Danny Jackson said. "They took advantage of some situations and we didn't and that was the difference in the ballgame. They were in our shoes last night."

The Cougars slipped to 8-27 overall and 5-15 in the OVC. Morehead State improved to 22-18 overall and 9-8 in OVC play

Leasher fired his second complete game of the year while racking up a career-high 15 strikeouts.  

"(Leasher) was phenomenal. He was absolutely fantastic," Jackson said. "He got ahead all day long. His breaking ball is a really good pitch and he was able to locate that anytime he wanted to. We kind of let him dictate our approach."

SIUE pitchers Jarret Bednar and Ryan Agnitsch limited the Eagles to just the two runs on seven hits. Morehead State scored single runs in the third and fourth innings and made the lead stand up behind Leasher. Bednar (1-7) allowed both runs in six innings of work. He struck out five. Agnitsch tossed three scoreless innings in relief. He struck out four.

"Jarrett Bednar was great," Jackson said. "Ryan Agnitsch out of the bullpen did a great job for us."

The Cougars came in the eighth innings when they loaded the bases. Jacob Stewart walked to start the inning before Jackson Layton struck out Mario Tursi and Kailer Smith followed with back-to-back singles. Brock Weimer struck out pinch-hitting and Logan Andersen struck out to end the inning.

"Guys are starting to believe in their abilities and it's really showing," Jackson added. We are a great defensive team and we can be a really good pitching team, which we are showing. We need to do the same thing at the plate. We need to go up there with confidence and start attacking."

The rubber game of the three-game series is Sunday. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.

"The last two game have been great baseball," Jackson said. "Tomorrow we're going to come out and play great defense and we're going to attack the strike zone and we'll attack at the plate with quality at-bats and it's going to be a great day."