ST. LOUIS – SIUE homered three times, accounting for all six runs and seven Cougar pitchers limited Saint Louis to a run on five hits in a 6-1 win over the Billikens Wednesday at the Billiken Sports Complex.

SIUE has won two in a row and improved to 8-9 overall. The Billikens fell to 6-14. SIUE has won both meetings between the teams this year.

The game was scoreless in the seventh when Brady Bunten connected for his first home run of the year, a long blast to left with one out to put the Cougars up 1-0.  With two outs, Avery Owusu-Asiedu struck out but reached first on a passed ball, keeping the inning alive for SIUE. Steven Pattan singled and Josh Ohl was hit by a pitch before Brett Johnson turned on a pitch to right and lined it out for his second home run of the year and first career grand slam to put SIUE on top 5-0.

"Brady Bunten got a pitch to hit and that really got us started," SIUE Head Coach Sean Lyons said. "We were the beneficiaries of some free bases. We took advantage of a dropped third strike that would have ended the inning and Brett got the big hit that broke it open."

In the eighth, Raul Elguezabal hit a one-out solo home run, his second of the year, to extend SIUE's lead to 6-0.

Six of the Cougars' seven hits came after the sixth inning. Johnson paced the Cougars with two hits and four RBIs

"Guys need the at-bats to keep them fresh," Lyons added. "It was good to see the bats come alive later in the game."

The only Billiken run came in the bottom of the eighth when Kyle Fitzgerald scored on a wild pitch.

Brant Glidewell started the game and threw two innings. Quin Waterhouse threw a scoreless inning and Alec Kubic tossed to scoreless innings. Ryan Swanson and Tyler Bastunas followed with scoreless innings each before Rob Parks allowed the run in the eighth. Ryan Brink finished the game off with a scoreless ninth inning.

"We had a lot of guys that needed to get some work," Lyons said. "Starting with Brant Glidewell they did a nice job across the board."

Swanson (1-0) picked up his first win of the year after throwing the bottom of the sixth inning.

The Cougars return to Simmons Baseball Complex to resume Ohio Valley Conference play Friday and Saturday against Eastern Kentucky.

"Things are moving in the right direction," Lyons said. "Hopefully we can use it for some positive momentum heading into the weekend."