EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIUE sophomore Jake Bockenstedt was masterful over seven no-hit innings Saturday, leading the Cougars to a 6-1 win over South Dakota State at Simmons Baseball Complex.

SIUE has won three straight and four of its last five games to improve to 4-4. South Dakota State fell to 5-4.

Bockenstedt struck out 13 hitters over seven innings, racking up the second-most strikeouts in a single game in SIUE's Division I era.

"Jake gave us a tremendous effort today," SIUE Head Coach Sean Lyons said. "He worked quickly and he was very efficient. It was really an impressive performance out of him."

For the third game in a row, SIUE scored runs in the first inning. Connor Kiffer walked with two outs and Brady Bunten followed with an RBI-double and Raul Elguezabal followed with an RBI-single to extend  

"The guys go in with a plan of attack and they execute it," Lyons said of the early scoring. "It gives everyone up and down the lineup some confidence."

Richie Well made it 3-0 with a one-out solo home run sin the fourth. Kiffer doubled to lead off the fifth inning and scored on a two-out double by Ole Arntson.

Josh Ohl reached with a one-out base hit in the sixth and Brett Johnson followed with a two-run shot to right field to extend SIUE's lead to 6-0.

After putting up 12 hits in Friday's opener, the Cougars collected 10 hits Saturday.

"Something we have worked on is changing the quality of our at-bats," Lyons added. "The level of our at-bats has risen. They are starting to see the reward of their hard work. They put up a lot of good at-bats today and were able to get six runs on the board."

Eight players in the Cougars' line up had at least a hit.

"We're in a good spot where we have a lot of guys who are contributing," Lyons said. "It keeps everybody active and ready to play every single day."

South Dakota State's only run came on its only hit of the day, a home run by Garrett Stout leading off the ninth inning against SIUE reliever Noah Matheny.

Matheny struck out one in his two innings of work.

"The guys out of the bullpen understand that when they come in, they need to make opponents hit their stuff," Lyons said. "Noah attacked and was able to finish out the win for us."

The Cougars will try for the sweep Sunday. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.