KALAMAZOO, Mich. – SIUE baseball and Western Michigan split a pair of seven-inning games Saturday at Hyames Field. The Cougars won for the fifth time in six games, taking to opener 6-2. Western Michigan bounced back with a 10-2 win in the second game.

The Cougars moved to 17-14 after the split. Western Michigan is 11-4.

"We were able to manufacture some runs today," SIUE Head Coach Sean Lyons said. "It is nice to be able to get a guy on, get him over and get him in."

Western Michigan picked up a run on two hits in the first inning against SIUE starter Jake Bockenstedt, who was making his first start since March 13.

SIUE tied the game in the second inning when Ole Arntson led off the inning with a single. He advanced to third on a pair of passed balls and scored on a wild pitch. Brett Johnson and Richie Well each added RBI-singles in the inning to give SIUE a lead for good at 3-1.

WMU cut the lead to 3-2 with a run on a hit and an SIUE error in the fourth inning.

SIUE extended its lead to 4-2 with some small ball in the fifth inning. Brady Bunten walked to open the inning and Ole Arntson singled to move him to second base. Avery Owusu-Asiedu followed with a sacrifice bunt to move both runners. Bunten then scored on a groundout by Steven Pattan.

Raul Elguezabal led off the seventh inning with a triple and scored on a groundout. Pattan added an RBI-hit to drive home Bunten who had walked.   

Arntson finished with two of SIUE's nine hits. Pattan was 1-3 with two RBIs and a run scored.

"Steven Pattan had a big hit and did well to pick up a couple of RBIs for us," Lyons said. "We executed in key situations. We need to have that execution to win close games."

Bockenstedt (2-0) worked three innings on a limited pitch count. He allowed a run on two hits and struck out two to earn his second win of the year. Kaid Karnes allowed an unearned run on three hits and struck out five in three scoreless innings of relief.

"It was great to have Jake back on the mound," Lyons said. "He looked sharp today. He did a nice job. Kaid was very effective today to help us get the win."

Western Michigan right hander Easton Sikorski tossed a complete game, limiting SIUE to two runs on five hits in game two. The Broncos took control of the game with a six-run fourth inning.

"Sikorski did a nice job locating his fastball and he was good mixing in his slider," Lyons said of the Western Michigan starter. "We hit some balls hard without much to show for hit. Once he got a good cushion he settled in."

The Cougars' only runs came in the fifth inning. Trailing 9-0, Owusu-Asiedu picked up an RBI hit and Arntson scored on a wild pitch after singling earlier in the inning.

The four-game nonconference series concludes with a 12 pm CT game Sunday afternoon.