EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIUE junior Brett Johnson became SIUE's single-season home run leader Friday, but the Cougars fell to Tennessee Tech 10-9 in the opener of a three-game Ohio Valley Conference baseball series.
The Cougars fell to 20-21 overall while Tennessee Tech improved to 23-19. Both teams are 7-9 in OVC play.
Johnson finished with three hits, including a pair of two-run home runs and drove in five. He homered in consecutive at-bats in the fifth and seventh innings, bringing his season total to 17 to establish a new SIUE record for home runs in a season. The previous record was 15 and had been matched three times. It also was his fourth two-home run game of the season.
"He had three huge hits including the record-breaker," SIUE Head Coach Sean Lyons said. "He put some really good swings on the baseball on a cloudy, rainy tough night to hit."
Tennessee Tech scored five times in the second inning to chase SIUE starter Coby Rogers. John Dyer homered for the Golden Eagles and Jason Hinchman drove in two with a single.
Rogers (1-2) allowed five runs in 1 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out one.
"We didn't get the start we wanted," Lyons said. "Tech took advantage of some free bases to take the early lead."
The Cougars scored twice in the third with an RBI-single from Johnson and a sacrifice fly from Josh Ohl. Johnson's first homer brought SIUE to within one (5-4) in the fifth inning, before the Golden Eagles scored three in the sixth to go up 8-4.
"When we got it to 5-4, we felt like we had the momentum on our side," Lyons said. "And then they rebounded with three in the top of the sixth."
Johnson's second home run made it 8-6 in the seventh, but the Golden Eagles got a two-run single from Nick Spardone in the eighth to go up 10-6.
"The guys battled back to get within two and Tech answered again," Lyons added. "It was a tough night trying to play catch up all night long."
Brennan Orf led off the bottom of the eighth with a home run and SIUE added two more in the inning when Ohl and Connor Kiffer walked with the bases loaded to trim the lead to 10-9.
"It wasn't that we didn't get the big hits, but we didn't pitch well enough tonight," Lyons said. We had 13 walks and a hit batter and that's not a good recipe to win games."
Quinn Waterhouse worked 3 2/3 innings and allowed three runs. He left with the bases loaded in the sixth and all three runs scored.
"He did a nice job," Lyons said of Waterhouse. "The numbers don't show great. He just ran out of gas."
Kyle Dixon allowed two runs in 2 1/3 innings. Jake Bockenstedt finished the game with 1 1/3 scoreless innigns.
Ohl finished with the two RBIs. Kiffer and Avery Owusu-Asiedu each had two hits. The Cougars left eight runners on base.
"This group has a lot of grit," Lyons said. "They fight. They showed that, but we came up a little short."
Spardone finished with three hits to lead Tennessee Tech at the plate.
The Cougars and Golden Eagles will play game two of the series Saturday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.
"We need to rebound, and I have confidence that this group will do that," Lyons added.
