TROY, Ala. – SIUE baseball dropped the final game of its season-opening series 11-0 to Troy in seven innings.

The Cougars finished the weekend 1-3.

"We learned some things as far as what we need to work on," SIUE Head Coach Sean Lyons said of the weekend. "We saw some good things offensively, especially Friday and Saturday."

Troy broke through with one out in the third. Two walks and a hit batter by SIUE starter Spencer Stearns set up Will butcher, who blasted a first-pitch grand slam to left center to put the Trojans up 4-0.

"Spencer Stearns was cruising along and then a couple of walks and a hit batter and then we're down 4-0," Lyons said.

Kole Myers picked up a two-run double and Butcher added an RBI-double in the bottom of the fourth to extend Troy's lead to 7-0.

"We made a couple of defensive miscues that didn't help," Lyons said.

Troy's Kyle Mock and Aidan Gilroy both hit two-run home runs off SIUE reliever Liam McKillop in the bottom of the fifth for an 11-0 advantage.

Stearns (0-1) suffered the loss, allowing seven runs, four earned, on four hits. He struck out three.

Danile Gierer's single in the third inning and Johsua Heyder's double in the seventh were the only hits for the Cougars.

Troy righthander Clete Hartzog (1-0) tossed five shutout innings, allowing one hit and striking out seven, for the win.

"Hartzog was good and we were never able to get anything going offensively," Lyons added.

SIUE will next travel to Oral Roberts for a three-game series beginning Friday.

"We want to continue to challenge ourselves against good teams," Lyons said.