CHICAGO – SIUE baseball dropped both games of a doubleheader Saturday falling 4-2 in game one and 19-9 in seven innings in game two.
SIUE took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of game one. Lucas Spence doubled to start the game and scored on a one-out base hit by Ryan Niedzwiedz.
UIC scored twice in the second inning and twice more in the fifth inning when Kendal Ewell hit a two-run home run.
The Cougars added a run in the ninth when Gage Franck grounded out to score Chase Bloomer.
Jacob Kampf (0-2) worked a career-high 4.1 innings. He allowed all four runs on seven hits. He struck out two. Kyle Athmer finished the game with 3.2 scoreless innings. He struck out three.
"Kyle Athmer did a great job keeping us in the game," SIUE Head Coach Sean Lyons said. "He induced a few double play balls to escape some jams."
The Cougars were outhit 12-5 in the game. Five different Cougars finished with a single hit in the game.
"Hits were hard to come by in game one," Lyons added. "We hit several 'at-em' balls as we tried to get back in the game."
The Cougars fell to 5-15. UIC improved to 12-6.
SIUE struck first in game two, scoring in the first again. Niedzwiedz, again picked up the RBI when he singled to drive in Bloomer. UIC then jumped on Cougar starter Lucas Spence (0-3). Zane Zielinski homered to start the inning. The Flames used three more hits and wild pitch to score four more times.
SIUE trimmed the lead back to 5-3 in the second with an RBI-double by Daniel Gierer and a sacrifice fly from Drew Mize.
The Flames put up another crooked number in the second inning. UIC loaded the bases with a hit and two hit batters by SIUE reliever Alex Rodriguez. A double play and a single plated two runs before the Flames loaded the bases a second time ahead of a James Harris grand slam. With the bases loaded a third time, Jackson Bessette popped a ball up into shallow right field where it was misplayed allowing three more to score and push the UIC lead out to 14-3.
SIUE scored twice in the fourth inning on RBIs by Spence and Mize and then scored four more in the fifth inning. Zack Floyd's sacrifice fly made it 14-6 and Sean Kang's first collegiate home run, a three-run drive to right, made it 14-9.
"We fell behind with their offensive outburst in the first two innings," Lyons said. "I am proud of the way our guys never gave away at-bats. They were tough outs all the way through.
The Flames answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning and then put the game away with a single run in the seventh.
Kang led the way in game two with two hits and three RBIs.
"Sean had several quality at-bats for us today," Lyons said. "A nice double and then the big home run that helped us get back in the game."
Spence, Willoughby and Gierer also had two hits apiece.
Zielinski, Harris and Pambos Nicoloudes had three hits each for UIC.
SIUE will play at Illinois State Tuesday before opening Ohio Valley Conference play Friday at Roy E. Lee Field.
