EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Eight runs in the third and fourth inning were enough to push SIUE baseball past UT Martin on Friday night at Roy E. Lee Field. The Cougars tallied four runs in the second on five base knocks before scoring another four in the third.
SIUE improves to 10-20 overall and 4-3 against Ohio Valley Conference opponents. UT Martin drops to 11-20 and 3-4.
"We had a solid start tonight out of the guys," Head Coach Sean Lyons said. "It was nice to jolt out to a good start offensively. We put up some great at bats against a solid arm to put momentum on our side. Couple that with Tyler Delong's start on the mound; he commanded his pitches and did a nice job."
John Stallcup's single to right field in the bottom of the second allowed Gage Franck to score from first base on a fielding error by Will Smith of UT Martin. Daniel Gierer followed up with an RBI single to left, brining Stallcup around to score from second. Gierer ended up on third after a throwing error from a failed pickoff attempt by UT Martin's starter, Tristan Walton.
Zack Floyd drove in Gierer the following at bat and reached on a fielder's choice. With bases loaded and one away, Chase Bloomer brought in Floyd from third to plate the Cougars' fourth run of the inning.
"We had a lot of early in the at bat base hits," Lyons said. "We put pressure on their starter early. We were aggressive with our approach."
With bases loaded for SIUE and two away in the bottom of the third, Drew Mize reached base on a throwing error, bringing three home to score. Bloomer singled up the middle to bring home Lucas Spence.
SIUE starter Tyler Delong allowed just three runs on seven hits in six compete innings of work. The senior struck out five to earn his third win of the season.
"It was a quality start out of Tyler," added Lyons. "His start put us in a position to win the game."
Ian Benner threw three scoreless innings on the slab, allowing just three hits while striking out one.
"Tyler gave us a great start, but Ian came in and didn't miss a beat," Lyons said. "He kept them off-balance and capped off a good night for us."
Offensively, the Cougars were led by three hits from Ethan Willoughby. Franck and Bloomer tallied two hits apiece.
"Ethan did a nice job of staying on top of some fastballs," Lyons said. "He had some great line drive hits and even laid down a bunt. It was a productive night for him."
SIUE baseball returns to the diamond for a doubleheader against the Skyhawks on Saturday, Apr. 5 beginning at 1:00 p.m.
