MARION, Ill. – SIUE baseball's 2024 season came to a close Wednesday night at the Ohio Valley Conference baseball Championship. The seventh-seeded Cougars fell 3-1 to third-seeded Morehead State at Mtn. Dew Park.
"I'm proud of our guys," SIUE Head Coach Sean Lyons said. "We fought all the way to the end, we just didn't get the big hit to push some runs across."
SIUE finished the season at 21-34-1 overall.
"I feel terrible for the seniors," Lyons added. "Finality is tough when it comes to playing college athletics."
Morehead State improved to 34-22 and advanced to the double-elimination portion of the tournament.
It was the second game of the day for the Cougars who upset sixth-seeded Eastern Illinois earlier in the day to advance.
"It was a really up and down season," Lyons said. "We were fighting to get some traction. It was a reset to get to the tournament and we put together two good baseball games. Unfortunately, we fell a little bit short tonight."
Both teams scored first inning runs with Ryan Niedzwiedz driving in Lucas Spence with a single.
Morehead State appeared to take the lead in the fourth when David Germann doubled to score Ryan Grabosch. SIUE noticed Grabosch failed to touch third and on appeal was called out. The play was reviewed and confirmed.
The Eagles did take the lead in the fifth but settled for a run after loading the bases with nobody out. SIUE starter Garrett Helsel forced a ground ball and SIUE got an out at the plate. A sacrifice fly put the Eagles up 2-1, but that's all they would get.
Morehead State added to its lead in the seventh. Helsel left with two on and one out, turning things over to Liam McKillop. A walk loaded the bases and a wild pitch brought home the third run of the game.
Helsel (2-4) allowed three runs, two earned, over a career-long 6.1 inning-start. He struck out six, also a career best.
"We got an excellent start from Garrett Helsel," Lyons said. "We're really happy with the way he performed tonight."
The Eagles chased McKillop with back-to-back singles to start the eighth inning. Spence relieved and got a ground out and fly out before the Cougars intentionally walked OVC Player of the Year Roman Kuntz. Spence struck out Nick Gooden to keep the game at 3-1.
The Cougars put a pair of runners on in the ninth but left both runners on.
"We talk all the time about giving ourselves an opportunity to be in the game and have a chance to win one late and we did (have the chance)."
The Cougars left 10 runners on in the game.
Morehead State starter Luke Helton went the distance for the Eagles, allowing the run on just four SIUE hits. He walked four and struck out eight.
"That's two weeks in a row that Helton has done an outstanding job keeping our guys at bay," Lyons said of the Eagles' starter.
Morehead State outhit SIUE 11-4. Spence, Niedzwiedz, Chase Bloomer and Daniel Gierer had the only hits for the Cougars
Spence finished the season with 85 hits, setting a new single season record for SIUE at the Division I level.
