MARION, Ill. – SIUE baseball saw its 2025 season come to a close Wednesday in the OVC Tournament. The second-seeded Cougars were eliminated with a 7-4 loss to No. 6 Lindenwood and an 11-5 loss to No. 1 Eastern Illinois.
The Cougars finished their season at 26-28 overall. SIUE earned the No. 2 seed after finishing 18-8 in the league, marking the most OVC wins for SIUE since 2015.
The Cougars and Panthers met in the final game of the night, after both teams dropped games earlier in the day. A mostly back-and-forth game was a 8-6 EIU before Ethan Rossi put the game out of reach in the ninth with a three-run home run and an 11-6 advantage.
The Cougars scored a first-inning run on an RBI single by Joshua Heyder. EIU scored twice in the bottom of the inning and added a run in the third to lead 3-1.
SIUE regained the lead with a three-run fourth. Ryan Niedzwiedz and Ethan Willoughby singled before Kyle Ratliff singled to drive in Niedzwiedz. John Stallcup was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Lane Crowden walked to force in the tying run. Mack Mitchell hit a sacrifice fly to the warning track in left to score the go ahead run. The lead was short-lived for SIUE.
EIU used two walks, a sacrifice bunt and an infield hit to load the bases and chase starter Spencer Stearns (3-5).
Kyle Athmer relieved and hit the first batter he faced to force home the tying run. Mike O'Connor then tripled into the right field corner to clear the bases and put the Panthers in front 7-4.
Stearns allowed six runs in 3 1/3 innings and took the loss.
The Panthers extended the lead in the bottom of the sixth with a run on a squeeze play.
The Cougar picked up three hits in the top of the seventh and manufactured two runs on a sacrifice fly by Niedzwiedz and a groundout by Heyder to cut the lead to 8-6.
Bloomer paced the Cougars, going 4-5 with a run scored. Heyder finished with two RBIs.
In the first game, Lindenwood starter Eli Brown limited the Cougars to just five hits in six innings. The Cougars were kept hitless until the fourth inning.
The Lions grabbed the lead in the second when SIUE starter Tim Teixeira hit the first two batters in the inning. Both runners scored on a single and a sacrifice fly.
The Lions used three consecutive two-out singles to score in the fourth to extend the lead out to 3-0.
Lindenwood chased Teixeira in the sixth with a single and a run-scoring double to start the inning. The Lions drew a bases loaded walk from reliever Liam McKillop. Alex Rodriguez relieved McKillop and got a pop-up and a strikeout to end the inning and Lindenwood stranded the bases loaded.
Teixeira (3-5) took the loss, allowing five runs on seven hits. Brown (4-8) won it for the Lions. He allowed two runs in six innings.
Ethan Willoughby and Kyle Ratliff hit consecutive doubles to open the seventh and chase Brown. Willoughby scored on Ratliff's double. Bennett Stice relieved and John Stallcup immediately singled. Daniel Gierer singled with two outs to make it 5-2.
A solo home run by Evan Funkhouser in the eighth, stretched the Lindenwood lead to 6-2.
Joshua Heyder doubled with one out in the bottom of the eighth and then scored on a Ratliff single to trim the lead to 6-3. Both teams scored in the ninth. Chase Bloomer drove home the ninth inning run for the Cougars.
Ratliff was 2-4 with two RBIs to lead the Cougars in the opener. Gierer and Willoughby each had two hits in the game.
