SIUE Cougars (20-17, 10-2 OVC) at Western Illinois Leathernecks (9-25, 3-9 OVC)
April 17-19
Alfred D. Boyer Stadium
Macomb, Illinois

PROBABLE STARTERS:
SIUE RHP Tim Teixiera vs. WIU RHP Max Tripure
SIUE RHP Spencer Stearns vs. WIU LHP Jason Buhl
SIUE RHP Jase Phillips vs. WIU RHP Brett Buchanan

MIDWEEK: The Cougars split a pair of midweeks, dropping a seven-inning contest at Illinois Tuesday before scoring a comeback win over Saint Louis Wednesday.

START ME UP: The Cougars started 8-0 in OVC play, marking the program's best start to a conference season. The previous best was a 6-0 start in 2015.

STANDING TALL: SIUE enters the week tied with Eastern Illinois for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference at 10-2. They have a two game lead on Southeast Missouri and Little Rock.

SERIES STUFF: The all-time series spans 70 games over nearly 50 years. SIUE holds a 37-33 advantage and has won seven of the last nine meetings. The Cougars won two of three last year in Edwardsville. 

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Terrick Thompson-Allen became the third SIUE player to garner OVC Player of the Week honors March 23. He was then tabbed as the National Co-Hitter of the Week by the NCBWA Marcg 24. Josh Heyder won his first career OVC Player of the Week award March 16. Ryan Niedzwiedz earned the award March 2. He also was named to Baseball America's Team of the Week March 3.

HOMER HAPPY: SIUE have homered seven times this week and continue to lead the OVC and rank 15th in the NCAA with 64 home runs so far this season. The Cougars rank 18th in the country at 1.73 home runs per game. Niedzwiedz leads the league and ranks 13th nationally with 15 home runs. Mack Mitchell ranks fifth in the league with 10 home runs. In 2025, SIUE led the league with 77 home runs which was second most in the program's Division I history. The school record is 99 home runs in 2022.

RECORD WATCH: Niedzwiedz now has 34 career home runs, and is third all-time at SIUE. Mitchell has hit 32 in his career, to rank sixth. The program record of 35 home runs is shared by Brady Bunten and Brock Weimer.
HARD NINE: The Cougars hit a single-game school-record nine home runs March 20 at Morehead State. SIUE hit 19 home runs in the the three-game weekend series with the Eagles. 

EDWARDSVILLE SLUGGERS: The Cougars are second in the OVC and rank 26th nationally in slugging percentage (.511). Niedzwiedz is second in the OVC and is 36th in the NCAA with a .727 slugging percentage. Thompson-Allen ranks third in the OVC (.686).