EDWARDSVILLE – Brady Bunten and Avery Owusu-Asiedu combined for five RBIs as SIUE completed the thee-game sweep of Western Illinois with an 8-7 win Sunday at Simmons Complex.
The Cougars have won four straight, improved to 4-0 at home and are now 8-2 overall. The 8-2 start is SIUE's best start since the 1998 team also started 8-2.
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Western Illinois fell to 1-10.
Bunten and Owusu-Asiedu each had RBI-doubles in the bottom of the eighth as the Cougars scored twice to come back after Western Illinois had taken an 7-6 lead in the top half of the inning.
"This was a great weekend getting all three games," SIUE Head Coach Sean Lyons said. "We had to come back, and it showed a lot of grit and fight from our guys. We've been fortunate that we've had someone come through with a big hit late in games."
The Cougars took a 2-1 lead in the first when Bunten drove home a run with a sacrifice fly and Ole Arntson singled to score a run. It was 3-2 Western in the second when SIUE answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Drew Mize had an RBI-hit in the inning and Bunten picked up an RBI with a bases loaded walk.
Owusu-Asiedu led off the third inning with his first home run of the year and Mize added his second RBI of the day to give the Cougars a 6-2 lead.
The Leathernecks scored twice in the fifth and again in the seventh to tie the game at 6-6 before taking the lead in the eighth.
Bunten finished the game 1-3 with the double and three RBIs. Bunten finished the series with eight RBIs. Owusu-Asiedu was 2-5 with the home run and two RBIs.
"Brady Bunten had a really good weekend in all and today he came through with the big double. "Avery had the big base hit to put us ahead and the home run. Hopefully that gets him going a little bit offensively."
Mize was 2-3 with the two RBIs and Matthew Klein was 2-3. Arntson was 1-3 with the RBI.
Teague Conrad (2-0) finished the eighth inning and worked a scoreless ninth for the win in relief. He struck out two.
Taylor Bruninga made the start for the Cougars working two innings. He allowed three runs on four hits and struck out four in his first start since April 2022.
"We wanted to get him a start because that could be potentially the role we see him in," Lyons said. "He gave us two innings and we were able to work the pitch count up. He had a bunch of strikeouts, but he had some walks. We'd like to see be a little sharper."
The Cougars stay at home for a Tuesday game with SIU Carbondale. That is a 3 p.m. first pitch.
"They've had a good ball club and they're swinging the bats well again like they did last year," Lyons said of SIUC. "We're looking forward to some midweek baseball."
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