Cougars celebrate a run

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Parker Guinn's two-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning lifted SIUE to an 8-7 win over Murray State in the second game of a three-game series Sunday at Simmons Baseball Complex.

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"Their guy made a mistake," SIUE Head Coach Tony Stoecklin said. "Parker had fouled off a 2-0 pitch and he was right on it. So he had him dialed in. I thought if he made another mistake Parker would put a charge into it. You don't expect a home run you just expect him to hit the ball hard. The guy made the mistake and Parker had him timed."

SIUE improved to a perfect 5-0 in the OVC and 5-9 overall with the win. Murray State dropped to 6-13 overall and 2-3 in the OVC.

Guinn's home run followed a one-out single by Keaton Wright and came against Murray State reliever Tyler Anderson. Anderson dropped to 1-2 with the loss.  

SIUE led the game 5-4 heading into the ninth inning before a two-run home run by Murray State's Clay Kelly put the Racers on top. Alec Saikal tied the game with a one out, RBI-double in the bottom of the ninth to score Dustin Woodcock.

"Alec has been struggling and really pressing at the plate but when we needed him today he came up with a huge hit," Stoecklin said.

Anthony Bayus came up with a two out RBI-double in the top of the 10th to put the Racers back on top 7-6.

"It was an ugly win, but a win nonetheless," Stoecklin said. "I'll tip a cap to our guys here. We didn't quit but we certainly made it more difficult on ourselves than it had to be."

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Trailing 2-0 in the second inning, the Cougars got back-to-back home runs from Mario Tursi and Nick Lombardoto take a 3-2 lead.

The Racers got a run in the third to tie the score 3-3, but SIUE scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to take a 5-3 lead. Tyler Lawrence homered for the Racers in the eighth to put Murray State within a run at 5-4.

"The middle of the game we didn't have much offensive production. We gave them a chance to come back, tie the game, and put the pressure on us," Stoecklin said. "We had opportunities to score those innings but we didn't take advantage of the opportunities they were trying to give us."

Jarrett Bednar started for the Cougars and pitched 4 1/3 innings. He allowed three runs on five hits. Ryan Agnitsch tossed 4 2/3 innings in relief allowing three runs. He struck out four.

"He did well early in his outing," Stoecklin said of Agnitsch. "I don't know if he got tired or if he got caught up in the moment late in the game and backed off a little bit. He threw the ball well early and that's something we can build on."

SIUE finished with 12 hits and 26 hits over the first games in the series. Lombardo and Saikal each had three hits for the Cougars.

Matthew Johnson, Derek Yoder, and Lawrence each had two hits for the Racers.

The Cougars will attempt their second OVC series sweep Monday afternoon in the 3 p.m. finale.

"We've accomplished our goal. Our goal each weekend is to win the series and anything more than that is gravy," Stoecklin added. "The key tomorrow is to have better energy and better focus and take advantage of opportunities that are before us.  Murray State will come out and fight hard. We can't just show up and expect a good result tomorrow."

Article retrieved from: siuecougars.com/sports

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