Cougars look to continue GLVC success

Keli Keener
Sports Stringer

Thirteen is the lucky number for the Cougar baseball team.

SIUE is riding high on a 13-game winning streak. The Cougars look to continue the trend as they play three conference doubleheaders this week.

"This is a big week for us," head coach Gary Collins said in a recent press release. "We need to hold our own against (University of) Southern Indiana in the division and (University of) Indianapolis and Northern Kentucky (University) in regards to conference play."

SIUE, 27-15 overall and 13-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, played Southern Indiana Wednesday at Roy E. Lee Field. The Screaming Eagles are tied for second in the conference's South Division with a 9-6 mark, 20-17 overall. Southern Indiana is four games behind SIUE.

Due to deadline, the Alestle will be posting the results and wrap-up of Wednesday's doubleheader in Tuesday's issue.

Southern Indiana completed a three-game series sweep of Quincy University with a 10-5 victory Sunday. Southern Indiana is on a four-game winning streak.

Over the weekend, the Cougars will face Indianapolis and Northern Kentucky at home. SIUE ranks third in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II North Central Region behind Indianapolis and Ashland University.

Indianapolis entered the week with a 33-10 record overall and 14-1 mark in the conference. Saturday's doubleheader will begin at noon.

On Sunday, the Cougars will face Northern Kentucky, which is No. 4 in the region, for a noon doubleheader. The Norse are 33-11 overall and 9-6 in the GLVC. Northern Kentucky ranks second in the conference behind SIUE.

Junior catcher Jason Martin leads the Norse with a .421 batting average. Senior first baseman Matt Mason has a .412 batting average. He leads his team with 14 home runs.

Last weekend the Cougars dominated in their three wins over Bellarmine College at home. SIUE edged the Knights 3-2 in 14 innings Friday and then swept them in the doubleheader Saturday 9-0 and 16-2, respectively.

"Our pitching dominated their hitters," Collins said. "We seem to be improving offensively little by little, and I am pleased with the defense. We committed only two errors all weekend."

Collins said pitchers Josh Clark and Matt Wilkinson are coming around.

"Josh and Matt stepped it up a notch," he said. "They are throwing the ball a lot better now."

Clark won the first game Saturday by pitching a one-hitter to record his first shutout and second complete game of the season. He improved his record to 3-0. Clark is second on the team in innings pitched with 59.2 and second with 52 strikeouts. He is fourth on the team with a 3.92 ERA.Wilkinson capped off the second game by pitching seven innings, giving up one earned run. He is 5-0 on the season with a 4.14 ERA.

Dave Crouthers is batting .366 for the Cougars and leads the team with 164 at-bats, 54 RBIs and a .610 slugging percentage.

Todd Haug and Chad Opel also had strong outings.

"Todd took some good swings last weekend," Collins said. "His bat is coming back. Opel is also hitting the ball better."

Haug was 5-for-10 from the batter's box with four RBIs while Opel finished the weekend 8-for-16 with a double, home run and four runs scored.