Cougars start GLVC play in Quincy

Keli Keener
Sports Stringer

The baseball team, currently 13-12 in pre-conference play, brought home six wins and five losses from its spring break trip to Savannah, Ga.

"The positive is we had lots of game experience," head coach Gary Collins said in a press release. "You can only get better with play, but we have been a little inconsistent."

Senior Mark Bugger became SIUE's all-time career hits leader Friday.

He surpassed Mark Briggs' 1995-98 record of 272 hits in a matchup with Grand Valley State University in Savannah, Ga. Bugger's four hits, two of which were home runs, raised his hits total to 274.

He also added seven RBIs in the Cougars' 15-7 victory against the Lakers.

In his first at-bat of the game, Bugger reached base on a walk. He tied the record in the Cougars' four-run third inning with a double that produced two RBIs.

The Cougars built a 7-0 lead in the fourth inning when Bugger broke the record with a two-run triple to center field.

Senior Matt Wilkinson pitched six solid innings for the Cougars. He gave up four hits and four earned runs in six innings to pick up the win against GVSU. In the seventh inning, the Cougars rallied for five runs on three long balls.

Junior catcher Todd Haug led off the inning with a home run. Later Bugger and Dave Crouthers tagged back-to-back home runs.

In his last at-bat of that game, Bugger needed a single to achieve the allusive hitters cycle of one home run, one triple, one double and one single. Instead, he knocked his second home run of the game.

Bugger recorded four doubles, a triple, three home runs and 15 RBI on the trip. He leads his team with a .464 batting average, 28 runs, 45 hits and 35 RBIs in his 97 at-bats. The senior shortstop holds a .518 on-base percentage.

Crouthers also had a strong road trip, batting .356 over the 11 games with two home runs, a double and a triple. Crouthers started two games on the mound for SIUE, finishing with a 1-1 record.

Senior Bret Giaudrone was solid out of the bullpen.

He pitched 11 and two-thirds innings in six games.

He gave up only one unearned run and struck out nine batters while recording two wins and two saves.

Giaudrone, who needs one save to tie the single-season record for saves set by Jason Guest in 1997, leads the team with a 1.52 ERA, 15 appearances and seven saves on the season so far.

The Cougars will open Great Lakes Valley Conference play when they travel to Quincy University this weekend.

The three-game series begins with a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Saturday and a single game Sunday, at 1 p.m. The Hawks are 2-8 in non conference play.

They have had nine games canceled due to inclement weather. Quincy is scheduled to play Lincoln College Thursday.

"I'm glad they're 2-8," Collins said. "I'd rather be playing them than a team who was 8-2." "We need to play better," he added. "I'm sure they're (Quincy) saying the same thing. They were in Savannah the same time we were. They played the same teams we did and went 0-6 so I guess that's a good sign, but they're not just going to give us those games."