Baseball

Cougars Sweep Bellarmine, Extend Win Streak to 13
         (EDWARDSVILLE, Ill.) Behind solid pitching and an explosive offense, the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville baseball team completed the series sweep against Bellarmine and extended its winning streak to 13 consecutive games this afternoon at Roy Lee Field.
         SIUE, 27-15 overall and 13-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, scored a combined 25 runs on 30 hits in the doubleheader. Josh Clark threw a one-hit complete game gem and posted his first shutout of the season as SIUE defeated Bellarmine 9-0 in game one. Clark improves his record to 3-0 on the season while striking out five batters. The Cougar bats struck early with four runs in the first inning. SIUE added three more runs in the second and two runs in the sixth inning. Todd Haug finished game one 3-for-3 with four runs batted in. Chad Opel recorded two singles in four at-bats and scored two runs.
         Opel and the Cougar bats remained hot in game two as they defeated Bellarmine 16-2 behind starter Matt Wilkinson. Wilkinson gave up one run in the first inning but settled in after that, scattering five hits while striking out four batters in seven innings. He improves his record to 5-0 on the season. The Cougars answered in the bottom of the first by scoring four runs of their own to take the lead. SIUE added two runs in the second, one in the fifth, five in the sixth, three in the seventh and one more in the eighth.
         Opel was 5 of 6 with two runs scored and a solo home run in the sixth inning, finishing the day 7-for-10 at the plate. Jason Kessler hit a three-run homer, his second of the year, in the sixth and went 3-for-6 with four runs batted in. Steve Berra and Dave Crouthers each went 3-for-4 at the plate with two doubles, three runs scored and 2 RBI.
         Bellarmine fell to 8-17 on the season and 4-11 in the GLVC.
         The Cougars are next in action when they face Southern Indiana on Wednesday at 1 p.m. at Roy Lee Field.
                  -siue-