Baseball

Collins: “We Need to Play Better”
         “The bottom line is, we need to play better,” said SIUE baseball Coach Gary Collins.
         The Cougars are off to a 4-4 record as the season begins but have several chances to improve upon that this weekend. Weather permitting, SIUE plays at Lincoln on Friday and travels to Joplin, Mo., to play Missouri Southern State in a three-game series on “We really need to start winning three of four games, and this is the weekend to start,” said Collins.
         SIUE is coming off a series in Florence, Ala., where they lost to Southern Arkansas 8-2 and 7-4 but defeated North Alabama 9-1.
         Collins was pleased with the performance of junior Nick Seibert (Worden), senior shortstop Chad Opel (Edwardsville), and junior second baseman Justin McBride (Troy).
         “Seibert pitched extremely well and was virtually unhittable,” said Collins. “Opel had his usual good weekend and McBride played well this weekend too.”
         Seibert has not allowed an earned run in his first 13 innings pitched. Opel, who is now No. 2 on the all-time runs scored list at SIUE, leads the Cougars with a .556 batting average.
         Collins is looking forward to the return of utility player Wes Pickering (Springfield, Mo.) this weekend. Pickering spent the 2001 season sidelined with a knee injury and has been unable to join the team up until now because of his play with the SIUE basketball team. “Pickering’s return will make us a better team and will really help out,” said Collins.
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