Baseball

Cougars Begin Eight-Game Homestand
        Coming off a week in which it went 2-4 in road games, the SIU Edwardsville baseball team will return to Roy Lee Field for an eight-game homestand.
        The Cougars play host to a doubleheader with Kentucky Wesleyan on Wednesday. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m. Wisconsin-Parkside, which sits atop the conference standings, then comes to town for doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday.
        SIUE, 12-24 overall and 9-14 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, is currently 10th in the conference standings. The Cougars still have 16 conference games scheduled and will try to climb up in the standings, as only the top six teams advance to the conference tournament in May.
        After being swept by Missouri-St. Louis last week, the Cougars split a four-game series with Northern Kentucky. The Cougars picked up a win in the first game of the series behind the pitching of Ron Jones (Kankakee). Jones picked up his team-leading fourth victory of the season after allowing three runs, one earned, on nine hits. He also leads the team with a 1.16 earned run average.
        Craig Ohlau (Chester) came up big offensively in the first game, going 3-for-4 at the plate and driving in five runs. He leads the team with a .331 batting average and is second with 23 RBIs.
        “Ohlau has been hitting much better ever since the conference season began,” Coach Gary Collins said.
        David Briesacher (Waterloo) pitched a complete game two-hitter in the first game Sunday. The sophomore struck out three and walked none. With the victory, Briesacher ups his record to 2-2 on the season.
        “Briesacher had an outstanding outing,” Collins said. “He has pitched his way into the rotation.”
                -siue cougars-