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  Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
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Jeff Darnall
Jeff Darnall

 April 11, 2005

Baseball Looks To Get Back on Track
        Southern Illinois University Edwardsville baseball has fallen on hard times having won just three of its last 10 games. Three of the losses came as one-run decisions and another saw the Cougars fall in extra innings.
        "It is tough," said SIUE baseball coach Gary Collins. "We just can't seem to get a hit or make a play when we need to put the game away. We haven't made pitches to put people away either."
        SIUE enters its doubleheader at Missouri-St. Louis tomorrow with a 14-13 record overall and 9-11 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. That puts the Cougars in seventh place in the league, two games behind Southern Indiana on the loss side for the sixth spot. The top six teams make the season-ending Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.
        SIUE pitcher Cameron Cheek (Atlanta) came in relief to get his first save against Quincy last week. Cheek then threw eight-plus innings against UW-Parkside on Saturday, improving his record to 4-1 with a 1.66 earned run average on the season.
        "He pitched lights out and was really impressive," said Collins.
        Freshman left fielder Cory Bunner (Jacksonville) batted .333 with six RBIs for the week to improve his batting average to .287 with 28 hits.
        "Bunner has been playing extremely well for a freshman," said Collins. "He has really been solid for us. He keeps getting better."
        Adam Tallman (Gillespie) collected eight hits with four runs batted in during the week batting .381 to raise his average to .308.
        Jeff Darnall (Atlanta) ranks second the club with a .347 batting average. Darnall is tied for first with two home runs and second on the team with 17 RBIs.
        After battling the Rivermen tomorrow, the Cougars will face Upper Iowa over the weekend. Saturday's game with the Peacocks will begin at 3 p.m. at Gordon Moore Park in Alton. Sunday's game starts at noon at T.R. Hughes Park in O'Fallon, Mo.
                -siue cougars-