Illinois Valley Times

Western Illinois Baseball team dropped both games of a doubleheader with in-state rival Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Saturday (Mar. 4). The Leathernecks fell to the Cougars in 11 innings in game one 11-10 and in game two 7-3.

GAME 1

The offense stayed quiet for the beginning of game one. WIU would get two base runners on in the first as Kyree Alexander and Jake Allgeyer would get one out of walks. Derek Botaletto would draw Western Illinois third walk to load the bases, but WIU would strand them. WIU starter Jake Armstrong came in ready to deal—the senior retired SIUE to start the first inning, capping it off with a strikeout. Armstrong would continue his success in the second. After a leadoff double by SIUE, Armstrong would connect with Botaletto to pick off the Cougar's base runner for the first out. Armstrong would get a pop-out and a fielder's choice to finish a scoreless second inning. 

Kyree Alexander would get WIU first hit of the afternoon with a single into center. The Chicago native would then steal second base but would not come around to score. Jake Armstrong kept SIUE scoreless in the third, working around a single and a walk to keep the game at zero. The scoring would start in the bottom of the fifth as SIUE would get a solo home run. The Cougars would get another on a single to left field and lead 2-0 after five. Jack Bell would come into relieve Armstrong in the sixth. Bell came and shut the door. Three batters faced three strikeouts and retired SIUE one, two, three. 

The game would go into the top of the ninth with SIUE in front 2-0. The Leathernecks would get a leadoff walk by J.R. Heavilin, and then a single by Botalletto would put runners at first and second with no outs. After a sac bunt by Chase VanDerGinst would advance the runners, Ricky Pospisil would line a single that would tie the game at two. The Leatherneck offense would not slow down. Max Slavens would follow the single with a single of his own to put runners on the corners. After Slavens stole second base, Steven Walsh would walk to load the bases. Nick Mitchell would step up to the plate and send a 2-2 pitch over the fence in right field to give WIU the 6-2 lead. SIUE would respond in the bottom half of the ninth. A double, four walks, and a single would tie the game at 6-6.

WIU would jump back in front in the tenth. Heavilin would start the top half of the inning with a single to the left. Botaletto would get hit by a pitch, and then VanDerGinst would have a bunt single to load the bases. With one out, Slavens would drive a ball to center field for the sac fly to put WIU up by one (7-6). WIU would add another run as a passed ball would get to the backstop, letting Botaletto score. Once again, SIUE would respond in the tenth with two runs to tie the game at eight. Mitchell would draw a walk in the eleventh and then advance on an Alexander ground ball. Jake Allgeyer would then step up to the plate. Allgeyer would not take a pitch as he would knock the first pitch he saw over the right-center wall to put WIU back in front by two (10-8). For the third inning in a row, SIUE would have a response as they would put together a three-run eleventh to walk it off 11-10.

WIU totaled nine hits in game one. Ricky Pospisil was the only Leatherneck with multiple hits. Pospisil also contributed, tallying two RBIs. Jake Allgeyer and Mitchell hit the only WIU home runs in the ball game. Jake Armstrong went 5.0 innings allowing just two runs well, striking out four. Jack Bell had three scoreless innings out of the Leatherneck's bullpen, striking out four.

GAME 2

The late scoring from game one did not carry over into game two as SIUE would take game two's pitcher duel 7-3. After working around two base runners for WIU in the first, the Cougars would use two WIU errors to put up a four spot on the board in the bottom half. Both pitchers started to settle into the game in the second. Tyler Kapraun would give up a leadoff walk but then sit down the next three Cougar hitters in the second. In the third, Kapraun would see only four batters as he would get two ground ball outs and a fly out. Kapraun would keep settling in, only seeing four Cougar hitters in the next two innings to support SIUE at four.

WIU would get on the scoreboard in the seventh. Jack Siervers would double down the right-field line to start the inning. Chase VanDerGinst would enter to pinch run and advance to third on a wild pitch. Max Slavens would then do his job and put the ball in play to drive in VanDerGinst. The Leathernecks would continue as Justin Jang, and Nick Mitchell would draw back-to-back walks. After a Leatherneck strikeout, Jake Allgeyer would bounce a single through the infield for a two-out RBI single to bring WIU within two (4-2).

SIUE would respond in the bottom half of the seventh. They would draw two walks and then capitalize on a WIU error that would plate two. SIUE would add another run on a fielder's choice. WIU would try to get back into the game in the eighth. VanDerGinst would get a two-out walk and then steal second base. Max Slavens and Aron Harrington would then draw back-to-back walks to load the bases. Nick Mitchell would draw WIU's fourth straight walk to bring home VanDerGinst, and WIU would cut the deficit to 7-3. WIU would keep SIUE scoreless in the eighth, but they could not put together a rally in the ninth.

WIU would have five hits as a team, with Jack Sievers picking up the lone extra-base hit. The Leathernecks drew ten walks as a team. Tyler Kapraun went 5.0 innings, only allowing one earned run well, striking out four.

WIU and SIUE will finish their three-game series on Sunday (Mar. 5), with the first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

Original source can be found here.