UMSL Uses Pitching to Sweep SIUE

Rivermen Get Strong Outings from Burnside, McCoy

St. Louis, Mo. – The UMSL baseball team swept a doubleheader from SIU Edwardsville on Wednesday afternoon behind some strong starting pitcher from Blake Burnside (Cardwell, Mo./Southland) in the first game and Steven McCoy (Potosi, Mo./Potosi) in the second game.

In the opener, Blake Burnside pitched six solid innings in a no decision, giving up no runs on two hits and struck out eight. It was a scoreless pitchers’ dual through the first five innings as neither team could plate a run. UMSL broke through in the bottom of the sixth as Logan Hughes (Walnut Shade, Mo./Branson) got a base hit to right and Jonathan Mercer (Sullivan, Mo./Sullivan), who was running on the play, scored all the way from first base to give the Rivermen a 1-0 lead. SIUE followed with a leadoff triple by Luke Humphrey in the top of the seventh and he later scored to tie the game at 1-1. UMSL had some late inning heroics for the second game in a row, as Scott Davis (High Ridge, Mo./Northwest) got a double to left center and Scott Sanders (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway North) drew a two-out walk to put runners on first and second. Jonathan Mercer then roped a double down the left field line, scoring Scott Davis and giving UMSL the 2-1 victory.

The Rivermen came out in the second game and scored early and often, then rode the pitching of Steven McCoy, who picked up the complete game win. UMSL got five runs in the first inning, and followed with two more runs in both the second and third innings for a 9-0 lead. In the first, Scott Miller (St. Louis, Mo./Lindbergh) came up with two outs and bases loaded and knocked in three runs with a base hit to right. In the second, Josh Morgan (St. Louis, Mo./St. Mary’s) had an RBI double, and in the third Doug Wiles (Farmington, Mo./Farmington) added another RBI double and scored on an RBI single by Scott Sanders.

The Cougars came back and added two runs in the fifth inning to spoil UMSL’s bid for a shutout, but the Rivermen weren’t done scoring, adding a run in the sixth and then scoring two more runs in the eighth, one coming on a solo home run to center by Josh Morgan, his first home run of the season. Steven McCoy picked up a complete game victory, going 9.0 innings and giving up two runs on five hits and struck out four.

The Rivermen are now 17-16-1 on the season and improve to 12-8 in the GLVC. UMSL will be on the road this weekend with a doubleheader at Lewis on Friday, April 9, and again on Saturday, April 10.