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Western Illinois University Athletics

MBA_SAU_FP
WIU Visual Productions Center
0
St. Ambrose SAUBB 22-23
9
Winner Western Illinois WIU 13-26
St. Ambrose SAUBB
22-23
0
Final
9
Western Illinois WIU
13-26
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
St. Ambrose SAUBB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 2
Western Illinois WIU 3 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 X 9 9 2

W: Cottingham-Beard, Sam (1-0) L: Villar, Jose (1-2)

Game Recap: Baseball | | WIU Athletic Communications

Leathernecks Shut Out Bees, 9-0

Sam Cottingham-Beard earned the win in his first career start.

MACOMB, Ill. - Western Illinois basball played at home for the first time in 13 days on Tuesday (April 28), and defeated St. Ambrose University, 9-0, to improve to 13-26 on the season.

Chris Tschida stayed hot at the plate, extending his hitting streak to four games with a double, and Brent Turner extended his streak of reaching base to a career-high 11 games. Sam Cottingham-Beard earned the win in his first career start with St. Ambrose falling to 22-23 overall to end its regular season.

"I don't mind us being on the road, but it's nice to be at home. Guys can focus, and obviously the best thing is I get to be with my family," said head coach Ryan Brownlee following the win. "Again, our dugout was really good. It was nice to jump out to a comfortable lead because it allows to relax a little bit. They made a couple mistakes and we took advantage. Chris (Tschida) is hot right now. He's dialed in. We took our approach from last weekend into batting practice today, and If we maintain our energy level like we have been, we are going to be in good shape."

It only took two innings for Western to take control of the game, scoring three runs in the first and four in the second.

Turner opened things up with a single to center field and then stole second. A walk to Colton Pogue followed by a St. Ambrose error loaded the bases. JJ Reimer hit a hard ground ball at second base for an infield hit to bring in Turner and a throwing error to first brought home Pogue. A sacrifice fly from Adam McGinnis scored Moore and made the score 3-0.

In the bottom of the second inning, Kendall King legged out an infield hit to the shortstop and proceeded to steal second base. Pogue earned his second walk of the game and Reimer took a pitch off the back to load the bases with two outs. Tschida stepped in and, with a one-ball, two-strike count, belted a bases-clearing double to right-center field. Mark Garton singled to score Tschida and give the Leathernecks a 9-0 lead.

WIU's pitching staff continued to keep St. Ambrose off the scoreboard, and a double from Garton in the eighth helped the Purple and Gold add two more runs to the lead. 

"It was nice to be able to get guys out there. It was nice for Robert Nunn. That was really only the second time he has thrown to batters throwing submarine," said coach Brownlee. "Sam (Cottingham-Beard) had a lot of stuff going. I was very happy with him. He was throwing four pitches in there and kept them off balance. Nick Smith is another guy who has been scuffling but has got himself righted. The pitchers did a really good job of just pounding it in there making guys swing the bats."

In the victory, Cottingham-Beard (1-0) pitched a career-high five inning with six strikeouts and allowed no runs on six hits with a walk. In total, five Leatherneck pitchers combined on the shutout while striking out 10 Bee batters.

In addition to his double, Tschida finished the game with three RBIs and a run scored while Garton went 2-for-4 with an RBI as well. Pogue added two runs on two walks and McGinnis tallied his team-high 10th stolen base of the season. As a team, Western had eight batters combine for nine hits and four walks.

Western returns to Alfred D. Boyer stadium on Wednesday (April 29) to take on Southern Illinois-Edwardsville at 4 p.m. Live audio and video will be available starting at 3:50 p.m. through Leatherneck All-Access at GoLeathernecks.com/watch.
 
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