FINAL STATS

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – James Vazquez had a pair of hits and drove in three runs to lead SIU Edwardsville to a 6-4 win over Jacksonville State in an Ohio Valley Conference game on Saturday.
 
Brooks McDowell (3-4) scattered three hits and allowed two runs in five innings to earn the win for the Cougars, while Dustin Quattrocchi recorded the final six outs to earn his 11th save of the year. Daniel Watts (4-6) gave up six hits and three runs to suffer the loss for the Gamecocks.
 
Jax State (22-27, 14-9 OVC) took the early lead after Stephen Bartlett and Kyle Stone each had one-out singles in t the third inning, before Sam Eberle had an infield grounder to score Bartlett and give the Gamecocks a 1-0 lead.
 
SIUE (26-25, 12-11) answered in the fourth inning on after Vasquez drove in his first run of the afternoon to tie the game at 1-1, and the Cougars then took the lead in the fifth inning after scoring four runs.
 
Chasess Green and Vasquez each drove in a pair of runs during the four-run fifth inning to give SIUE a 5-1 lead, but the Gamecocks plated three runs in the sixth inning to pull JSU within a run.
 
Kyle Bluestein led off the inning with a solo home run, before Cal Lambert had a pinch-hit triple to score two more runs as the Gamecocks trimmed the lead to 5-4, but Joel Greatting hit a solo home run in the seventh inning for the Cougars for the final margin.
 
Bluestein extended his hitting streak to a team-high 10 games, while Sam Eberle had a single to exend his streak to six games to lead the Gamecocks. Matt Highland and Vazquez each had two hits to lead the Cougars.
 
The two teams will play the final game of the three-game OVC series on Sunday at 1 p.m.