By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The Tennessee Tech baseball team couldn't overcome an impressive pitching performance from SIUE Saturday afternoon, falling on the road in Ohio Valley Conference play, 5-2.

The Cougars (7-6, 2-0) claimed the series over the Golden Eagles (3-10, 0-2) behind a career performance from starter Kenny Serwa, who tossed eight innings with just three hits, two runs and one earned run allowed. The hurler struck out a career-high 14 batters, keeping the Tech batters off balance for much of the day.

Tech seemed to get off to a quick start on the day, gathering a leadoff single from freshman Brett Roberts off of Serwa's glove. The SIUE senior worked through the hit and a walk and began a pitcher's duel with Golden Eagle freshman starter Christian Herberholz.

The two pitchers turned in three straight innings of scoreless ball before the Cougars cracked the scoreboard in the fourth. A leadoff home run game the home team a slight lead that turned into a 4-0 advantage in the fifth.

SIUE snagged three runs in that frame to take a familiar four-run advantage, much like the night before. Herberholz pitched his way out of further trouble, finishing with five innings on the hill and five strikeouts. He allowed four runs on four hits.

In the sixth, Tech struck back with Roberts reaching base on an error with one out. Three pitches later, senior left fielder Cody Littlejohn delivered the biggest note of offense for the Golden Eagles on the day, smashing a two-run round-tripper to left-center field to cut the deficit in half.

The Cougars collected one more run in the seventh inning off Tech reliever Jacob Cole, but the Golden Eagle right-hander kept the home team off the board the remainder of the day. He finished with three innings of work and just the one run allowed.

SIUE closer Braydon Bone wrapped up the final innings for the Cougars, walking Tech catcher Will Long before retiring the final batter to clinch his team its first series win over the Golden Eagles since 2015.

The two sides will square off in the series finale Sunday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m. CT at Simmons Baseball Complex.

Photo by Thomas Corhern