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ST. LOUIS – Eastern Illinois baseball had a 14-12 advantage in the hit column, but Saint Louis put together a trio of big innings to defeat the Panthers, 15-3, Tuesday afternoon.
Alex Gee led the way for EIU (4-19) with a 3-for-4 day. However, his second-inning double was the Panthers' lone extra-base hit on a windy afternoon at the Billiken Sports Complex.
Curt Restko, Zach Borenstein, Daniel Rowe and Cam Strang each tallied two hits. Yet, EIU left 15 runners on base. Rowe has hit safely in eight straight games. The 14 hits were a season high for Eastern.
Ryan Voitik enjoyed a productive day in his first start as a Panther. The junior college transfer, who started as the designated hitter, executed a squeeze bunt in his first plate appearance and later walked and singled. With runners on first and second in the top of the seventh, Voitik singled up the middle. Gee was thrown out at home by SLU center fielder J.D. Dunn to end the inning.
The Billikens (14-12) scored five times in the third inning and four times in the seventh and eighth.
Jon Myers delivered the initial run-scoring hit of the third inning, a two-run single up the middle on a 3-0 pitch.
“A big difference in the game was the 3-0 pitch to [Myers] when we were trying to walk him,” EIU head coach Jim Schmitz said. “Pregame was really good. It was the best hitting we've done in a long time. A sign of a team not playing good and not a good team is little things. We're trying to walk their No. 4 hitter with first open, we throw it right down the middle and he gets a base hit. That was a big inning for them.”
The No. 9 hitter in the SLU lineup, shortstop Mike Levine, burned the Panthers with a career-high six RBIs, all coming with two outs. He singled home a pair in the third, delivered a three-run double in the seventh and added another RBI base hit in the eighth.
Eastern starter Troy Barton (0-3) issued four walks and hit a batter in his 2 1/3 innings of work. Four of those baserunners ended up scoring. The six EIU pitchers that took the mound combined to issue 13 free passes (10 walks, three hit batsmen).
Saint Louis sent 10 men to the plate in its five-run third and four-run eighth. Leadoff man Cody Cotter made the first and final outs of the frame. Mike McKean did likewise in the eighth.
Gee doubled to open the second inning and scored on a base hit to right field by Strang that also sent Rowe to third. Voitik's squeeze bunt scored Rowe and moved Strang into scoring position. But EIU was unable to score any additional runs in the inning and the Billikens tied the game with a single tally in bottom of the frame.
Restko plated the Panthers' only other run of the day with a two-out single in the sixth inning.
Eastern returns to action Friday when it hosts Austin Peay for a 1 p.m. Ohio Valley Conference doubleheader at Coaches Stadium.
