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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Eastern Illinois baseball team fell to Alabama, 12-1, on Saturday afternoon at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.

The Crimson Tide (10-5) jumped out to an early 8-0 lead before the Panthers (1-9) scored their lone run of the contest in the top of the fifth on an RBI by Shawn Ferguson to score Ben Thoma.

Alabama tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 10-1 before adding on two more runs in the bottom of the seventh, taking a 12-1 advantage.

EIU was held to four hits in the contest to Alabama's 18. The Panthers also had two errors in the contest and left four runners on base. Alabama left eight runners stranded on the base paths.

“We are just not swinging the bats real well,” said Eastern Illinois head coach Jim Schmitz. “It was not a good day, and hopefully we come out better tomorrow.”

Cameron Berra, Jacob Reese, Daniel Rowe and Ben Thoma all recorded a hit in the game.

Luke Bushur (0-2) recorded the loss, allowing four earned runs and surrendering eight hits in two innings of work. Adam Clark pitched four innings of relief work and allowed six hits while collecting three strikeouts.

“Defensively, we had our worse game of the year,” said Schmitz. “We had some miscues on defense and that opened the game wide open.”

Adam Morgan (2-1) took the win, only giving up two hits while striking out five in seven innings. Jay Shaw pitched the final two innings and did not allow a run.

Brock Bennett paced Alabama at the plate, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs and a run.

The Panthers close the weekend series with Alabama on Sunday at 1:05 p.m.