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PEORIA, Ill. – The Eastern Illinois baseball team defeated Bradley, 3-2, in its final non-conference game of the season at O'Brien Field on Tuesday afternoon.

Tied at one in the top of the fifth inning, Zach Borenstein hit an RBI single through the right side of the field to score Nick Priessman and put the Panthers (18-30) up 2-1. Cameron Berra gave EIU a 3-1 advantage in the following inning when he scored from third when Tyler Schweigert hit into a double play with the bases loaded.

The Braves (22-27) got within one (3-2) in the sixth inning on an RBI single by Mike Tauchman, but the Panther bullpen shutdown the Bradley offense in the final three innings to hang on for the victory.

Bradley took an early lead in the bottom of the first on a Tauchman sacrifice fly before Jacob Reese tied the game at one with a sacrifice fly to left field to score T.J. McManus in the top of the fourth.

Berra paced the EIU offense, going 2-for-4 at the plate with a run scored. Borenstein and Reese both added a hit and an RBI.

Josh Wilson (1-0) posted his first career win, striking out one and not allowing a hit in one inning of work. Matt Miller posted his seventh save of the season in the win. Christian Slazinik got the start, striking out three and scattering two hits in three innings of action.

Eric Holmes (2-2) took the loss, scattering four hits and surrendering two runs in three innings of work. Rob Elliott had two hits for the Braves while Tauchman added two RBIs.

Both teams posted seven hits in the contest and neither team committed an error. Bradley left one more runner stranded on the base paths (8-7) than EIU.

“We talked about playing clean defense on the ride up to Peoria this morning,” said pitching coach/recruiting coordinator Skylar Meade. “We have a great pitching staff and we have to make great plays on defense. Today everyone played great defense, especially Cam Strang.”

The Panthers return to action on May 20-21 at Southeast Missouri State for a three-game OVC series.

“I like where Christian Slazinik is at,” said Meade. “(Brent) McNeil has been great out of the bullpen and other guys like (Adam) Clark and (Josh) Wilson are also pitching well out of the bullpen and we are going to need that depth this weekend and at the conference tournament.”