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TAMPA, Fla. – The Panther baseball team dropped the series finale with South Florida, 5-1, on Sunday afternoon at USF Baseball Stadium. EIU falls to 5-8 on the year.

“We gave it away today,” said Eastern Illinois head coach Jim Schmitz. “Troy Barton pitched well, but our inability to get outs on bunt defense hurt us this afternoon.”  
 
After five and half scoreless innings of play, South Florida took a 1-0 advantage in to bottom of the sixth on a Todd Brazeal RBI. The Bulls scored three more runs in the following inning to take a 4-0 lead over the Panthers.
 
George Kalousek hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Ben Thoma in the top of the eighth inning to cut the Panthers deficit to three (4-1). In the bottom of the inning, Chris Norton scored the final run of the contest for the Bulls to make the score 5-1.
 
South Florida posted three more hits (7-4) than EIU and left three fewer runners stranded on base (4-1). The Panthers committed four errors in the loss while South Florida did not have any miscues.
 
David Ciaglia, Nathan Sopena, Ben Thoma and Brant Valach all had one hit for EIU. Daniel Rockhold paced South Florida at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run.
 
Darin Worman (0-1) took the loss for the Panthers, allowing three runs (two earned) and one hit in 0.2 innings. Troy Barton got the start and surrendered three hits while striking out two in 5.2 innings of work.
 
Joey Lovecchio (3-0) recorded the win for the Bulls, allowing three hits and one run in eight innings of action.
 
The Panthers return to action on Monday, March 12 against Big Ten member Iowa at 4 p.m. CST in Davenport, Fla., at Lake Myrtle Park. EIU will play four games in five days in Davenport, Fla., starting on Monday.