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EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The Panther baseball team dropped its Ohio Valley Conference opener, 2-1, on Friday night at the Simmons Baseball Complex. EIU falls to 7-12 (0-1 OVC) while SIUE improves to 11-10 (1-0 OVC).
 
Tied at one heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, SIU Edwardsville took a 2-1 advantage it would not relinquish on a James Vazquez RBI ground out to score Thad Hawkins.
 
The Cougars broke open the scoreless game in the bottom of the seventh, scoring one run on two hits and the only Panther error of the contest. EIU responded in the top of the following inning to tie the game at one on a Jacob Reese squeeze bunt to score Tyler Schweigert.
 
SIU Edwardsville posted one more hit (7-6) than the Panthers and committed one more error (2-1). The Cougars also left 12 runners on base to seven stranded EIU base runners.
 
Ryan Dineen and Caleb Howell led the Panther offense as both players posted two hits in the game. T.J. McManus and Schweigert both added a hit in the loss.
 
Darin Worman (0-3) took the loss for EIU, walking two and allowing one run in 0.2 innings. Mike Hoekstra started the game and went 6.2 innings with four strikeouts while only surrendering one unearned run.
 
Dustin Quattrocchi (2-0) posted the win for the Cougars, striking out one and not allowing any hits in the final 1.2 innings. Travis Felax made the start and threw a career-high nine strikeouts in 7.1 innings. Travis Becherer paced SIU Edwardsville at the plate as he was 2-for-5 with an RBI.
 
The Panthers return to action in game two of the series with SIU Edwardsville on Saturday, March 24 at 1 p.m.