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CHARLESTON, Ill. – Redshirt-senior Mike Hoekstra led the Eastern Illinois baseball team to a 5-1 win over Southeast Missouri State on Friday afternoon at Coaches Stadium. EIU improves to 10-13 (2-2 OVC) on the year.
 
After surrendering back-to-back hits to Southeast Missouri to start the game, Hoekstra (2-2) settled down and retired the next 15 Redhawk batters. The Lansing, Ill., native finished the game with eight strikeouts while only allowing one run and five hits in 8.1 innings of work.
 
“Having a Friday night guy like Hoekstra is key to any conference success,” said Eastern Illinois head coach Jim Schmitz. “He was outstanding this afternoon.”
 
Hoekstra was relieved in the final inning by Keith Koser who worked EIU out of the jam with runners on first and third, throwing two strikeouts and posting his third save of the season.
 
EIU took an early 2-0 lead, scoring a run in the first inning on a T.J. McManus RBI single and another run in the following inning on a solo home run to left center by Ben Thoma. The Panthers added two runs in the sixth on RBI singles by Nathan Sopena and Jacob Reese.
 
A solo home run by Ryan Dineen in the eighth inning gave the Panthers a 5-0 advantage. In the top of the ninth, Kody Campbell hit an RBI to make the score 5-1 before Koser retired the final two Redhawk batters.
 
Eight of the nine batters who had a plate appearance for the Panthers had a hit, led by Dineen who went 4-for-4 with three runs, an RBI and a stolen base. McManus added two hits in the win while Sopena had two hits.
 
EIU posted nine more hits (14-5) than Southeast Missouri and committed one less error (2-1). The Panthers stranded four more runners on base (9-5) than the Redhawks.
 
“We went with a different lineup today with our higher percentage guys at the top of the lineup,” said Schmitz. “I was happy with how we added runs in multiple innings. If we get five runs a game, we are probably going to win.”
 
Christian Hull (2-4) took the loss for Southeast Missouri, allowing four runs and 11 hits in six innings of work. Campbell led the team at the plate, going 1-for-4 with the team's lone RBI.
 
Game two of the weekend series with Southeast Missouri is slated to start at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 31.