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COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Behind nine extra-base hits, including four home runs, the Panther baseball team completed the series sweep of Tennessee Tech on Sunday afternoon, defeating the Golden Eagles 9-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference series finale at the Averitt Baseball Complex. EIU has now won four consecutive conference games, improving to 19-23 (9-8 OVC) on the year.
 
“We have been close to getting this thing going,” said Eastern Illinois head coach Jim Schmitz. “After some tough losses against Austin Peay, Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State, we told the players to hang in there because we were close to turning the corner. We hit a lot this weekend and the guys felt comfortable at the plate.
 
“We turned five double plays on defense today to get us out of big jams. On the weekend, our defense was great – especially from Brant Valach and Nick Priessman who made some outstanding plays.” 

With the game tied at one after six complete innings of play, Ryan Dineen hit a two-out, three run homer to give the Panthers a 4-1 lead they would never relinquish. TTU battled back in the bottom of the inning to get within one (4-3) on a James Abraham two-RBI single. EIU however would score five more runs over the final two innings to push its advantage to six (9-3).
 
Ben Thoma hit a solo home run in the eighth inning for the first run before the Panthers scored four runs on four hits in the top of the ninth. A Nick Priessman RBI double scored the first run in the ninth followed by back-to-back home runs by T.J. McManus and Jacob Reese to drive in the final three runs.
 
The Panthers posted two more hits (12-10) in the win than TTU, but committed two more errors (2-0). EIU left three fewer runners on base than the Golden Eagles (9-6).
 
Four different EIU players had two or more hits, led by Thoma and Priessman who both had three. Priessman and McManus scored two runs each in the contest. Dineen led the team in RBI with three while McManus and Thoma both added two.
 
Troy Barton (6-4) posted the win for the Panthers, striking out four and surrendering seven hits and three runs in 6.1 innings of action. Relief pitchers Darin Worman, Scott Houdek and Adam Clark combined to only allow three hits and not surrender a run in the game's final 1.2 innings.
 
David Hess (2-6) took the loss for TTU, allowing seven hits and six runs in four innings of work. Offensively, Abraham led the team as he was 3-for-4 with two RBI on the day.
 
The series-opening win on Friday was the Panthers first win in Cookeville since 2006. Saturday's victory gave the Panthers their first series win over the Golden Eagles since 2004. The complete series sweep was the Panthers first three-game sweep over an OVC foe since the 2009 campaign.
 
The Panthers return to action in a weekend OVC series at Murray State on May 4-6.