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 JACKSON, Tenn. – The No. 4 seed Panther baseball team was shutout by No. 1 seed Austin Peay, 7-0, on Saturday evening in Ohio Valley Conference Tournament action at Pringles Park in Jackson, Tenn. EIU falls to 29-28 on the year.
 
The Panthers and Governors will play again on Sunday, May 27 at noon with the winner taking home the OVC Tournament Title and earning the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
 
In only his third start of the season and his second start of the day, Kacy Kemmer (2-0) pitched a complete-game shutout to lead the Governors to the win. He tossed three strikeouts and only allowed five hits while issuing two walks on the day. He also made the start in Austin Peay's 10-6 win over Southeast Missouri earlier in the day to advance to the championship game, recording 27 pitches in one inning of action.
 
“He did a great job,” said Eastern Illinois head coach Jim Schmitz on Kemmer. “He mixed his pitches well and was pitching in and out, and really did a good job.”
 
Austin Peay had five more hits (10-5) than EIU, but left six more runners on base (13-7). EIU had one error in the game to zero miscues by the Governors defense.
 
Ben Thoma led the Panther offense as he was 2-for-4 at the plate. David Ciaglia, Ryan Dineen and Caleb Howell all added one hit in the loss.
 
Andrew Grahn (0-6) took the loss for EIU, walking three batters and surrendering two hits and two runs in 0.2 innings of action. The pitching staff combined to walk eight Governors on the day with only three strikeouts.
 
The Panthers were shutout for the sixth time this season and the first time since March 25. EIU became the first time team to be shutout in OVC Tournament play since 2009.
 
“Today's game is over,” said Schmitz. “We can't harp on the past and can only look to the future and I am real excited about what we are going to do tomorrow.”