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ST. LOUIS – The Panther baseball team dropped an 11-6 road contest at Saint Louis on Tuesday night at the Billiken Sports Complex. EIU falls to 22-24 on the year.

“We fought hard the whole game,” said Eastern Illinois head coach Jim Schmitz. “We got back in the game, but could not hold them (from scoring). It was good to see Ryan Dineen get going at the plate.” 
 
The Panthers took its only lead of the game on a solo home run by Ryan Dineen in the top of the first inning before the Billikens responded in the bottom of the frame to take a 2-1 advantage on a Alex Kelly two-run homer. Saint Louis would score in all but two innings of play.
 
Jacob Reese got the Panthers within one (5-4) in the third inning on a two-run homer, but the Billikens added six more runs throughout the contest while limiting EIU to only two more runs.
 
Reese led the Panthers at the plate, going 1-for-3 with three RBI. Cameron Berra also added two hits and two runs in the loss. Ryan Dineen chipped in three hits and a home run while Ben Thoma posted his team-leading 12^th home run of the year. 
 
The Billikens posted two more hits (14-12) than EIU, but committed one more error (1-0). EIU stranded one less runner (7-6) on base than Saint Louis.
 
Luke Bushur (2-2) took the loss for EIU, allowing six hits and five runs in 1.2 innings of work. A total of six pitchers saw action in the contest, combining for only three strikeouts to seven walks.
 
Derek Mazzio (1-0) picked up the win for the Billikens, striking out three and only allowing two hits in two scoreless innings of relief work. Offensively, Kelly led the team as he went 3-for-4 with five RBI and two runs.
 
The Panthers return to action on May 11-13 when they play host to UT Martin in an Ohio Valley Conference series. Game one of the series is slated to being at 3 p.m. on Friday at Coaches Stadium.