Photo Gallery (
Sandy King)
CHARLESTON, Ill. – After earning the regular-season series off a pair of Sunday victories, Eastern Illinois softball failed to complete the Ohio Valley Conference sweep of visiting Murray State today (March 30), as the Racers blanked the Panthers, 4-0, in the weekend finale at Williams Field.
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The Panthers move to 10-16 overall and an even 5-5 in league play, while the Racers improved to 18-12 and tie EIU in the league standings at 5-5, yet Eastern owns the tiebreaker over Murray State following yesterday's two victories.
The visiting squad scored twice in the third and then added security runs in both the fifth and seventh frames as the Racers out-hit the Panthers 8-to-5 and took advantage of a pair of EIU miscues as well for the victory.
Five different Panthers earned a hit in the loss, as Racer pitcher CheyAnne Gaskey picked up the win by fanning six EIU batters and move to 9-6 overall.
For Eastern,
Michelle Rogers earned the start, but the freshman was pulled after 4.1-innings of work, as she finished with two Ks as classmate
Jessica Wireman came in relief and retired three Racers via strikes. Â The Panther duo only allowed two earned runs.
Junior outfielder
April Markowski added to her stolen base tally as she scampered for a base theft.
Team-wise, EIU stranded six base runners, while the Racers left seven on base.
Despite the loss, the Panthers still hold a sizeable 14-6 advantage in the series history and following yesterday's two-game sweep have earned the OVC regular-season series over the Racers for the fifth consecutive season.
Eastern will continue their homestand this coming weekend, as Tennessee State and Jacksonville State come to town for respective Friday (April 3) and Saturday (April 4) twinbills at Williams Field. Â First pitches for both twinbills are set for 1 p.m. starts.
... for more info, contact Bart Rettberg, Asst. SIDÂ
