Game One Box |
Game Two Box |
Photo Gallery (by
Sandy King) |
CHARLESTON, Ill. – After the second game of the series was suspended due to darkness yesterday, Eastern Illinois and Murray State returned to action on Saturday to complete the game and to play their series finale. Murray State rallied back to win 11-10 in the suspended game while the Panthers earned a comeback victory of their own in the series finale by a score of 7-5.
With the split, Eastern Illinois moved to 2-4 in the conference and 3-19 overall. Murray State stands at 5-4 in the OVC and 14-9 overall.
Game One (suspended game): Murray State 11, Eastern Illinois 10
Eastern Illinois led 10-9 through seven innings before the game was suspended due to darkness, but Murray State scored one run in the eighth and ninth innings to rally back and win 11-10.
After a quiet first and second inning by both teams, Murray State took the lead in the top of the third. With runners on second and third, the Racers took advantage of an Eastern Illinois' error and scored the first two runs of the game. Brandon Gutzler put Murray State ahead 4-0 with a two-run home run later in the inning. Murray State added to their lead with a run in both the fourth and fifth frames.
The Eastern Illinois offense came alive in a big way with five runs in the bottom of the fifth. After
Frankie Perrone and
Justin Smith singled,
Andrew Curran tripled to knock the pair in.
Joseph Duncan followed the Curran triple with a two-run home run over the wall in left-center.
Jimmy Govern kept the rally going with a single. After
Logan Beaman was hit by a pitch,
Dougie Parks singled to load the bases.
Matt Albert drew a bases-loaded walk to cut the EIU deficit to one at 6-5.
Murray State answered with three runs in the top of the sixth on a two-run single by Gutzler and an RBI single by Tyler Lawrence. Eastern Illinois took their first lead of the game in the bottom half of the frame with their second consecutive five-run inning. After Smith drew a lead-off walk, the Murray State pitching staff looked as if they would get out of the inning, as the next two Panthers got out. Govern started another rally for the Panthers with a two-out RBI single to plate Smith. Beaman and Parks followed with a pair of singles as Beaman's base knock brought home Govern. Albert gave the Panthers a 10-9 lead with a three-run home run just before the game was suspended.
After the long delay, Murray State tied the game on an RBI double from Davis Sims in the eighth and won the game in the ninth on an RBI triple from Adam Bauer.
Brendon Allen suffered the loss on the mound in relief for the Panthers.
Parks and Govern had a big game for the Panthers at the plate. Parks finished the game 4-for-4 at the plate while Govern went a perfect 3-for-3.
Game Two: Eastern Illinois 7, Murray State 5
Eastern Illinois erased a five-run deficit and earned a 7-5 victory in the series finale against Murray State.
Murray State took advantage of an Eastern Illinois' error with two runs in the top of the second inning to take an early lead. The Racers added another run in the third on an RBI fielder's choice off the bat of Gutzler and extended their lead to 5-0 with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth on an RBI singles from Sims and Jaron Robinson.
The Panthers rallied back to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth with a five-run inning. Singles by Govern and Parks sandwiched a walk by Beaman to load the bases for the Panthers. Albert followed with a free pass of his own to bring in a run. The big inning continued for the Panthers as Perrone, Smith and Curran all drove in a run with an RBI single each.
Tyler Tesmond added another run in the inning with an RBI fielder's choice to knot the score at five.
Parks drove in what turned out to be the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI triple. Albert added an insurance run later in the inning on an RBI sacrifice fly.
Dustin Wilson and
Michael Starcevich were nearly untouchable on the mound for the Panthers in relief as the pair combined to throw five scoreless innings. Wilson allowed just two hits in three innings of work to pick up his first win of the year. Starcevich did not allow a single hit in his two innings of work as he earned his second save of the season.
Govern and Parks recorded two hits each to lead the EIU offense in the series finale.
The Panthers will continue their five-game home stand with a pair of midweek games at Coaches Stadium. Eastern Illinois will host Robert Morris-Chicago on Tuesday and Southern Illinois on Wednesday. Both games are set to begin at 3 p.m.
