Game One Box |
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CHARLESTON, Ill. – After Friday's series-opening baseball game between Eastern Illinois and Eastern Kentucky was delayed due to darkness, the Panthers and Colonels picked the contest off where they left off as the Panthers earned a 13-11 win on a walk-off two-run home run from
Hunter Beetley. The Panthers kept things rolling into the second game of the day and picked up another win over EKU by a convincing score of 16-5.
Eastern Illinois improved their current winning streak to five game and improved to 12-27 (6-11 OVC). Eastern Kentucky dropped to 21-18 (7-10 OVC) following the two losses.
Game One: EIU 13, EKU 11
It took nearly 24 hours to decide a winner in the series opener, but a two-run walk-off home run from Beetley in the bottom of the 11th inning gave the Panthers a 13-11 win over the Colonels.
The Panthers got things going quick against the Colonels as Eastern Illinois took advantage of an Eastern Kentucky error and put a run across in the first inning.
Andrew Curran started a two-out rally for the Panthers in the second inning with a solo home run.
Frankie Perrone followed the Curran home run with a walk and moved up to second on a bunt single by
Joseph Duncan.
Jimmy Govern drove the pair in with a two-run double and put EIU ahead, 4-0.
After Eastern Kentucky earned a run in the top of the third on a solo home run from Nick Howie, the Panthers answered right back in the bottom-half of the inning.
Matt Albert singled to lead off the inning and moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt from
Nicholas McCormick. After a balk moved Albert up to third base, Curran followed with a walk to put runners on the corners. A wild pitch brought home Albert and moved Curran into scoring position. Perrone drew his second walk of the game prior to another wild pitch to move him and Curran up an extra 90 feet. Duncan singled up the middle to score the two runners and extended the EIU lead to 7-1.
Eastern Kentucky trimmed the deficit to two with a four-spot in the top of the fourth, but Eastern Illinois gained a run back in the bottom of the inning on a
Dougie Parks solo home run.
EKU got the run back in the top of the sixth on a solo home run from Logan Starnes and kept their offense rolling in the eighth inning. After Alex Holderbach singled to lead off the inning, he quickly came around to score on a two-run home run by Howie to tie the score at eighth.
Eastern Illinois regained the lead in the bottom of the eighth. Govern knocked a lead-off single up the middle to get the Panthers started and moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt from
Logan Beaman. Albert singled to right to plate Govern and put EIU back ahead, 9-8.
Eastern Kentucky tied the game on an RBI single from Ben Fisher and took the lead on a two-run home run from Shea Sullivan.
The Panthers would not go away without a fight in the bottom of the ninth however. Curran singled to lead off the inning to pull the Panthers within one. Duncan followed with a single to left and advanced to second on a throwing error by the Colonels. The error proved to be costly as Govern followed with an RBI single to tie the score at 11.
After a scoreless 10th inning by both sides, the game was suspended due to darkness and was resumed on Saturday at 12 p.m.
Alex Stevenson shut down the Colonels in the 11th to open up the day and gave the Panthers a lot of momentum. Duncan got the Panthers started with a one-out single. Beetley stepped up to the plate next for the Panthers and delivered a walk-off two-run home run over the wall in right-center field to give EIU a 13-11 decision.
Stevenson earned the win on the mound for the Panthers in two scoreless innings of relief. The freshman only allowed a single hit while on the mound.
Duncan and Govern both finished the game with four hits each to lead the EIU offense. Albert added three hits while Curran recorded the two home runs.
Game Two: EIU 16, EKU 5
Eastern Illinois carried their momentum from their game one win into the second game and used a complete team effort to defeat Eastern Kentucky, 16-5, in the second game of the series on Saturday.
Brendon Allen was in complete control on the mound as the veteran pitcher allowed just one run over the course of 7.2 innings pitched while striking out 12. Allen picked up his first win of the season with the dominating performance.
The Panthers took some pressure off of Allen as they struck first in the bottom of the second. Perrone started a two-out rally with a solo home run to left.
Justin Smith followed with a bunt single and came around to score on a two-run blast by Duncan. The Panthers went back-to-back as Govern followed the Duncan home run with a solo shot of his own and put Eastern Illinois ahead, 4-0, early.
EIU added a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run home run by Curran.
Allen dominated the Colonels through the first five innings, but Eastern Kentucky finally got to the right-handed pitcher in the sixth. Sullivan singled to center and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Sullivan came around to score later in the inning on an RBI double by Holderbach.
Eastern Illinois extended their lead to 9-1 with three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Smith laced a single to right field that got past a diving Colonel and wound up on third base after the ball was returned to the infield. After a walk to Duncan, Govern plated Smith with an RBI single as Duncan moved up to second on the play. A sacrifice bunt moved the runners up to second and third before Albert drove the pair in with a two-run single.
The Panthers took a commanding 10-1 advantage over the Colonels following a solo round-tripper by Curran in the bottom of the seventh.
Despite scoring a pair of runs in the top of the eighth, Eastern Kentucky had no answer in stopping the EIU offense in the bottom-half of the inning. Stevenson followed a Parks single and an Albert double with a two-run single of his own. An error allowed the Panthers to gain another base runner and moved Stevenson up to second. After a fielder's choice cut down the runner advancing to second, Duncan drove home another run with an RBI single. Govern followed with an RBI single of his own to plate another run for the Panthers. Parks drove home the final two runs for the Panthers later in the inning on a double and moved the score to 16-3 in favor of Eastern Illinois.
Eastern Kentucky struck for two runs in the top of the ninth, but that would be all the Colonels would get as
Cole Berry got the final EKU batter to fly out to center to give the Panthers the win.
Duncan and Govern led the EIU offense once again as the pair collected three hits each. Parks, Albert, Curran, Perrone and Smith all added two hits each for the Panthers.
Eastern Illinois will go for the series sweep against Eastern Kentucky on Sunday with first pitch set for 1 p.m. at Coaches Stadium.Â
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