Box Score |Â
MOREHEAD, Ky. – Eastern Illinois maintained a lead against Morehead State for most of the game, but the Eagles rallied back to tie the contest at six in the bottom of the eighth. The Panthers responded for the second game in a row with a big ninth-inning rally and held off a Morehead State comeback in the bottom-half of the frame as Eastern Illinois earned a 9-8 win on Saturday.
The Panthers, winners of six-straight conference games, improved their record to 9-11 in the OVC and 16-28 overall. Morehead State dropped to 27-16 overall and 12-7 in the conference.
With the win, Eastern Illinois takes a 2-0 advantage in the series over Morehead State. Eastern Illinois snapped Morehead State's streak of 17-straight home series wins that dated back to the early part of the 2015 season. The Panthers will now go for the series-sweep against the Eagles on Sunday with first pitch at 12 p.m. (CST).
The game remained scoreless through the first two frames, but the Eastern Illinois offense broke through in the top of the third inning. After back-to-back singles by
Frankie Perrone and
Hunter Beetley started the inning,
Joseph Duncan moved the pair to second and third with just one out.
Logan Beaman drove in both Perrone and Beetley with a two-run single and gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead.
The score held firm until the fifth and sixth innings when the Panthers struck again. Duncan singled with two outs in the fifth and came around to score on a two-run home run by
Jimmy Govern. The Panthers continued to apply the pressure in the sixth as the first three Eastern Illinois batters reached base.
Matt Albert got hit to start the inning, while
Josh Turnock and
Andrew Curran followed with a single each. Perrone plated Albert on an RBI sacrifice fly. Beetley drove in Turnock with an RBI single to left center and gave the Panthers a 6-0 advantage.
After shutting out the Morehead State through the first five innings, the Eagles finally got to EIU starter
Michael McCormick in the sixth. Niko Hulsizer and Will Schneider recorded back-to-back hits to put runners on second and third with one out in the inning. Eli Boggess drove in the first run of the game for the Eagles with an RBI sacrifice fly.
The Eagles added a two more runs in the bottom of the seventh and eventually tied the score at 6-6 on a three-run triple by Reid Leonard in the bottom of the eighth against the EIU bullpen.
Govern got the Panthers started right away in the top of the ninth with a lead-off double, just before a walk to Beaman to put runners on first and second.
Dougie Parks came through in the clutch for the Panthers with a three-run home run to right-center field and gave EIU a 9-6 lead.
Things got interesting in the bottom-half of the inning as the Eagles would not go away quietly. Schneider followed a lead-off walk by Hulsizer to put runners on second and third with no outs. Braxton Morris brought home Hulsizer with an RBI sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 9-7. Morehead State took advantage of a walk and a pair of EIU errors to pull within one at 9-8. That would be as close as the Eagles would get however as
Michael Starcevich got the final Morehead State batter to fly out and earned his fourth win of the season.
Beaman finished the game a perfect 3-for-3 at the dish to lead Eastern Illinois. Four Panthers – Govern, Curran, Perrone and Beetley – all supplied two hits each in the win.Â
As a team, the Panthers turned five double plays in the game, which marked the first time an EIU defense turned five double plays in a game since the 2008 season against UT Martin.
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