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CHICAGO – Eastern Illinois baseball used a complete team effort, combining solid pitching with timely hitting, and defeated Chicago State, 6-2, in their final non-conference game of the season on Tuesday.
Eastern Illinois improved their overall record to 18-31, while Chicago State dropped to 11-34 on the year.
After game remained scoreless between both sides through the first and second innings, Eastern Illinois started the scoring in the top of the third inning.
Joseph Duncan beat out an infield single with two outs in the inning and started a rally for the Panthers as Chicago State's starting pitcher, Josh Willis, began to lose control of the strike zone. The Panthers showed a good eye at the plate as Willis issued four consecutive walks that brought home a pair of runs and gave Eastern Illinois a 2-0 advantage.
Eastern Illinois began to break the game open in the top of the fifth inning against the Chicago State bullpen. Duncan and
Jimmy Govern started the inning with back-to-back singles, but a fielder's choice cut down Duncan attempting to move up to third base.
Matt Albert walked to load the bases ahead of
Andrew Curran. Curran drove in a pair of runs with a two-run single up the middle.
Frankie Perrone followed the Curran base hit with a two-run double and extended the EIU lead to 6-0.
EIU starting pitcher,
Alex Cain, held the Chicago State offense scoreless through five and one-third innings pitched, but the Cougars broke up the shutout bid on a solo home run by Rick Salazar with one out in the bottom of the sixth to cut the Panthers' lead to 6-1.
Chicago State added another run in the bottom of the seventh to trim the EIU lead to 6-2, but that would be as close as the Cougars would get the rest of the way as the Panthers' bullpen held CSU scoreless in the eighth and ninth innings.
Cain picked up his first win of the season in the victory. In six innings of work, Cain allowed the lone run on seven hits, while striking out six.
Duncan led the Panthers offensively as he finished the game 2-for-5 at the plate.
The Panthers will now change their focus to this weekend as Eastern Illinois travels to SIUE for a three-game OVC slate starting Friday night.
