The Eastern Illinois baseball team closed out their series against Western Kentucky on Monday. EIU secured their first win of their season defeating WKU 8-1.

With the win EIU advances to 1-5, while WKU drops to 5-2.

Spenser Dexter was dominant on the mound for the Panthers tossing 8.1 innings. Dexter recorded seven strikeouts and only allowed one run on the afternoon. Dexter picked up his first win of the 2019 season and advanced to 1-0.

EIU broke into the scoring column in the top of the first inning when Matt Mackey would drive an RBI double down the left field line. The Panthers continued their offensive push in the second inning adding another run to their lead. Dane Toppel would drive in the Panthers second run of the game when he grounded out to short to score Ryan Knernschield.

The Panthers added to their lead in the top of the fifth inning with five runs. Jimmy Huber led off the inning with a leadoff homerun to right field. Knernschield followed up with a single to center. Grant Emme would draw a walk to give the Panthers runner on the corners after Knernschield advanced to third on a wild pitch. Toppel would drive in Knernschield with a double down the left field line. Kieth Kerrigan would keep the Panther rally alive with a two run single up the middle.  Mackey would earn his second RBI of the afternoon with a sacrifice fly to right center.

Kerrigan would earn his third RBI on the afternoon with a one run single to right field to score Emme in the top of the seventh.

Western Kentucky was able to break the shutout with a run in the bottom of the ninth.

Kerrigan finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs. Toppel went 2-for-5 with two RBIS, a double, and a run.