GRAMBLING, La - Eastern Illinois (6-3) wins game three against Grambling State (2-8) to compete the series sweep of the Tigers by a score of 11-0 in eight innings. This marks the second shutout of the season for EIU. Starting pitcher
Cameron Doherty (2-1) picked up his second win of the season after tossing a season high seven innings while allowing just four hits, zero runs, zero walks, and eight strikeouts.
Nathan Aide posted four RBI for the Panthers while going 2-4 on the day.
QUICK STATS
Cameron Doherty: W (2-1), 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K
Nathan Aide: 2-4, 4 RBI, 2 R, BB
Ryan Ignoffo: 2-5, HR, 2 RBI, R
Lucas DiLuca: 2-3, 2B, RBI, 2 R
Grant Lashure: 2-5, RBI, 2 R
Chaney Trout: 1.0 IP, H, 2 K
Eastern was held scoreless in the first inning after leaving a man on base. Doherty start his afternoon off hot with two strikeouts in the bottom half of the inning. The Panthers would go three and out in the second, while Doherty got out of a jam thanks to a double play by shortstop
Ja'Lil Akbar and second baseman
Lucas DiLuca.
Lashure started off the third with a single to centerfield, and DiLuca doubled to left to put runners in scoring position. Aide picked up his first two RBI of the afternoon after singling up the middle to bring two Panthers home to put EIU on the board 2-0. Doherty would go back to work in the bottom of the third while striking out two Tigers.
The Panthers would break open the game with a six run inning in the top of the fourth. After a fielder's choice by Grambling State to put Lashure on first, Akbar would hit into an error in right field that brought home Lashure from first. DiLuca would then bring home Akbar after he singled to center. Eickhoff would move DiLuca to third with a double to left which put two on for EIU. Aide would capitalize on this with another two RBI single. Ignoffo would bring home the last two runs of the inning thanks to an inside-the-park home run. The bottom of the fourth saw Doherty through two more Ks to keep the score at 8-0.
Lincoln Riley earned himself a free pass to first base with a walk, and advanced to second after a pass ball. Lashure added an RBI to his day with a single to bring home Riley. Grambling State would leave one runner stranded in the bottom half of the inning.
EIU and Grambling would both go scoreless in the sixth and seventh innings. EIU produced another double play with
Travis Reaves and Akbar at second and shortstop to finish Doherty's day with no runs on four hits.
In the final inning, after Eickhoff was able to get on and advance to third,
Chris Worcester doubled to left field to bring home another run. Aide scored the final run of the afternoon on a wild pitch to bring the Panthers lead to 11. After giving up a leadoff hit, Trout struck out two Tigers and produced a pop-up to first base to close out the series sweep of Grambling State.
EIU posted 11 runs on 12 hits with one error on the afternoon. Grambling State had five hits and two errors.
The Panthers will make a quick stop north of Charleston to Champaigne, Ill. on Tuesday, March 8 to play the Fighting Illini of the University of Illinois at 4 p.m. LiveStats will be made available.
