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CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Eastern Illinois (24-8, 7-1 OVC) takes the series at Austin Peay (13-22, 6-5 OVC) after a 13-hour delay from the start of game two on Friday night with a 11-9 win in the 11th inning. The Panthers earn their seventh Ohio Valley Conference win of the season and have won seven of their last eight games. Logan Eickhoff delivered the go-ahead RBI single in the top of the 11th to score Ja'Lil Akbar from second. Jackson Nicholas earned his first save of the season after throwing only five pitches in the bottom half of the inning.

QUICK STATS
Logan Eickhoff: 3-6, 2 RBI
Dalton Doyle: 3-6, 2 R
Grant Lashure: 4-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
Ja'Lil Akbar: 2-4, RBI, 2 R, 2 BB
Hayden Birdsong: W, (4-2), 1.0 IP, H, 2 K
Cameron Doherty: ND, 5.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, BB, 3 K
Jackson Nichols: S (1), 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R

Although a high scoring game, both starting pitchers for the Panthers and Governors got off to hot starts in the first four inning of the game. EIU only produced two hits in the first four innings off of starting pitcher Harley Gollert. Cameron Doherty also shut down the Governors offense while only allowing one hit and a walk.

The offenses started to heat up after the fourth as Grant Lashure hit his second homerun of the season in the top of the fifth off of Gollert to put EIU on the board. The Panthers would load the bases twice in the same inning, but failed to convert any more runs. Doherty allowed two hits and no runs in the bottom of the fifth. 

Dalton Doyle added one of three hits for him in the game in the sixth with a single followed by Bryce Hayman to have two on in the sixth. Grant Lashure delivered another RBI through the left side to score Doyle from second. Lincoln Riley would give EIU a 3-0 lead after he singled down the third baseline to score Hayman.

The Governors would answer the call in the sixth with three runs of their own. After Doherty gave up two singles to leadoff the inning, Kyle Lang would enter the game on the mound. John McDonald would drive in an RBI single off of Lang to give APSU their first run. Reid Brown would follow that with an RBI single of his own. John Bolton would hit a sacrifice fly to center to score the third run off Lang.

EIU would go scoreless in the top of the seventh. The Governors would take their first lead of game two off an RBI single from McDonald after Jesse Wainscott replaced Lang. Wainscott would get a strikeout to end the inning.

The Panthers bats would have their best inning in the eighth after scoring six runs. Doyle and Lashure both picked up singles to start the inning, and was followed by an RBI single by Akbar to bring home Doyle. After an intentional walk by Riley, Luca DiLuca would earn himself a free pass the first with an RBI walk. Eickhoff would deliver an RBI sac fly to center to score Akbar. Nathan Aide then singled to first which brought home Riley on the throw home. Nicholas Rucker picked up his first hit to score the final two RBIs of the inning to put EIU up five heading in to the eighth.

The Governors would chip away at that lead with four runs of their own. Wainscott would give up a two RBI single to Ty DeLancey and then put runners on second and third before Jason DeCicco entered the game. McDonald would pick up his third and fourth RBI off a single through the left side to cut the lead to one. Zane Robbins would get the final out of the game off a strikeout.

EIU had an opportunity in the top of the ninth with bases loaded to get an insurance run, but were left stranded by two straight strikeouts to end the inning. Robbins would go back out in the ninth, and put runners on the corners for the Governors. Gino Avros would hit a SAC fly to center to score one and give Robbins his first blown save of the season. He would get out of the ninth with a strikeout.

After a scoreless 10th inning, the game was delayed until 1:00 p.m. today due to lightning in Clarksville. In the 11th, EIU would score two in the top of the inning. APSU had a chance to turn two to end the inning with a double play, but Jonah Beamon had a throwing error at second to put two Panthers on. Eickhoff would deliver than go-ahead RBI single and was followed by Aide with an RBI sac fly to put EIU up two. Nichols would enter the game and earn his first save after only throwing five pitches.

EIU would score 11 runs on 16 hits and have one error. The Governors would score nine runs on 13 hits and have two errors. Game three will start at 1:50 p.m. on Saturday and will be streaming on ESPN+. Livestats are also available on eiupanthers.com.