BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois (26-12, 7-5 OVC) wins a bounce back game at Illinois Wesleyan (15-15, 6-6 CCIW) by a final score of 7-4. Relief pitcher
Zane Robbins picks up his 11th save of the season to set the EIU single season record for saves. Robbins remains in second in the OVC in that category.
Nicholas Rucker went 1-2 with an RBI and two walks at the plate and
Ben Gallaher went 0-2 with an RBI and two walks in the win. Eastern throws nine pitchers in the game with starter
Mac Hickman picking up his fourth win of the season.
QUICK STATS
Zane Robbins: S (11), 1.0 IP, H, K
Nicholas Rucker: 1-2, RBI, R, 2 BB
Ben Gallaher: 0-2, RBI, R, 2 BB
Lucas DiLuca: 1-4, RBI
Mac Hickman: W (4-0), 1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, BB
Illinois Wesleyan scored two of their runs to start the afternoon in the first inning off of starter Hickman. Dominic DiLello singled through the left side of the infield to score the first run. Jared Mutter picked up another RBI later in the inning in a groundout to
Ja'Lil Akbar.
EIU would get the bats out in the bottom of first by scoring four runs. After
Lincoln Riley,
Logan Eickhoff, and
Ryan Ignoffo loaded the bases, Riley would score on a pass ball to put EIU on the board.
Nathan Aide would load the bases again with a walk which would bring up
Chris Worcester who would walk in an RBI. Rucker would follow him with another RBI walk.
Ben Gallaher brought in the last of Eastern's four runs with an RBI fielder's choice.
Tyler Conklin would strike out two in one inning of work in the second, and
Kyle Lang would add two more strikeouts after two straight scoreless innings for Wesleyan. EIU would tack on one more run after Aide scored on a balk by Nate Carlson.
Jackson Nicholas would enter the game in the fourth inning, and allow one run to IWU. Evan Hutson would single through the left side to score Mutter and cut the EIU lead to 5-3. Wesleyan would add one more run in the fifth inning off of
Blake Malatestinic after Louis Perona singled to center field to score DiLello.
After a scoreless Titans sixth inning, EIU would bring the bats out again in the bottom half of the inning. Rucker, Gallaher, and Akbar all reached safely to load the bases with no outs. Rucker would score on a wild pitch for the first run of the inning. DiLuca would pick up his only RBI of the afternoon on a single to right field to score Gallaher, and put EIU up 7-4.
Jesse Wainscott,
Hayden Birdsong, and
Zane Robbins all recorded at least one strikeout in the last three innings to secure the Panthers win. Robbins earned his 11th save of the season to put him atop to EIU single season saves list. He is also tied for seventh all-time in saves.
EIU scored seven runs on six hits and one error. The Titans scored four runs on 11 hits and one error. The Panthers will be back in action on Friday when they start a three-game series against OVC opponent Tennessee Tech in Cooksville. Livestats and ESPN+ will be available for all games.
