NASHVILLE – Eastern Illinois lost both games of Saturday's doubleheader at Belmont as the Panthers fell 1-0 in the opener before a 7-4 loss in game two.
EIU and Belmont will play the final game of the weekend series on Sunday at 1 p.m.
EIU fell to 23-28 overall, 8-16 in the OVC. Belmont improved to 29-12 overall, 19-5 in the OVC.
BELMONT 1, EIU 0
Eastern Illinois pitchers limited Belmont to just two hits in the opener but the Bruins pushed across the lone run of the game in the third inning for a 1-0 victory.
Belmont took advantage of four straight walks in the third inning with Emma Barnes drawing a bases loaded walk to bring in the only run of the game. Cheyenne Cavanaugh would collect the only two hits of the game for Belmont.
EIU was able to string together six hits in the contest with
Hannah Cravens going 3-for-3 and
Kendall Fields going 2-for-3 at the plate.
The Panthers would put a runner in scoring position in the third, fourth and sixth innings but could not produce the key hit against Bruins starter Emma Summers who picked up the complete game win to improve to 12-6.
Olivia Price suffered the loss falling to 5-5 while
Alexa Rehmeier threw four innings of scoreless, one hit relief.
BELMONT 7, EIU 4
Belmont jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and held off EIU during a 7-4 game two win.
Cheyenne Cavanaugh opened the game with a double for Belmont and came around to score in the first. In the second she would drive home two more Belmont runs with a double to center.
Alicia Veltri had the big hit in the third for the Bruins with a two-run home run that put Belmont up 5-0.
EIU cut into the Belmont lead in the fourth as the Panthers loaded the bases.
Rachel Kaufman then cleared them with a double to center.
The Panthers scored once more in the seventh on an RBI single by
Morgan Lewis.
Belmont tacked on two insurance runs in the sixth taking advantage of an EIU error with both runs unearned.
Veltri picked up the win in the circle for Belmont improving to 7-4.
Alexa Rehmeier suffered the loss for EIU falling to 10-9.
Cavanaugh and Veltri both had two hits for Belmont.
Maddie Swart was 2-for-3 to lead EIU.
