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Photo Gallery (by
Sandy King)
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Eastern Illinois (20-7, 4-0 OVC) picks up their fourth Ohio Valley Conference win of the season off of a walk-off single from
Lucas DiLuca in the bottom of the ninth inning against SIUE (13-15, 2-5 OVC) by a score of 5-4.
Nathan Aide picked up his second straight game with a homerun with a two-run blast in the first inning.
Lincoln Riley had the doublle that lead to the DiLuca single to win the game. Starting pitcher
Trevor Nicholson threw in 5.0 innings, gave up seven hits, four runs, and had three strikeouts.
Hayden Birdsong picked up the win for EIU.
QUICK STATS
Nathan Aide: 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
Lucas DiLuca: 1-4, RBI, 2 R
Chris Worcester: 2-3, RBI
Lincoln Riley: 2-5, 2B, R
Trevor Nicholson: ND, 5.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 3 K
Hayden Birdsong: W (3-2), 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K
Brett Johnson for SIUE lead the game off with a homerun off of Nicholson to give SIUE the early lead. It was the first homerun Nicholson has given up this season.
Nathan Aide would give the lead right back to EIU with a two-run homerun in the bottom of the first. DiLuca was able to reach on-base on an error that set up Aide for the two-run shot.
Nicholson would give up his second run of the afternoon after he gave up two singles and walked a Cougar to have the bases loaded. SIUE was able to force Nicholson into another walk that tied the game at 2-2.
SIUE would get to Nicholson in the fourth inning after a walk and a double by Johnson to put runners on second and third. Richie Well would step up for the Cougars with a single through the left side to score Brett Pierson from third. Josh Ohl would then hit a sac fly to score Johnson and give the Cougars a two run lead 4-2.
Panthers would battle back in the bottom of the fifth. DiLuca was walked to leadoff the fifth and
Logan Eickhoff single through the right side to put runners on first and second.
Nathan Aide would pick up his second hit of game one with a single to center field to load the bases.
Dalton Doyle hit into a fielder's choice but was able to still score DiLuca from third. After a Nichols Rucker walk, Worcester hit a sac fly to center field to score Eickhoff and tie the game at four a piece.
Chaney Trout would replace Nicholson and shut down the SIUE offense in his two innings of work. He allowed only two hits and one walk without giving up any runs. Birdsong would relieve Trout on the mound for the final two innings. After stranding two runners in the eighth, Birdsong would go three-up three-down in the ninth to give EIU the chance to walk it off.
Lincoln Riley stepped up as the leadoff batter in the ninth with a double to left center to put himself in scoring position. After a wild pitch to put him on third, DiLuca hit a high chopper to second base and got an infield single to score Riley and give EIU the win. Birdsong would go on to win his third game of the season.
EIU scored five runs on 10 hits and posted no errors. SIUE scored four runs on nine hits and had two errors.
GAME TWO
Eastern Illinois (20-8, 4-1 OVC) lost their first OVC game of the year after they lost the second game of Saturday's double header to SIUE (14-15, 3-5 OVC) by a final of 5-11.
Logan Eickhoff and
Nathan Aide both had two hits and a RBI for EIU in their loss. Starting pitcher
Cameron Doherty lost his third game of the season after he gave up six runs (five unearned) in the second inning to lift SIUE past the Panthers. SIUE took advantage of two errors in the second inning to give them the win.
QUICK STATS
Nathan Aide: 2-5, RBI
Logan Eickhoff: 2-5, RBI
Nicholas Rucker: 2-4, 2B, RBI, 2 R
Cameron Doherty: L (4-3), 2.0 IP, 5 H, 6 R, BB, K
Ky Matthews-Hampton: 4.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Jason DeCicco: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 4 K
The SIUE offense got a big lift in the second inning off of two costly errors by the EIU offense. After a double by Avery Owusu-Asiedu to lead off the second, Brady Bunten reached on an error by
Ja'Lil Akbar at shortstop. With runners on the corners, Orf was walked to load the bases. Steven Pattan hit a ball the right field where Eickhoff lost sight of the ball and let it drop for their second error of the inning. SIUE would score one after that error.
Doherty would then give up a single to Pierson to right field which scored two more. Well would hit a sac fly for the Cougars to bring another run in to increase their lead to four. Ohl came back up to the plate and hit a double to left center field to bring home Pierson. Kiffer would add one more to give them a 6-0 advantage in the top of the second.
The Panthers offense would find some rhythm in the third inning when Akbar hit a double to left center.
Lincoln Riley would be granted first base after a catcher's interference was called. Eickhoff and Aide would both pick up RBI singles to cut SIUE's lead to 6-2.
Hampton would give up a sac fly in the fourth to add one more to the Cougar's lead. The Panthers offense would struggle in the fourth and fifth inning with two straight three-and-outs. Hampton would have his night end in the seventh after he gave up back-to-back doubles and a run. Owusu-Asiedu picked up his second double of the evening. DeCicco would enter the game for Hampton, and gave up a homerun to Bunten to push the lead to 10-2. DeCicco would pick up one his four strikeouts to end the seventh.
After DeCicco picked up two more strikeouts in the eighth, Riley was able to single in the bottom of the inning with two runners on to give another run to the Panthers. Nichols Rucker scored the third run for EIU. Owusu-Asiedu came back up in the ninth and hit his third double of the night (4-5 for the game). He would score to end the ninth and give the Cougars 11 runs.
Bryce Hayman would pinch hit in the ninth with two outs and get walked. He would then score from first after Rucker was able to hit a double to left center. Doyle followed Rucker with a double of his own and give EIU two more runs. The Panthers' comeback would fall short as EIU would lose game two by a final of 5-11.
EIU scored five runs on 11 hits and had three errors, which is the most in a game for EIU this season. SIUE would score 11 runs on 16 hits and have one error. The third game of this three game series will be held on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Livestats and Radio will be made available.
