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CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois (33-19, 12-12 OVC) takes the final Ohio Valley Conference regular season series against Southeast Missouri (34-19, 16-8 OVC) by a final score of 5-1 in six and two-thirds innings due to a weather cancelation. Ky Matthews-Hampton threw into the seventh inning before the weather delay. He allowed one run on four hits with three strikeouts, and gets his first win of the season. Ryan Ignoffo and Lucas DiLuca both collected two hits on the day and a RBI. Nathan Aide also hit an RBI triple to give him six triples on the season. Ja'Lil Akbar also collected an RBI and two runs on the day. Panthers will now wait to see who they will play next week at the OVC Tournament in Lexington, Ky.

GAME ONE QUICK STATS
Ryan Ignoffo: 2-3, 2B, RBI, BB
Lucas DiLuca: 2-4, RBI, R
Nathan Aide: 1-4, 3B, RBI
Ja'Lil Akbar: 1-3, 2 R, RBI
Ky Matthews Hampton: W (1-1), 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 K
 
Hampton made quick work in the first inning with a three up three down. Panthers had a chance to score in the first with Ignoffo at third, but Chris Worcester grounded out to end the inning.
 
Grant Lashure and Dylan Drumke lead off the second inning with two singles. Akbar was able to capitalize with runners on base with an RBI single to bring in the first run. DiLuca followed that with an RBI single to right field that scored Drumke.
 
Ignoffo continued with his great season with an RBI double after DiLuca's single that put runners in scoring position. After a Doyle walk, Chris Worcester was walked with the bases loaded to pick up an RBI walk. EIU would score four runs in the second.
 
SEMO collected their first hit in the third inning off a Brett Graber single. He would be stranded at second to end the inning. Both teams would go scoreless in the next three innings.
 
EIU's defense would also hold the Redhawks scoreless in the sixth inning which marked the 14^th straight inning that SEMO failed to score in the series. Despite the Panthers' three errors, EIU managed to keep runners off the bases.
 
Nathan Aide added another run in the sixth inning with an RBI triple to score Akbar from first. Aide leads the team with six triples.
 
SEMO's Lincoln Andrew hit a lead-off home run off of Hampton in the seventh before the rain delay. The game would be canceled after that giving EIU their 33rd win of the season. This marks the most wins in a single season since the 2001 season when the Panthers went 35-20.

EIU scored five runs on eight hits with three errors. SEMO scored one run on four hits with one error. The Panthers will now wait to see who they will play in the OVC tournament next week. The OVC Tournament will be hosted in Lexington, Ky., and all games will be streamed live on ESPN+.