TALLAHASSEE, Fl. -Â Eastern Illinois (1-0, 0-0 OVC) take care of business on the opening day of the 2023 baseball season with a win over Florida A&M (0-1, 0-0 SWAC) by a final score of 8-7 in 10 innings.
Ja'Lil Akbar delivers the go-ahead RBI in the top of the 10th to give EIU their first win of the season.
Zane Robbins earns the win after throwing the last two innings of the ballgame and delivering four strikeouts while just allowing one run.
Cole Gober also went three for six in his EIU debut with his first home run in a Panther uniform.
QUICK STATS
Cole Gober: 3-6, HR, 2B, RBI
Ryan Ignoffo: 0-3, 3 RBI, 2 HBP
Lincoln Riley: 3-5, 2B, RBI, HBP
Zane Robbins: W (1-0), 2.0 IP, ER, 0 H, 4K
The Panthers opened up their season hot by scoring in the first two innings.
Lincoln Riley had himself a single to start the 2023 season and was driven home by
Ryan Ignoffo in the first to earn his first RBI of the day. Gober, in his first career at-bat, hit a shot down the right field line for a home run to give EIU the early 2-0 lead.
Starting pitcher
Blake Malatestinic would give up back-to-back home runs in the third to give FAMU to 4-2 lead. Malatestinic would go 5.1 innings in his season debut while allowing nine hits, four earned runs and had two strikeouts.
Eastern Illinois would keep battling as they put together a three-run fourth inning to regain the lead. With the bases loaded, Riley reached safely on a fielder's choice but secured the RBI. After a
Lucas DiLuca walk, Ignoffo was hit-by-pitch to drive home another run.
Nicholas Rucker would earn the third run after a fielder's choice to put EIU back up 5-4.
FAMU would hit their third home run of the day off Malatestinic in the fifth after Jared Weber hit a two-run long ball to take the lead.
Mac Hickman would replace Malatestinic in the sixth. Hickman went 2.2 scoreless innings of work for EIU.
Both teams struggled to drive in runs in the seventh and eighth innings with EIU leading five runners left on base and FAMU leaving one stranded. Eastern had a total of 18 runners left on base to FAMU'S nine.
In the top of the ninth,
Kolten Poorman,
Ja'Lil Akbar and
Lucas DiLuca would load the bases for Ignoffo who was hit by a pitch for the second time and would deliver his third RBI of the game. Rucker would then hit a sac fly to score Akbar and give EIU the one run advantage (7-6).
Closer Robbins would enter the game in the ninth for the Panthers. After loading the bases with two walks and an error, FAMU would tie the game with a pass ball. Robbins would get out of the jam with two strikeouts to end the ninth.
The top of the 10th saw
Ja'Lil Akbar deliver the go-ahead run to score
Logan Eickhoff from third to give EIU the 8-7 lead. Robbins would come back in and close out the game with two groundouts and a strikeout.
FAMU's Weber had two home runs in the game while Ty Hanchey delivered another. The losing pitcher on the afternoon was Caleb Grander (0-1) after giving up one run and two hits in the 10th.
The Panthers had eight runs on 13 hits with two errors while A&M had seven runs on 10 hits with three errors. EIU will be back in action tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. for game two of the three game series. Livestats will be provided.
