LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Eastern Illinois baseball (11-4, 0-0 OVC) earned their seventh straight win this season with a 14-6 win over the Knights of Bellarmine (7-14, 2-1 ASUN). The Panthers were able to score their most runs on the season during Tuesday's matchup.
Despite being limited to just one hit during the game,
Ryan Ignoffo delivered a three RBI triple to clear the bases in the sixth inning which helped lift EIU after trailing early.
Lincoln Riley had a two RBI double while
Kolten Poorman had a two-run home run.
In relief,
Blake Malatestinic (W, 2-1) earned the win for EIU after throwing in three innings and allowing only one earned run on five hits. He also threw a team leading four strikeouts for his second win of the season. Arren Hash suffered the loss for the Knights after allowing five runs on four hits.
QUICK STATS
Ryan Ignoffo: 1-6, 3B, 4 RBI
Lincoln Riley: 2-5, 2B, 2 BRI, R, BB
Kolten Poorman: 1-3, HR, 2 RBI, R, BB
Blake Malatestinic: W (2-1), 3.0 IP, 3 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 4 K
Jackson Nichols: S (1), 3.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, K
During their Tuesday matchup, EIU went pitcher by committee after throwing all three weekend starting pitchers in limited roles.
Ky Matthews-Hampton started the game for EIU and threw the first two innings.
EIU would lead early in the second inning after Poorman hit a soft fly ball to center field which was dropped and scored a run. Bellarmine would bounce back with three runs off of Hampton including a two-run home run by Jackson Case. BU took a 3-1 lead heading into the third.
Tyler Conklin would enter the game in the third and would strike out two. Conklin would only pitch one inning before Malatestinic took over in the fourth. Despite having two men on, Malatestinic was able to get out of the fourth without surrendering a run.
The Panthers were able to tie the game in the fifth after Poorman hit his second home run of the season while also bringing home
Jared Evans. Evans had three walks and three runs scored during the game.
Eastern Illinois started to pour on the runs in the sixth after
Nicholas Rucker delivered his first home run of the season while giving EIU the 5-3 lead. EIU was not finished in the sixth with
Grant Lashure hitting a double to score Evans. Ignoffo would deliver his three RBI triple after that to bring the lead to 9-3.
Malatestinic and the Panther defense would stumble in the bottom half of the inning after allowing two errors resulting in two runs scored. Davis Crane for Bellarmine would be credited with two RBI in the inning to cut the lead to 9-6.
In back-to-back innings, EIU would score at least four runs to put the game away. To start the seventh after two walks and a single,
Ja'Lil Akbar came in and hit a single to right field to score one.
Sean Lynch Jr. would then score off a wild pitch by Bellarmine. Riley would finish the inning with a two RBI double down the third base line to put EIU up seven runs.
Ignoffo picked up his fourth RBI of the game off of a fielder's choice in the ninth to bring the final score to 14-6.
Jackson Nichols finished the game with a three inning save, only allowing two base runners against his 11 batters faced.
EIU scored 14 runs on 11 hits with four errors while Bellarmine scored six runs on 14 hits with three errors.
Eastern Illinois baseball also made a change to their schedule for Wednesday, March 22. EIU will now play Saint Louis in Saint Louis, Mo. on Wed. at 4 p.m. instead of their scheduled game at Coaches Stadium vs. Roosevelt. For more information go to eiupanthers.com.
