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SAINT LOUIS, Mo. - Eastern Illinois baseball (12-4, 0-0 OVC) win a defensive battle against the Billikens of Saint Louis (12-6, 0-0 A-10) by a final score of 2-0 on Wednesday afternoon. EIU's pitching staff allowed just two hits and zero walks in the game.

Starting pitcher Nick Laxner (W, 2-0) had his best outing of the season after throwing seven innings on Wednesday and allowing just two hits with five strikeouts in the shutout win. Grant Fremion (0-1) suffered the loss for Saint Louis. Marked second shutput of the season (3-0 win at FAMU).

Lincoln Riley and Ryan Ignoffo were the lone Panthers to earn an RBI in the game. The Panther defense allowed just two base runners throughout the entire game. EIU has 11 shutouts wins in the last five seasons.

QUICK STATS
Lincoln Riley: 3-5, RBI
Ryan Ignoffo: 1-4, RBI, 2B | 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R
Nick Laxner: W (2-0), 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 5 K
Zane Robbins: S (1), 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R

Ignoffo had the lone extra base hit in the first inning with a double, but was left stranded. Laxner pitched a three up three down first inning before allowing one of Saint Louis' two hits on the afternoon in the second. He would retire the next three. 

After Saint Louis recorded their second and final hit of the game in the third, Laxner would putout the next 13 straight batters he faced including throwing four of his five strikeouts. EIU ended the game retiring 19 straight Billikens.

Eastern Illinois would finally break the 0-0 tie in the fifth inning after Fremion allowed two walks to Ja'Lil Akbar and Lucas DiLuca. Riley would get the job done with a single into left field to score Akabr and give EIU the one run lead.

In the top of the seventh inning with runners on the corners, Ignoffo delivered a sac fly into right field which would bring home DiLuca for the final run of the game. The Panthers' 2-0 win was the least amount of runs scored in a shutout win since 2019 (1-0 vs. SEMO).

Ignoffo would pick up where Laxner left off at on the mound in the eighth with a one, two, three inning to set up closer Zane Robbins for his first save of the season. With that save Robbins is now tied for sixth all-time in EIU history with 12 career saves.

Eastern Illinois would score two runs on seven hits with no errors. Saint Louis scored no runs on two hits with one error.

The Panthers will be back in action with a weekend series against the Skyhawks of UT Martin. For more updates go to eiupanthers.com.