Evansville, Ind. - Eastern Illinois baseball (22-14, 4-7 OVC) split a Ohio Valley Conference double header on Saturday at OVC newcomer Southern Indiana (12-26, 4-10 OVC). Both offenses were on full display with a combined 66 runs in two games.
Southern Indiana scored 26 runs in game one to take the first game of the series, but the Panthers struck back in game two scoring 22 runs to split the double header. EIU and USI were supposed to play a game on Friday, but was moved due to weather.
GAME ONE: EIU 6 USI 26
Eastern Illinois fell in the first of two games on Saturday 6-26 against the Screaming Eagles of Southern Indiana. Starting pitcher
Tyler Conklin (L, 3-5) suffered the loss for EIU after throwing in three innings and allowing seven runs and five walks.
Ben Gallaher was a mid-game substitution during game one, but delivered for EIU with two hits including a double and three RBI.
Chris Worcester also had two doubles and a RBI while Nichols Rucker went 3-5 with a solo home run.
Despite lots of runs scored in the game, the first run of the game was not scored til the third inning by the Panthers.
Kolten Poorman had a sac fly to score the first run and Rucker had his solo home run to give EIU the early 2-0 lead.
USI would strike back with seven runs of their own in the bottom of the third including a grand slam by Evan Kahre. Southern Indiana had five hits in the third and also drew two walks off of Conklin.
Worcester would bring home another run for EIU in the top of the fourth before USI scored 11 runs in the bottom of the inning. Eastern Illinois used three different pitchers in the inning before finally getting out of the jam.
The Screaming Eagles only had five hits during the fourth, but were walked eight times in the inning including three straight by relief pitcher
Chaney Trout. USI would hold an 18-3 advantage heading into the fifth.
Gallaher would have the final three RBI for the Panthers after scoring two in the fifth and one in the seventh, but it was not enough hold off USI from taking game one.Â
Eastern Illinois scored six runs on 13 hits with one error while USI scored 26 runs on 19 hits with one error.
GAME TWO: EIU 22 USI 12
Eastern Illinois dominated game two by a final score of 22-12 to tie up the series at one game apiece. Nine different Panthers had an RBI in the game including five from first baseman
Nicholas Rucker. Rucker went 4-6 in the game with a homerun and a double.
Starting pitcher
Ky Matthews-Hampton (W, 5-0) threw in five innings allowing 10 hits and seven runs (four earned) with five strikeouts. He becomes the fourth pitcher in the OVC to have five wins this season.
EIU jumped out to a huge 7-0 lead to start the game in the top of the first. USI's starting pitcher Will Kiesel only faced four batter allowing three walks and a hit by pitch. Rucker got the first hit of game two with a two RBI single.
Dominic DiLello,
Robby Taul and
Logan Eickhoff would all have an RBI for the Panthers to conclude a seven run first inning that saw the Panthers only have three hits.
Both teams would score a run in the second to push the score to 8-1. Hampton had four strikeouts in the first three innings of play.
Ryan Ignoffo had his first of three hits in the game with a solo home run followed by Rucker with a two-run home run to extend the lead to 13-1.
In the fourth,
Grant Lashure added a two RBI single into left field while
Kolten Poorman and
Cole Gober would tack on another two runs to increase the lead to 17-1. USI scored four runs in the bottom half of the inning off of Hampton.
Eastern Illinois led 18-7 heading into the seventh inning when the Panthers added another four runs to their total. EIU scored four runs on five hits in the inning including an RBI by Rucker,
Lucas DiLuca, Gober and Taul.
The Screaming Eagles would score five more runs in the final three innings, but EIU held strong and evened the series.
EIU scored 22 runs on 18 hits with three errors. USI scored 12 runs on 17 hits with two errors. Game three will start tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. in Evansville, Ind. For more information go to eiupanthers.com.
