CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois baseball (24-16, 5-9 OVC) evens the series against Tennessee Tech (14-26, 5-9 OVC) at Coaches Stadium with a 12-4 victory on Saturday afternoon. Panthers had 14 hits including three home runs.
Kolten Poorman went 3-4 in EIU's 24th victory of the season including a double, home run and a team high four RBI.
Ryan Ignoffo (3-5) and
Logan Eickhoff (3-5) both had solo home runs to help the Panthers' offense.
Winning pitcher
Nick Laxner (W, 3-1) pitched in the first 3.1 inning of the game allowing three runs on six hits. Ignoffo then pitched the next 5.1 innings striking out five and allowing just one run. Colt Taylor (L, 1-4) suffered the loss after pitching to only the first four batters.
QUICK STATS
Kolten Poorman: 3-5, 4 RBI, 2B, HR, 2 R
Ryan Ignoffo: 3-5, 3 RBI, HR, 3 R, SB | 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 5 K
Logan Eickhoff: 3-5, 2 RBI, HR, 3 R, SB
Lincoln Riley: 2-3, BB, R, SB
Jackson Nichols: W (3-1), 3.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, BB
Eastern Illinois jumped out early in the bottom of the first inning with the game's first three runs. Ignoffo and Poorman hit back-to-back RBI before
Grant Lashure hit a sac bunt to bring home Poorman from third. EIU also turned two double plays in the first two innings.
In the bottom of the second, Eickhoff and Ignoffo hit another pair of back-to-back RBI singles to increase EIU's lead to 5-0. Poorman then hit the first of three Panther home runs in the second with a three run blast.
Tennessee Tech would score three of their four runs in the top of the third off of Laxner with two home runs. Eddie Garza had a solo home run then was followed by a two-run home run by Troy Baunsgard.
After a small scoring drought by both teams, Eickhoff hit his first home run of the season in the fourth inning to push the lead to 9-3. Ignoffo did not allow his first run until the fifth with a solo home run to Josh Dyer. TTU scored all their runs by home runs.
The Panthers would close out the game with a run scored in each of the last three innings including an RBI single by
Nicholas Rucker in the sixth and a solo home run by Ignoffo. TTU loaded the bases in the top of the ninth before Jackson Nicholas closed the door.
EIU scored 12 runs on 14 hits with no runs. TTU scored four runs on 10 hits with two errors. Tomorrow's final game of the series will start at 11:00 a.m. For more updates go to eiupanthers.com.
