ST. CHARLES, Mo. – Eastern Illinois had an early lead in both games on Saturday afternoon at Lindenwood but could not hang on as the Lions rallied in both games to sweep the Ohio Valley Conference doubleheader.
Lindenwood won 5-2 in the opener and 3-2 in the second game with the final game of the weekend series at 12 pm on Sunday.
EIU fell to 30-17 overall, 15-4 in the OVC. Lindenwood improved to 15-28 overall, 7-12 in the OVC.
LWU 5, EIU 2
In a back-and-forth contest in the opener, Lindenwood was able to strike last with three runs in the bottom for the fourth to pick up the 5-2 win.
Morgan Lewis walked to lead off the second and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by
Jaylen Prichard.
After EIU fell behind 2-1 in the bottom of the third, Lewis again scored for EIU as she led off the fourth with a single and came home to score on a single up the middle by
Aryn Henke. Lewis was 2-for-2, the only EIU player with multiple hits in the opener.
Lindenwood's pitching staff issued five walks in the game with two hit batters but was able to limit EIU to just five hits in the game. Keighlan Cronin (4-8) picked up the win with Amanda Weyh getting her second save of the year.
With the score tied 2-2 in the fourth, Lauren Pelton led off with a double. EIU would commit two errors over the next three batters with two sacrifice bunts mixed in for Lindenwood. Pelton came around to score as did Morgan Gersch who reached on an error and Chloe Honchar who reached on a single but came around to score on a throwing error later in the inning.
Olivia Price (13-4) suffered the loss for EIU with
Alexa Rehmeier closing the game with two scoreless innings of relief.
LWU 3, EIU 2
Lindenwood scored with one out in the bottom of the seventh on a Dallis Darnell RBI single to left to lift the Lions to a 3-2 win over EIU.
The Panthers built an early 2-0 lead in the game scoring a pair of runs in the third inning.
Briana Gonzalez walked and came around to score on an RBI double down the line by
Aryn Henke. Two batters later Kendall Glover hit a ball in nearly the exact same spot for an RBI double to score Henke.
EIU starter
Rachel Kaufman (9-5) was solid the first five innings helped by a defense turning two double plays behind her to end the first and third innings.
In the sixth, Lindenwood broke through with Emma Daniels leading off with a double. EIU would commit a fielding error on the next play and Tori Hatton drove in both runs with a single. Hatton was one of two Lindenwood players with two hits in the game joining Theresa Snaidauft.
Amanda Weyh (6-10) was effective in the circle picking up the complete game win allowing five EIU hits.
Morgan Lewis went 2-for-3 to lead EIU while Henke and Grover had extra base hits.
