EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Eastern Illinois baseball (15-10, 1-3 OVC) drop their opening game at SIUE (17-11, 3-4 OVC) by a final score of 7-0. EIU held to just three hits throughout the entire game.
Panthers had five base runners in the game including hits by
Cole Gober,
Jared Evans and
Joey Hagen. SIUE had 13 hits against the Panthers in game one of a three game series.
Starting pitcher
Tyler Conklin (L, 3-3) pitched in five innings for EIU while allowing three runs on six hits with three strikeouts. Tyler DeLong (W, 3-2) was the winning pitcher for SIUE after throwing in 7.1 innings and allowing just two hits with nine strikeouts.
QUICK STATS
Cole Gober: 1-4, 1B
Joey Hagen: 1-1, 1B
Tyler Conklin: L (3-3), 5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 K
Jonathon Hanscom: 3.0 IP, 7.0 IP, 4 R, 2 K
EIU and SIUE were held scoreless through the first two innings despite SIUE having the bases loaded in the bottom of the first inning. Conklin was able to survive the inning with a fly out. The Panthers had runners on first and second in the bottom of the second, but failed to drive in runs.
The Cougars scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the third with an RBI single by Kyle Ratliff to bring home Brennan Orf.
SIUE would score four runs in the bottom of the sixth off of Conklin and Hanscom to extend their lead to 5-0. Ole Arntson, Ohl and Drew Mize (2) all had and RBI for the Cougars.
Evans finally picked up EIU's first hit of the ballgame with a single in the seventh inning with two outs. SIUE also scored one run in the bottom of the seventh.
Hagen had a single in the eighth while Gober had the final hit the ninth before SIUE took game one by a final score of 7-0. EIU had their lowest hit total of the season with just three hits.
The Panthers and Cougars will be back in action tomorrow night at 5:00 p.m. in Edwardsville, Ill. Livestats will be provided on eiupanthers.com.
