MACOMB, Ill. - Eastern Illinois baseball (30-18, 10-11 OVC) picked up win number 30 on the season with a 9-3 victory over Western Illinois (12-37, 8-13 Summit). Marks the first back-to-back seasons with at least 30 wins since the 1998-99 seasons.
Six different Panthers picked up an RBI in the win.
Kolten Poorman delivered two hits and an RBI while EIU's leading hitter
Ryan Ignoffo went 3-5 against the Leathernecks.
Cole Gober also delivered two hits.
Nick Laxner (W, 4-1) earned his fourth win of the season after pitching in 4.2 innings allowing two runs on four hits. The Eastern Illinois pitching staff ended the final 3.2 innings not allowing a hit.
QUICK STATS
Ryan Ignoffo: 3-5, R, BB
Kolten Poorman: 2-5, RBI, R, BB
Cole Gober: 2-5, R, HBP
Nick Laxner: W (4-1), 4.2 IP, 2 R, 4 H
Zane Robbins: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 K
Offenses were slow to get jump started on Tuesday with only two hits combined through the first two innings. Western Illinois' Chase VanDerGinst hit a solo home run to start the second inning off of Laxner to get the scoring underway.
The score would remain 1-0 heading into the fifth inning when EIU's bats produced five runs to take their first lead of the game. After two singles by Ignoffo and Poorman, Ignoffo would score on a balk by WIU to tie the game.
Catcher
Grant Lashure then had an RBI single to score Poorman for the second run of the inning.
Chris Worcester and
Lucas DiLuca produced back-to-back RBI to extend the lead before Worcester scored on a wild pitch to make the score 5-1 in favor of the Panthers.
The Leathernecks would score one run in the fifth against Laxner and one run in the sixth against Jack Pottegier to cut the lead to 5-3.
After having the bases loaded in the seventh,
Lincoln Riley hit a sac fly to deep right field to score Lashure. Poorman and
Nicholas Rucker then drove in an RBI each to put the lead at 8-3. Riley would score in the ninth off of an error to end the scoring at 9-3.
Colton Coca,
Blake Malatestinic and
Zane Robbins pitched the final 3.2 innings for Eastern Illinois. The Panthers retired the final seven Leathernecks to end the game including three strikeouts for Robbins.
EIU scored nine runs on 10 hits with not errors in the game. WIU scored three runs on seven hits with three errors.
The Panthers will be back in action for their final Ohio Valley Conference series of the season when they travel to SEMO. The three-game series starts at 6:00 p.m. CT on Thursday, May 18th. For more updates go to eiupanthers.com.
