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MARION, Ill. - Eastern Illinois baseball (35-18, 13-11 OVC) wins a nail-biter with a 7-6 victory over No. 4 Southeast Missouri (26-30, 14-10 OVC) to advance into the double elimination portion of the Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championships. It marks the first time EIU has won an OVC Tournament game since 2014.

Grant Lashure was clutch all day picking up big insurance RBIs for the Panthers in the seven hole. Lashure had two hits on the day with three runs batted in. Lincoln Riley and Nicholas Rucker both had three hits to lead Eastern at the plate.

Starting pitcher Tyler Conklin (W, 8-5) becomes the first OVC pitcher this season with eight wins after a 5.2 innings outing against SEMO. Conklin allowed six hits and three runs with none of them being earned. He also struck out three.

Zane Robbins (S, 6) now is one save short of tying the Eastern Illinois record for saves in a career. Robbins followed up a winning performance earlier in the day with 1.1 innings pitched vs. SEMO allowing two hits and one run.

With 35 wins on the season, it marks the most in a single season by an EIU team since 2001 (35-20). There total wins now is tied for third all-time in a single season with the mark of 37 to beat set in 1998.

QUICK STATS
Grant Lashure: 2-4, 3 RBI
Nicholas Rucker: 3-5, 2B, RBI, 2 R
Lincoln Riley: 3-5
Tyler Conklin: W (8-5), 5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 3 K
Zane Robbins: S (6), 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R

Continuing their success in the first inning this season, the Panthers scored three of their first seven runs in the first. With two runners on, Rucker delivered an RBI ground rule double to score Ryan Ignoffo.
 
The Panthers continued hitting the ball hard in the first with a two RBI single by catcher Lashure right up the middle to put EIU on top 3-0. EIU had four total hits in the first inning.
 
Conklin had started off the game allowing just one hit through two innings of work. SEMO knotted the game up at 3-3 in the third after posting three hits. Lincoln Andrews' two RBI double into the right field corner tied the game before EIU got out of the inning.
 
Eastern Illinois did not leave the game tied for long as they would score one in the fourth. Chris Worcester hit a double into shallow right field before being moved over to third with a flyout by Lucas DiLuca. An error by the third baseman of SEMO would score Worcester.
 
Conklin after giving up three runs in the third would throw 2.2 innings of scoreless baseball allowing just two hits in that span. Jonathon Hanscom would take over on the mound and get the final out of the sixth with runners at the corners.
 
Southeast Missouri's pitching staff of Noah Niznik and Hunter Ralls slowed EIU's offense down in the middle innings allowing just one hit through the fifth, sixth and seventh.
 
The eighth inning proved to be important as the Panthers extended their lead to three runs after a four hit inning that plated two runs.
 
Eickhoff started off the inning with a single and was moved over by Lashure with a sac bunt. With two outs, DiLuca had an RBI single with a bouncing ball up the middle to bring home one. Ignoffo then delivered his first RBI of the weekend with a single to push the lead to 6-3.

The Redhawks did not go down without a fight scoring two more runs in the eighth inning to cut the lead back to one. Carlos Aranda hit a two-run home run off of Hanscom to cut the deficit to 6-5.

Eastern Illinois' biggest run of the afternoon came in the top of the ninth with two outs. With Rucker at second base, Lashure delivered a single into left field to bring home the game winning run. Robbins allowed one run in the ninth, but it was not enough as the Panthers advanced to the semifinals.

EIU scored seven runs on 14 hits with one error while SEMO scored six runs on 11 hits with one error. The Panthers will be back tomorrow morning at 11:00 a.m. CT to faceoff against No. 1 seed Morehead State. For more updates go to eiupanthers.com.