Photo Gallery (by Nicholls Athletics)
THIBODAUX, La. – Eastern Illinois scored six runs in the ninth inning, but it proved to be too little too late as the Panthers dropped their final game against Nicholls by a score of 9-6.
The Colonels scored the majority of their runs in the second inning, as they hung a six spot before the Panthers managed to stop the bleeding.
Nicholls would score a few insurance runs throughout the rest of the game, including a Drake Anderson home run, to push their lead to nine.
Eastern struggled to put pressure on the Nicholls defense for much of the afternoon, with only seven hits heading into the ninth inning while managing to move just three runners into scoring position.
However, the Panthers refused to go down without a fight, and they finally had an offensive breakthrough in the top of the ninth inning when a wild pitch with the bases loaded allowed
Cade Zalewski to steal home.
After
Dylan Drumke worked a walk to load the bases again, an
Eli Hill single up the middle drove in
Quade Peters and
Robby Taul to make the tally 9-3.
In the next at bat,
Lucas Loos cleared the bases with a homer to left field to pull the Panthers within three.
Cole Gober would reach base on a single to bring the tying run on deck, but Nicholls reliever Gavin Galy salted the game away with a strikeout and ground out to put an end to the Panthers' late rally and drop their record to 1-5.
Casey Perrenoud (0-2) was assigned the loss, while Michael Quevedo (1-0) gets credit for the win and Galy picks up a save.Â
Eastern relievers combined to give up just five hits and three runs through the Colonel's final six at bats.
Offensively,
Lucas Loos had a big day with three hits including a three run homer.
Cole Gober also had three hits on the afternoon.
The Panthers will travel to Champaign-Urbana on Tuesday to take on the Illini at 3 p.m. before heading to Greensboro, North Carolina to face North Carolina A&T next weekend. The first game against the Aggies is set for Friday, March 1st at 4 p.m. CT.
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