GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Eastern Illinois baseball team (1-9, 0-0 OVC) lost their series finale against North Carolina A&T (9-2, 0-0 CAA) by a score of 6-4. The Panthers never trailed until the bottom of the eighth inning but were unable to hold off a strong Aggies team.
After the first six batters for each team were retired in order to start the game, EIU got on the board first with a
Cole Gober sacrifice fly that plated
Dylan Drumke.
Chris Worcester followed that up with a double to left field that drove home
Trenton Pallas to make the score 2-0.
The Aggies responded in the bottom of the third with an Enrique Wood RBI double. Wood would then score two at bats later to tie the game.
After a quiet fourth, the Panthers jumped back in front when
Lucas Loos doubled to bring in
Cole Gober and
Tyler Castro, who had both reached on base hits.
Eastern held the lead through the bottom of the fifth inning, but a TJ Ash double in the bottom sixth drove in two runs to bring the score back to even.
Neither team scored in the seventh inning, but A&T's Camden Jackson drove in two runs with a single in the eighth to give the Aggies their first lead of the game.
The Panthers were unable to put anything together in their last at-bat, as they fell 6-4.
Chaney Trout (0-1) takes the loss for EIU, while NCAT's Connor Blantz (1-1) picks up the win and Trent Simmons is credited with the save.
Starting pitcher
Casey Perrenoud had a solid outing for the Panthers. The Southeastern CC product allowed two runs on just three hits while striking out four Aggies through 5.0 innings of work.
Five EIU batters recorded a hit in the contest.
Lucas Loos led the team with two RBI.
Eastern will travel to Jonesboro, Arkansas next weekend to battle with Arkansas State. Game one is scheduled for Friday, March 8th at 6 p.m. The Panthers will have their home opener the following Tuesday, March 12th, as they host Bellarmine at 3 p.m.Â
