MARTIN, Tenn. – The Eastern Illinois baseball team (6-18, 1-5 OVC) picked up their first OVC win of the season with an 8-4 victory over UT Martin on Saturday afternoon. The Panthers trailed for much of the game but scored seven runs through the final two innings to overcome the Skyhawks.

UT Martin took an early 2-0 lead on a pair of RBI ground outs in the first inning before extending their lead to three in the third inning with a Cole Smith solo home run.

However, EIU starter Slater Wilcox did a good job of limiting the UTM offense, allowing just three runs through his 5.2 innings of work.

It was not until the sixth inning that the Panthers got on the board with a Cade Zalewski sacrifice fly that scored Cole Gober, who had initially reached base on a lead-off single.

Two innings later, EIU clawed to within one run with a Tyler Castro RBI single that drove in Michael O'Conor. With two outs in the same inning, Trenton Pallas got under a high pop-up that looked destined to be a routine play for the defense.

However, the ball evaded the Skyhawks' fielders and found the ground in shallow left center, allowing Danny Infante and Tyler Castro to score and give Eastern their first lead of the ball game.

After taking their one-run advantage into the ninth, the Panthers got some much-needed insurance with a grand slam off the bat of Danny Infante. It was Infante's first home run as a Panther and gave Eastern a comfortable 8-3 lead.

The Skyhawks were able to get one back in their final at-bat, but they came no closer as Chaney Trout closed out that game and secured EIU's first conference win of the season.

Relief pitcher Jack Potteiger (1-0) was awarded the win while Chaney Trout was credited with a save. Jeb Bartle (1-2) suffered the loss for UTM.

Tyler Castro, Cole Gober and Lucas Loos each had multi-hit outings while Danny Infante's grand slam gave him a team-high four RBI.

Eastern will be on the road at Butler on Tuesday afternoon before returning home to face McKendree at 3 p.m. on Wednesday. They will resume conference play next weekend with a three-game series at Western Illinois.