CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Eastern Illinois baseball team (11-19, 6-5 OVC) swept their Saturday doubleheader against SIUE (12-23, 5-6 OVC) to extend their conference win-streak to six games and bring their OVC record north of .500 for the first time this season. The game two win also marked career win 200 for head coach Jason Anderson.

Game 1 – Eastern Illinois 8, SIUE 7

Game one was close throughout, with Eastern Illinois ultimately finding a way to hang on for the one-run victory.

After the teams traded a run each in the second inning, Eastern took their first lead of the game with three runs in the third, including RBIs from Tyler Castro and Danny Infante.

The lead was short-lived however, as the Cougars scored two runs on an error before an Ethan Willoughby two-run homer gave SIUE a one-run advantage in the fourth.

The Panthers wasted no time responding, as a Michael O'Conor single in the bottom of the fourth drove home Lucas Loos to make the score 5-5.

After Casey Perrenoud retired the side in order in the top of the fifth, EIU surged back ahead in the bottom half behind a Grant Lashure RBI single along with a Lucas Loos RBI on a sacrifice fly.

SIUE got one back in the sixth with a Lucas Spence solo home run, but an inning later the Panthers extended the lead back to two with another Lucas Loos RBI sacrifice fly.

The Cougars pulled within one with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but they were unable to push the tying run across as Jonathon Hanscom picked up his third save of the season.

Casey Perrenoud (1-2) picked up his first win of the season. Perrenoud allowed just one earned run with two strikeouts through 5.0 innings pitched.

Meanwhile, Lucas Loos extended his on-base streak to 24 games with a 2-2, two RBI showing.

Four other Panthers, including Michael O'Conor, Tyler Castro, Danny Infante, and Grant Lashure recorded an RBI in the game.

Game 2 – Eastern Illinois 13, SIUE 4

The afternoon's second game proved to be much less strenuous for the Panthers, as they overpowered the Cougars on their way to a nine-run victory. Eastern scored at least one run in each of their eight at-bats.

SIUE scored all of their runs in the top of the first, as a pair of home runs, including a Ryan Niedzwiedz solo shot and John Stallcup three-run homer, put EIU in an early 4-0 hole.

The Panthers offense immediately got to work in their first at-bat, with Cole Gober and Danny Infante combining forces to drive home three runs before another Lucas Loos sacrifice fly in the second inning tied the game.

EIU then overtook SIUE in the third with a Quade Peters RBI single that scored Trenton Pallas. The Panthers never looked back, as they steadily built on their lead for the remainder of the afternoon.

Eastern's only home run of the day came in the seventh inning when Michael O'Conor launched a ball over the left center wall to give EIU a 12-4 advantage.

Quade Peters topped things off in the eighth with another RBI single that plated run number 13.

Bryce Riggs (3-1) got the win after another stellar performance on the mound. After a shaky first inning, Riggs threw 5.1 scoreless frames, finishing with six strikeouts. He allowed just one hit after the first inning.

Lukas Touma was perfect in relief, as he allowed no runs on no hits with six strikeouts through the final 2.1 innings.

Danny Infante was on a tear offensively, going 4-5 with two doubles, two RBI, and three runs scored. He also had a stolen base. 

Dylan Drumke was 3-4 with three runs scored, while Trenton Pallas went 3-4 with a pair of RBI.

Four other Panthers had two RBI outings, including Lucas Loos, Michael O'Conor, Grant Lashure, and Quade Peters.

The win marked the 200th career victory for EIU coach Jason Anderson. He joins four other EIU baseball coaches, including Bill McCabe, Tom McDevitt, and Jim Schmitz in the 200-win club.

EIU and SIUE will conclude their series on Sunday at 1 p.m.