LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Eastern Illinois baseball team (13-21, 7-6 OVC) picked up a big road win on Friday night as they took down Little Rock (20-17, 8-5 OVC) 9-4 to open the weekend. The Panthers used an early offensive outburst and some stingy pitching from Casey Perrenoud and Jonathon Hanscom to subdue the Trojans.

Eastern took an early lead with a Michael O'Conor RBI single in the first that plated Lucas Loos, who had initially reached base with a two-out double. It was Loos' conference-leading 16th double of the season.

In the next at-bat, Cole Gober moved O'Conor over to third with a well-executed hit and run before a Little Rock throwing error allowed O'Conor to score the game's second run.

The Trojans immediately responded in the bottom of the first with a two-run homerun, but Eastern Illinois punched right back with a Tyler Castro RBI single in the second to regain the lead.

After a Lucas Loos walk loaded the bases with two outs, Michael O'conor did some more damage with another single that drove in two runs, making the score 5-2 Panthers.

After a scoreless third, Lucas Loos extended the lead in the fourth with a two-run missile over the left center wall that made the score 7-2 and forced Little Rock ace Hoss Brewer to exit the game early.

EIU added a couple more insurance runs with a fourth inning RBI single from Danny Infante and another RBI base hit from Tyler Castro in the fifth.

That would be the last of Eastern's scoring, but the 9-2 lead proved to be plenty of run support for the EIU defense.

After giving up the two-run homer in the first, starting pitcher Casey Perrenoud (2-2) allowed no earned runs over the next five innings while scattering two hits and recording three punch outs on the way to his second consecutive win.

After taking over in the seventh inning, Jonathon Hanscom gave up just one run on three hits with two strikeouts to pick up his fourth save of the season.

Lucas Loos kept things going at the plate with a 3-4, two RBI outing while Michael O'Conor led the Panthers with three RBI.
Tyler Castro also had a multi-RBI showing, as he went 2-4 and drove in two runs.

Game two is set for Saturday at 4 p.m., followed by the series finale on Sunday at 1 p.m.