CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Eastern Illinois baseball team (13-24, 7-8 OVC) dropped their midweek non-conference game against Butler (16-24, 2-7 Big East) on Wednesday by a score of 10-6, as the Panthers were unable to overcome a nine-run first inning from the Bulldogs.

The big inning got started with a lead-off double from Cater Dorighi before back-to-back walks loaded the bases with no outs. In the next at-bat, Billy Wurch proved why he was batting clean up with a grand slam deep to center field to give BU a quick 4-0 lead.

An early pitching change failed to stop the bleeding, as a base hit and two walks loaded the bases again before a fielding error allowed two more runs to score. With two runners still on base, Dorighi put an exclamation point on the inning with a three-run homer to right field that gave Butler a 9-0 lead.

The Bulldogs were held scoreless for the next six innings, including four near perfect frames by EIU pitcher Christian Carew, but the Eastern offense was only able to make a modest dent into the Butler lead.

The Panthers first got on the board with a Michael O'Conor two-run homer in the second and looked poised to explode in the third with the bases loaded and nobody out. However, Butler reliever Simon Linde entered the game and retired three consecutive batters to bail out the Bulldogs.

EIU added another run in the fifth with a Lucas Loos RBI double down the left field line, but once again left two runners in scoring position.

After the Bulldogs added a late insurance run, EIU would make a late push behind eighth inning RBIs from Joey Hagen and Cade Zalewski and a Dylan Drumke solo home run in the ninth, but it was unfortunately too little too late.

Simon Linde (1-2) was rewarded the win while Mitch Alba (1-1) suffered the loss.

Christian Carew had his strongest outing of the season, giving up no runs on zero hits with five strikeouts through four complete innings of relief work.

Dylan Drumke was the only Panther to record more than one hit with a 2-4, one RBI performance. Meanwhile, Lucas Loos extended his current on-base streak to 32 games as he recorded his 17th double of the season.

EIU will be back in action with an OVC doubleheader against Southern Indiana on Thursday. The first pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m. at Coaches Stadium.