EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Eastern Illinois baseball team (14-26, 8-10 OVC) dropped their series finale against Southern Indiana (19-25, 8-10 OVC) in Evansville on Saturday afternoon. The game was originally scheduled to be held in Charleston, but due to weather concerns was hosted by USI.
Just like in Thursday's second game, the Screaming Eagles jumped out to an early lead with a big first inning. USI scored six runs in the opening frame, all of them with two outs.
The opening run was scored on a Terrick Thompson-Allen RBI single before a fielding error allowed five unearned runs to cross home plate.
The Panthers got one back in the bottom of the first with a
Cole Gober double to right center that drove in
Dylan Drumke.
Besides a Ricardo Van Grieken RBI double in the third, the next four innings turned into a pitcher's dual as both teams struggled to generate base runners.
The offense returned for USI in the sixth with a Tucker Ebest two-run homer, which along with a sacrifice fly from Logan Mock, extended the Screaming Eagle lead to 10-1.
Lucas Loos got EIU back in the scoring column with a solo home run off the top of the right center wall in the bottom of the sixth.
USI answered right back in the top of the seventh as Ren Tachioka scored on a sacrifice fly after initially reaching base on a lead-off triple.
Southern Indiana added another trio of runs in the eighth with RBI doubles from Mock and Van Grieken, bringing their advantage to 14-2.
Lucas Loos added his fourth homer of the weekend with a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth, but the Panthers were unable to produce anymore runs in the inning and with the 10-run rule in effect, the game was called.
Colton Coca (1-3) suffered the loss while Gavin Seebold (6-2) picked up the win after a dominant performance on the bump.
The Panthers combined for just six hits in the game.
Lucas Loos was 2-4 with a pair of home runs as he extended his reached-base streak to 35 games.
Cole Gober also added another multi-hit performance to his season with a 2-4, one RBI outing.
Eastern will have the midweek off before returning to OVC action next weekend at Tennessee Tech. Game one is scheduled for Friday, May 3rd at 6 p.m.Â
