ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The Eastern Illinois baseball team (20-32, 13-14 OVC) closed out the regular season with a convincing 9-3 win over Lindenwood (16-38, 9-18 OVC) on Saturday afternoon. The victory completed the Panthers' second series sweep of the season and extended their current win-streak to five games entering postseason play.
Lindenwood opened up the scoring with a James Jett RBI single in the first inning to give the Lions their first lead of the series. Later in the inning, Jett reached home on an error to make the score 2-0.
Lindenwood carried their advantage into the fourth inning before it was quickly erased by the Panthers.
After loading the bases,
Cole Gober and
Michael O'Conor scored on back-to-back wild pitches to tie the game before a
Cade Zalewski sacrifice fly scored
Trenton Pallas to put the Panthers in front.
Eastern extended their lead by another run in the fifth with a
Cole Gober RBI double, and in the sixth a
Cade Zalewski solo homer made the score 5-2.
EIU tacked on two more runs in the seventh with another Gober RBI double followed by a bases loaded catcher's interference that brought home
Tyler Castro.
After six consecutive scoreless innings, Lindenwood found their way back into the scoring column with a Jack Meyer RBI single in the eighth, but EIU responded in the top of the ninth with
Trenton Pallas two RBI single that extended the lead to 9-3.
Zane Robbins was inserted into the game in the bottom of the ninth, and after allowing a lead-off single, set down the next three Lions in order to finish off the win for Eastern.
Eli Cartwright (1-1) picked up his first win as a Panther after allowing no runs on three hits with four strikeouts through three complete innings in relief.
The EIU offense was spearheaded by
Cole Gober (3-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI) and
Quade Peters (3-3, 2B, 2 R) who recorded three hits apiece.
Trenton Pallas also stayed hot offensively with a 2-3 performance that included an RBI.
Next up for the Panthers is the OVC Tournament in Marion, Illinois. EIU will open up the tournament against SIUE on Wednesday, May 22nd at 12:30 p.m.
