MARION, Ill. – The Eastern Illinois baseball dropped their OVC Tournament opener to SIUE on Wednesday afternoon, bringing their season to a close. A six-run fourth inning helped lift the No. 7 seeded Cougars (21-33-1) over the No. 6 Panthers (20-33).
After two scoreless innings to begin the game, SIUE broke into the scoring column first with a Lucas Spence solo home run to right field in the third. However, EIU quickly tied things back up when
Dylan Drumke reached home on a dropped fly ball by the SIUE right fielder in the bottom of the third.
In the top of the fourth, the Cougars regained the lead with a two-RBI double off the bat of John Stallcup, who advanced to third on a fielding error in the EIU outfield.
In the same inning, SIUE loaded the bases for Lucas Spence who drove in another pair of runs with a single to center field before Drew Mize capped off the big frame for the Cougars with another two-RBI base hit to make the score 7-1.
In the bottom of the sixth,
Lucas Loos launched a ball over the left field wall for a lead-off home run to get Eastern back into the scoring column. It was Loos' 22nd homer of the season, which tied him with Tim Pyznarski (1981) for the EIU single-season record.
The Panthers drew a little closer in the eighth with a
Grant Lashure RBI single that scored
Cade Zalewski, but they were unable to string any more runs together, and in the ninth the Cougars added four insurance runs to bring the tally to 12-3.
In the final at-bat of the season,
Lucas Loos made history with another home run to break the Eastern Illinois single-season record as he brought his season total to 23. However, it was the only run of the inning for the Panthers as they fell 12-4.
Four Panthers recorded multi-hit outings, including seniors
Lucas Loos (2-4, 2 HR) and
Cole Gober (2-5, 2B).
Colton Coca put together a solid 4.1 innings of relief work, allowing just two runs with a pair of strikeouts. He ends the season as the team leader in strikeouts with a total of 55.
The loss also marked the end of historic season for
Lucas Loos, whose two home runs on Wednesday broke the EIU single-season record. His 22 doubles are the second most all-time in a season by a Panthers batter, and he became the ninth EIU player to win the team triple crown by leading the squad in batting average (.370), homers (23), and RBIs (61).Â
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