COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Eastern Illinois baseball team (15-26, 9-10 OVC) picked up a series opening road win over Tennessee Tech (26-20, 10-9 OVC) on Friday afternoon. The Panthers used a strong outing from starting pitcher Casey Perrenoud and a pair of big offensive innings to trounce the Golden Eagles 12-5.

Dylan Drumke wasted no time getting Eastern on the board with a lead-off home run to left center in the top of the first inning. It was Drumke's team-leading 14th long ball of the season.

Tech responded in the bottom of the first with an RBI double by Preston Ford, but Casey Perrenoud was able to work out of a bases loaded jam to prevent the Golden Eagles from taking an early lead.

The next four innings were all about the pitching, as Perrenoud and TTU's Landon Smiddy combined to allow just two hits and no runs. Entering the sixth inning, Drumke's solo homer remained the Panthers' only hit of the ball game.

The Eastern offense finally broke out of its trance with a Grant Lashure lead-off single in the sixth inning, and after a Tyler Castro sacrifice bunt and Dylan Drumke single, Eastern quickly had runners on the corners.

With two outs, Lucas Loos delivered his 19th double of the season to drive in both Lashure and Drumke and give the Panthers a 3-1 lead.

In the next at-bat, a throwing error by the Tech third baseman allowed Cole Gober to reach and advance to second while Lucas Loos scored from third.

EIU immediately took advantage of the miscue with a Joey Hagen RBI single that scored Gober before adding insult to the Golden Eagles' injury with a two-run blast from Trenton Pallas.

It was Pallas' first home run of the season and gave the Panthers a commanding 7-1 lead.

With a sudden abundance of run support behind him, Casey Perrenoud continued to carve his way through the Golden Eagles' batting order as he completed his fifth and sixth consecutive scoreless innings before exiting the game prior to the eighth.

Perrenoud's final line through seven complete innings was one run allowed on six hits with six strikeouts.

After the TTU lead-off man reached on an error in the eighth inning, the Golden Eagles cut the lead in half with back-to-back home runs from Preston Ford and Tanner Shiver. However, EIU reliever Jonathon Hanscom kept his poise and retired the next three batters to keep Tech at arm's length.

With a three-run lead in the ninth, Eastern tacked on four more runs with a pair of two-run homers from Dylan Drumke and Lucas Loos before Joey Hagen added one more with an RBI single.

Casey Perrenoud (3-2) picked up the win while Landon Smiddy (3-5) suffered the loss. Over Perrenoud's last four starts, he has given up just five earned runs with 17 strikeouts through 23.0 innings pitched, and has an ERA of 1.96. 

All but two of EIU's starters recorded a hit in the game as four Panthers had multi-RBI outings, led by Lucas Loos with four runs batted in.

Loos extended his on-base streak to 36 games with a double and home run.

Dylan Drumke led Eastern with three hits in four at-bats while driving in three runs, while Joey Hagen and Trenton Pallas also recorded multi-hit, multi-RBI outings.

The win marks the Panthers' fifth consecutive series opening victory in OVC play.

Game two is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.