CULLOWHEE, N.C. – The Eastern Illinois baseball team (6-10, 0-0 OVC) picked up a big bounce back win in their series finale at Western Carolina (9-11, 0-0 SoCon) on Saturday afternoon.
After struggling to produce much on Friday, the EIU offense scored nine runs, all earned, on nine hits and one error. Seven different Panthers recorded hits in the contest, led by
Chris Worcester with a three hit, two RBI performance.
Tyler Kapraun picked up his first win of the season after allowing just one earned run on six hits with five strikeouts in a 6.1 inning outing that included 100 pitches.
Meanwhile,
Nate Marshall was awarded the save after allowing no runs and no hits with a strikeout through the game's final two and a third innings.
Chris Worcester got the bats rolling early with a lead off double in the first inning before scoring the game's opening run on a
Tyler Castro RBI single.
Following a
Pierce Bauerle walk and a
Zak Goodwin sacrifice bunt, Castro scored from third on an
Ethan Rossi RBI groundout to put EIU up 2-0.
Eastern plated two more runs in the second inning with
James Love scoring on a wild pitch before a Worcester RBI single scored
Jake Ferguson to make the score 4-0.
The Catamounts loaded the bases with no outs in the third, but
Tyler Kapraun worked out of the jam while only allowing a single run on a sacrifice fly.
With the bases loaded and one away in the top of the fifth, a wild throw on a pickoff attempt allowed
Pierce Bauerle to score before a Joey Hagan single plated
Zak Goodwin.
In the next at-bat,
Jake Ferguson doubled down the left field line to bring in two more and stretch the Panther lead to 8-1.
After neither team managed to reach base in the sixth inning, a throwing error led to four unearned runs for WCU in the seventh after a Friese two-out grand slam, which cut the lead to just three.
However, the Catamounts would come no closer, with the Panthers tacking on an insurance run in the eighth with another
Chris Worcester RBI single, while
Nate Marshall locked things down on the mound to secure the 9-5 win.
Next up for Eastern is a pair of midweek contests at Arkansas Pine Bluff, with game one scheduled for Tuesday, March 18th at 2 p.m. The Panthers will then open their home schedule with a three-game OVC set against Lindenwood next weekend. Game one is set for Friday, March 21st at 3 p.m.
