MOREHEAD, Ky. – The runs came in bunches for the Panthers on Friday, as the Eastern Illinois baseball team (10-13, 3-1 OVC) overpowered Morehead State (8-15, 0-4) by a score of 19-5. After entering the afternoon with 10 home runs on the season, the EIU order exploded for six round-trippers in the first four innings of Friday's contest.

The Panthers' 23 hits were the most in a single game since another 23-hit outing at Jacksonville State on May 17th, 2012. It was the first game with 20 or more hits since the Panthers posted 22 knocks against SIUE on May 20th, 2016.

Eastern's six home runs were the most in a single game since also recording six against Southeast Missouri on March 22nd, 2024.

All six homers were recorded by a different player, including Mike O'Conor, who went 4-5 with a team-high five RBIs.

Jake Ferguson and Chris Worcester matched O'Conor with four hits on the day. It was Ferguson's eighth consecutive game reaching base and Worcester's team-best eleventh multi-hit performance of the season.

Tyler Castro, Zak Goodwin, Cade Zalewski, and Eli Hill also recorded multi-hit outings with two hits apiece.

Tyler Conklin (3-1) got the win after allowing three runs on six hits with three strikeouts in a 7.0 inning start.

Jake Ferguson got the scoring started with an RBI single in the first that scored Mike O'Conor, who had reached base on a walk before moving into scoring position on a Zak Goodwin base hit.

After Morehead State tied the score with a lead-off home run in the bottom of the first, the Panthers responded resoundingly with back-to-back solo shots from Eli Hill and Ethan Rossi before Tyler Castro took one deep later in the inning to make the score 4-1.

The Eagles tried to keep pace with a pair of solo home runs to lead off their next at-bat, but Cade Zalewski answered right back in the third, joining the fun with a two-run homer.

The big fly party continued in the fourth, as a two-run shot off the bat of Mike O'Conor and a solo homer from Zak Goodwin put the Panthers up 9-3.

EIU's biggest inning of the game came in the sixth and didn't feature a long ball, as the Panthers put up a five-spot behind RBIs from Hill, Rossi, Castro, and Goodwin, stretching the lead to 14-3.

The Panthers kept pouring it on in the seventh with Brett Stanley scoring on a wild pitch before an O'Conor single later in the frame plated Chris Worcester, who had initially reached base on his fourth hit of the afternoon.

After giving up three homers in the first two innings, Tyler Conklin settled in and was stifling for the remainder of his outing, limiting the Eagles to just two hits and zero runs through the next five innings.

Following Conklin's exit, MSU added two more solo home runs in the eighth, but it was far too little, too late, as the Panthers cruised to their fourth OVC win, with Hill and O'Conor adding insurance RBIs in the final two innings.

Eastern Illinois and Morehead State will conclude their three-game series with a doubleheader beginning at noon ET on Saturday.