MOREHEAD, Ky. – Fans got their money's worth at Allen Field on Saturday, as the Eastern Illinois baseball team (11-14, 4-2 OVC) split a pair of extra inning contests in their doubleheader at Morehead State (9-16, 1-5 OVC) to secure their second conference series win of the season.

Eastern Illinois 7, Morehead State 8

The day's opening game was a back-and-forth affair, with neither team gaining more than a two-run advantage throughout the contest's ten innings. Morehead State ultimately prevailed with a walk-off two-run homer to even the series.

The EIU bats scored seven runs on eight hits and one MSU error. The offense was headlined by Brett Stanley, who went 4-5 with a home run, double, and five RBIs. Mike O'Conor also posted a multi-hit outing with a 2-4, one RBI performance.

Five Panther pitchers made appearances in the ballgame, including starter Tyler Kapraun who finished his day with a line of four earned runs on five hits with season-high eight strikeouts through 5.2 innings.

After the first nine batters of the game were retired, Morehead State struck first with an Alex Kean leadoff double followed by an Eli Kirkendoll two-run homer in the bottom of the second.

The teams combined for just one hit and no runs in the third and fourth innings before Brett Stanley recorded EIU's first knock of the game with a single up the middle in the fifth. The hit was sandwiched between a hit by pitch and walk to load the bases with one out, but a pop out and groundout left all three runners stranded.

Eastern filled up the basepath again in the sixth and were able to scratch their first run across on a ground ball to third that resulted in a double play. However, after Cade Zalewski was hit by a pitch for the second time, Brett Stanely blasted a ball over Allen Field's right field netting for a three-run home run, pushing the Panthers ahead 4-2.

The Eagles wasted no time responding, though, and with one on and two out in the bottom of the sixth, Kean took one deep to right center to tie the game.

Not to be outdone, the Panthers answered right back in the seventh with a pair of sacrifice RBIs from Tyler Castro and Mike O'Conor to recapture their two-run advantage.

Morehead State cut the lead in half with a Caden Sheridan solo home run in the bottom of the seventh before tying the game back up with a Kean RBI double with two outs in the eighth.

After neither team could find the winning run in the ninth, the contest went to extra innings, where EIU retook the lead with a Brett Stanley RBI single that scored Jake Ferguson, who had reached base for the ninth consecutive game with a leadoff double.  

However, the Panthers were unable to score any insurance runs, and after JJ Dutton reached base with a leadoff single in the bottom of the inning, Hunter Thomas homered to left center to give MSU the walk-off victory.

Eastern Illinois 14, Morehead State 10

The Panthers had to overcome a furious rally from the Eagles in the series finale, as Morehead State erased an eight-run eighth inning deficit to send the game to extras before a Tyler Castro three-run homer saved the series for Eastern Illinois.

The victory moved EIU's all-time record against the Eagles to 62-27 and secured their first series win against Morehead since 2017. It marks just the fifth time since 2014 that MSU has lost an OVC series at Allen Field.

The Eastern offense scored 14 runs, including 13 earned, on 20 hits and one error. It was the Panthers' second 20+ hit performance of the series.

Mike O'Conor led the attack, going 4-6 with four runs scored, a home run, one double, and three RBIs. Ethan Rossi also posted four hits with a homer and two RBIs.

Meanwhile, Jake Ferguson went 3-5 with three RBIs, extending his reached-base streak to 10 games.

Tyler Castro, Brett Stanley, and Luke Melton also recorded multi-hit outings with two knocks apiece.

Christian Carew (1-1) picked up his first win of the season after giving up no runs and no hits through the game's final inning and a third.

Starting pitcher Anthony Solis recorded 10 strikeouts, which is the most by an EIU pitcher in a single game this season. Solis allowed just two runs on two hits through the game's first seven innings.

After both squads went three up, three down in their first two at-bats, Eli Hill got the scoring started with a leadoff home run in the third inning. It was Hill's second home run of the series and third of the season.

The Eagles found a breakthrough with a solo home run of their own in the bottom of the frame, as Chase Edmonds tied the score with deep shot to right field.

Mike O'Conor reached on a leadoff single in the fourth before being brought around to score on an Ethan Rossi RBI double to regain the lead, but MSU kept pace with an Alex Kean solo home run in their half of the inning.

After a scoreless fifth, EIU went back in front with an O'Conor leadoff homer in the sixth before taking full control with a five-run seventh inning.

The big inning got started with a Luke Melton RBI triple that plated Eli Hill, who had initially reached on a throwing error. It was Eastern's first triple of the season.

Chris Worcester brought home Melton with a base hit, and after Tyler Castro singled to put runners on first and second, Mike O'Conor kept things rolling with two RBI double.

After advancing to third on a Zak Goodwin base hit, O'Conor would score the final run of the frame on a Jake Ferguson RBI groundout to make the score 8-2 in favor of the Panthers.

Eastern tacked on two more runs in the top of the eighth with a Hill leadoff walk followed by an Ethan Rossi long ball to center field, which extended EIU's lead to eight.

However, MSU refused to concede the series quietly and staged a furious rally beginning with a five-run bottom of the eighth that featured a pair of two-run homers from Caden Sheridan and Hunter Thomas.

Then, after EIU left a man stranded in the top of the ninth, Morehead stayed hot with a Griffin Olson two-run homer to pull within one. With two out and nobody on later in the inning, JJ Dutton singled to keep the inning alive before an Andy Cisneros double off the right field netting allowed pinch runner Austyn Peak to score from first to tie to the game.

Cisneros moved to third on a wild pitch, but was unable to advance the final 90 feet as Christian Carew got the final out of the inning.

In the tenth, Ethan Rossi reached on a leadoff single before Chris Worcester was intentionally walked, setting the stage for Tyler Castro who promptly launched a ball to right center for a go-ahead three-run homer. It was Castro's second home run of the weekend.

The Panthers added one more insurance run in the inning with a Jake Ferguson RBI single before Christian Carew allowed no hits and no runs in the bottom half of the frame to secure the win and series for Eastern.

EIU returns to Charleston next week for a five-game homestand beginning on Tuesday at 3 p.m. against Butler.