CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – The Eastern Illinois baseball team (15-15, 6-3 OVC) defeated Southeast Missouri (19-15, 6-4 OVC) 6-3 in an Ohio Valley Conference record 19 inning contest in Cape Girardeau on Friday night. The Panthers did not allow a run through the game's final 12 innings as part of a masterful pitching performance.

Five Eastern pitchers saw action in the game compared to nine for SEMO. Anthony Solis and Dalton Boruff carried EIU through the first 13 innings while allowing just three runs.

Christian Carew (3-1) picked up the win after surrendering zero runs on just one hit through four innings in extras. Meanwhile, Kole Bradley and Bryce Riggs both threw one scoreless and hit-less inning while adding a pair of strikeouts each.

The EIU offense did what they needed to, scoring six runs on 16 hits and one SEMO error. Ethan Rossi and Zak Goodwin led the way with three knocks apiece.

Rossi went 3-6 with a double and one RBI, while Goodwin went 3-6 with two RBIs. Jake Ottensmeier joined Goodwin for the team-lead with two RBIs of his own.

Jake Ferguson and Brett Stanley also posted multi-hit outings with two hits each.

After neither team reached base in the opening frame, EIU struck first with a Zak Goodwin RBI single to left field that plated Jake Ferguson, who had initially reached on a base hit of his own.

The score remained 1-0 until the bottom of the fourth, when Bryce Cannon put SEMO in front with a two-run homer to left field.

Both teams failed to generate any offense in the fifth before back-to-back extra base hits from the Panthers in the sixth, including an Ethan Rossi double and James Love RBI triple, tied the score. With Love on third, Zak Goodwin came through with another RBI base hit to push Eastern back in front.

The SEMO response came an inning later, when after consecutive SEMO batters were walked, a Caleb Corbin single to center field allowed Shea McGahan to score, bringing the tally to 3-3.

Both teams stranded a runner in the eighth before they both moved the go-ahead run into scoring position in the ninth, but were unable to cash in.

The first four and a half frames of extra innings were mostly uneventful, with the two teams combining for no runs on just three hits as Dalton Boruff dominated on the mound for Eastern.

Boruff threw 6.2 scoreless inning in relief while allowing just three hits with four strikeouts.

Kole Bradley entered the game in the bottom of the 14th and picked up right where Boruff left off, retiring his first three batters faced to send the game to a 15th inning.

In the top of the 15th, EIU loaded the bases after a Mike O'Conor leadoff base hit and a pair of one-out walks, but SEMO was able to escape the inning unscathed with a ground ball and strikeout in consecutive at-bats.

Christian Carew set down the Redhawks in order in the bottom of the 15th before both teams left runners in scoring position in the 16th to extend the game further.

After a 6-4-1 double play cut short the next EIU at-bat, SEMO threatened with a man on third with two outs in the bottom of the 17th, but Carew was able to shut the door with a groundout and take the game to an OVC record 18th inning.

The 18th passed by quietly, with a leadoff walk by Zak Goodwin accounting the only base runner of the frame.

However, after 11 straight scoreless innings, EIU was finally able to find a breakthrough in the 19th. The winning inning got started with Brett Stanley earning a free base before quickly moving into scoring position on a passed ball.

Following a pop up and ground out, Stanley moved to third with two outs before Ethan Rossi delivered a clutch base hit to break the stalemate and put EIU in the driver's seat.

The Panthers were not done there, though, and after James Love singled and Zak Goodwin was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Jake Ottensmeier drove in two insurance runs to open up the largest lead of the game.

With a three-run cushion, Bryce Riggs entered the game and snuffed out any SEMO hopes of a 20th inning, as he retired the side in order to pick up his second save of the season.

When all said and done, the game had a run-time of five hours and ten minutes.

Game two is set for Saturday at 2 p.m.