CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Eastern Illinois baseball team (21-17, 9-5 OVC) picked up their second run-rule victory of the midweek with a 11-1 win over Illinois Wesleyan at Coaches Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. The Panthers used a seven-run seventh inning to secure their sixth straight win.

All 11 of EIU's runs were earned, and just like in Tuesday's win, they out-hit their opponent 12 to 4. Eleven different Panthers recorded hits in the game, led by Jake Ferguson with a 2-3 outing.
Four Eastern batters posted multiple RBIs, with Danny Infante driving in a team-high three runs.

Five Panthers saw action on the mound, combining to allow zero earned runs with seven strikeouts. Eli Cartwright (2-0) got the win after throwing one and a third scoreless innings in relief with three strikeouts.

Following a scoreless first inning, EIU broke into the scoring column with a Colin Horneman double off the left field wall that scored Jake Ferguson, who had been walked to lead off the inning.

Wesleyan responded in the top of the third with Gage Wolf scoring on a Matt Hudik RBI groundout that would have ended the inning if not for a fielding error earlier in the frame.

The score remained tied entering the bottom of the fourth, but after Eastern loaded the bases with no outs, Colin Horneman broke the stalemate with an RBI walk that brought in Jake Ferguson.

Pierce Bauerle then scored on a Jake Ottensmeier fielder's choice before Ethan Rossi came home on a Chris Worcester sacrifice fly to make the score 4-1.

The two teams combined for just one hit over the next two and a half innings before EIU exploded for seven runs in the seventh.

After Chris Worcester was hit by a pitch and Brett Stanley was walked to begin the at-bat, Joey Hagen delivered an RBI double to get the winning inning started.

With runners now on second and third, Tyler Castro stepped to the plate and tacked on two more runs with a two RBI single to right field.

A Jake Ferguson base hit put runners on the corners for Danny Infante, who drove a ball to the gap in deep right center that caused trouble for the IWU defense, as the Titan center and right fielders collided in pursuit of the out.

The ball then found grass and rolled to the wall as Infante galloped all the way around the basepath for an in the park three-run home run that extended the lead to 10-1.

After back-to-back singles from Luke Melton and Jake Ottensmeier, and a two-out free pass for Sam Wiese, Joey Hagen was walked on four pitches to bring in the winning run.

Next up for the Panthers is a three-game OVC series at Southern Indiana. Game one is set for 6 p.m. on Friday, April 23rd.