EVANSVILLE, Ill. – The Eastern Illinois baseball team (22-18, 10-6 OVC) bounced back with a 12-3 win over Southern Indiana (20-23, 9-8 OVC) in Evansville on Friday. The Panthers evened the series behind another strong outing on the mound from Tyler Kapraun to go along with some opportunistic offense.

Mike O'Conor led the Eastern offense with two hits, including a home run, and three RBIs. Zak Goodwin and Ethan Rossi also posted two hits apiece, with Goodwin scoring a team-high four runs and Rossi adding a pair of RBIs. Meanwhile, Joey Hagen drove in three runs of his own to match O'Conor.

Three EIU pitchers saw action in the game, combining for 15 strikeouts and stranding a total of 13 USI batters on base. Tyler Kapraun picked up his fourth win of the season after going five and two third innings to start the game. He scattered 11 hits while allowing just two runs with a season-high 10 strikeouts.

Kapraun was tested right out of the gate, as USI's first three batters singled to load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the first. However, the lefty from Peoria was unfazed and struck out the next three Screaming Eagles to pull off an impressive escape act.

The EIU offense rewarded Kapraun's efforts with an Ethan Rossi RBI base hit in the top of the second that scored Zak Goodwin, who had initially reached base on a one-out double.

Eastern tacked on another run in the third inning, as Chris Worcester singled and advanced to third after an error and Brett Stanley fly out before taking the final 90 feet on a Mike O'Conor RBI groundout.

Southern Indiana found the scoring column in the bottom of the third with a Cameron Boyd RBI single, but EIU immediately responded with two runs in the top of the fourth.

The inning started with James Love reaching on an error and Zak Goodwin being hit by a pitch, with both runners tagging on an Ethan Rossi fly out to reach scoring position. Love would then score on a Pierce Bauerle RBI groundout before a Quade Peters two-out single drove in Goodwin to put Eastern ahead 4-1.

Kapraun worked through the fourth and fifth innings without surrendering a run before finding himself in another difficult spot in the bottom of the sixth. With runners on second and third and none away, Kapraun recorded the first out of the inning with his season-high 10th strikeout of the game before trading a run for an out on a ground ball.

Eli Cartwright then entered the game and sat down the first batter he faced on strikes for the third out, as the Panthers escaped another jam with minimal damage.

In the top of the seventh, Mike O'Conor extended the lead back to three for EIU with a two-out solo shot to right center, which was his team-leading ninth home run of the season.

After a scoreless bottom of the seventh from Cartwright, controversy ensued in the top of the eighth as Ethan Rossi was called out on interference after a collision at first base. Following a replay review that upheld the call, EIU skipper Jason Anderson was ejected from the game after arguing the decision while James Love and Zak Goodwin, who had reached on walks to begin the inning, were required to return to their previous positions on first and second.

However, the call proved to be mostly inconsequential, as pinch hitter Joey Hagen stepped to the plate with two outs and crushed a ball to right center that carried into tree line for a three-run homer that extended the lead to 8-2.

The Screaming Eagles got one back in the bottom of the frame with a Clayton Slack RBI base hit, but Dalton Boruff was called into action out of the bullpen and struck out three of the next four batters to prevent any more runs from coming across.

Eastern would proceed to put the game further out of reach with a four-run top of the ninth. After a Brett Stanley lead-off triple, Mike O'Conor poked a ball through the right side to tack on the frame's first run.

Following a fly out, a Jake Ferguson groundout followed by a Zak Goodwin base hit moved O'Conor to third before a wild pitch allowed him to score another run. Ethan Rossi followed that up with an RBI single, and after a Tyler Castro walk, Jake Ottensmeier kept the two-out rally going with an RBI base hit of his own.

After the damage was done, Dalton Boruff came back out and retired the USI side in order to finish off the win.

The series rubber match is scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. ESPN+ and live stats coverage will be available.