EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Eastern Illinois baseball team (23-18, 11-6 OVC) secured an important OVC series win with a 9-8 victory over Southern Indiana (20-24, 9-9 OVC) on Sunday afternoon. After extending their lead to six runs in the sixth inning, the Panthers had to hold off a furious rally from the Screaming Eagles to escape Evansville with the win.

Joey Hagen and Zak Goodwin led the Panthers offensively with three hits apiece, with Hagen also driving in a team-high three RBIs. Ethan Rossi also recorded a multi-hit and multi-RBI performance, going 2-3 with a double and two RBIs.

Four EIU pitchers saw action in the game, including Bryce Riggs, who entered the contest with one out and a 3-0 deficit in the first. Riggs threw the next five innings while allowing just one run on one hit with six strikeouts.

Southern Indiana struck first with three runs in the bottom the first. After a strikeout to lead off the frame, A Khi Holiday walk followed by a Parker Martin base hit set the stage for Cameron Boyd, who homered to right center to put USI ahead 3-0.

The Panthers decided to make an early call to the bullpen, bringing in Bryce Riggs to get the inning's final two outs. Riggs would not surrender another run until the sixth inning.

In the top of the second, James Love and Zak Goodwin led off the frame back-to-back base hits before both moving up 90 feet on an Ethan Rossi sacrifice bunt. Joey Hagen followed that up with a base hit of his own to drive in Eastern's first run of the game.

The Panthers completely erased the deficit an inning later with two runs in the third. After a pair of walks and a balk put runners on second and third with no outs, a Mike O'Conor sacrifice fly plated Brett Stanley and moved Chris Worcester to third. Zak Goodwin then drove in the tying run with an RBI bunt single.

Following a scoreless fourth inning, EIU surged ahead with a three-spot in the fifth. Zak Goodwin got things going with a one-out single before Tyler Castro was hit by a pitch to put two on. With Goodwin now in scoring position, Ethan Rossi put the Panthers in front with base hit through the left side.

Joey Hagen kept things moving with an RBI single that scored Castro and moved Rossi to third before Jake Ferguson batted in the frame's final run with a fielder's choice sacrifice bunt.

After a fourth consecutive scoreless inning from Bryce Riggs, the Panthers blew the game wide open with another three runs in the top of the sixth.

The inning started with Chris Worcester reaching on an error before a Mike O'Conor base hit. Following a strikeout, Tyler Castro singled through the right side to score Worcester before another Ethan Rossi sacrifice bunt plated O'Conor. Joey Hagen then tacked on one more run with his second RBI single of the afternoon, extending the EIU lead to 9-3.

However, the Screaming Eagles would put together a rally, beginning with a Clayton Slack two RBI single in the bottom of the sixth that cut the deficit to four. Following a scoreless seventh inning, USI trimmed two more runs off the lead in the eighth with an Evan Zapp bases loaded two RBI double on a softly hit blooper down the left field line.

With the tying run at second, Chris Worcester made a fantastic diving stop on a hard-hit ball to right side before throwing the batter out at first to preserve the EIU lead.

The Panthers were unable to score any insurance runs in the top of the ninth, and after singling and stealing second to leadoff the bottom of the inning, USI's Cameron Boyd scored on a Charlie Marisca base hit to bring the Screaming Eagles to within just one run.

A routine fly ball would result in the inning's first out, but an Anthony Umbach base hit in the next at-bat put the tying run in scoring position and winning run on base with one away.

However, neither runner would move any closer to home, as Dalton Boruff was able to pitch out of the jam with a fly out and groundout to pick up his fourth save of the season and secure another OVC series for the Panthers.

EIU will not have the midweek off before hosting Little Rock for a three-game set next weekend. Game one is scheduled for Friday, May 2nd at 3 p.m.