Eastern Illinois baseball won its fifth straight Ohio Valley Conference game and clinched the weekend series at SIUE with an 8-4 victory over the Cougars on Saturday afternoon.

EIU jumped out to a 4-0 lead over the first three innings before breaking open the game with three runs in the top of the sixth.

Tyler Castro started the scoring in the sixth with an RBI double down the right field line, his second RBI of the game.

Mike O'Conor connected for a two-run home run in the inning as EIU pounded out 16 hits in the win.  O'Conor was one of four Panthers with multiple hits in the game going 2-for-3.

Chris Worcester was 4-for-5 with two runs scored while Zak Goodwin and Jake Ottensmeier each finished with three hits for the Panthers.

Christian Carew (5-1) pitched four innings out of the bullpen to pick up the win as EIU improved to 26-18 overall, 14-6 in the OVC.

SIUE had trimmed the Panthers lead to 4-3 with four runs in the bottom of the fourth.  Lane Crowden had an RBI double followed by a two-run home run by John Stallcup.

Ryan Niedzwiedz and Daniel Gierer each had two hits to pace the Cougars line-up.  Spencer Stearns (3-4) took the loss on the mound as SIUE dropped to 23-25 overall, 15-8 in the OVC.