CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Eastern Illinois baseball team (24-18, 12-6 OVC) took their series opener against Little Rock (18-27, 7-11) by a score of 6-3 at Coaches Stadium on Friday. A gem from starting pitcher Anthony Solis and some opportunistic base running proved to be the difference.

Solis improved his record to 5-2 on the season after surrendering just one run on six hits with a pair of strikeouts through the game's first seven innings.  

At the plate, Chris Worcester led the way going 2-3 with two doubles and a pair of RBIs. It was his team-high 17th multi-hit game of the season. Brett Stanley and Jake Ottensmeier also had multi-hit performances with 2-4 outings.

After doubling to lead off the bottom of the first, Worcester tagged and advanced to third on a Tyler Castro fly ball before scoring the game's opening run on a wild pitch.

In the bottom of the second, Brett Stanley reached on a leadoff single, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch before adding another run on a passed ball.

Following scoreless third and fourth innings from both sides, Angel Cano got the Trojans on the board and recorded the game's first RBI with a leadoff homer to left field in the fifth inning.

The Panthers immediately responded in their half of the fifth, with the first four batters reaching on hits, including three consecutive doubles from Jake Ottensmeier, Chris Worcester, and Tyler Castro.
After Ethan Rossi singled to lead off the inning, Ottensmeier recorded the first double to put two runners in scoring position before another wild pitch allowed Rossi to score.

Chris Worcester then recorded EIU's first RBI of the game with a double that plated Ottensmeier before coming around to score on a Tyler Castro double to make the score 5-1.

Worcester secured his second RBI of the game in the sixth inning with a RBI sacrifice bunt that scored Rossi, who had initially reached base on a walk before advancing to third on an Ottensmeier base hit.

The score remained 6-1 entering the ninth inning with the bottom of the Little Rock order due up.

The Trojans battled, with their first two batters reaching on a hit by pitch and single before a one-out base hit from Alex Seguine trimmed one run off the EIU lead.

Following a pop up that resulted in the second out Ryan Geck singled to plate another run and bring the tying run to the plate.

However, Dalton Boruff got Ty Rhoades to roll into a ground ball that put an end to the rally and secured the series opener for the Panthers.

Game two, which was intended to be played on Friday as the second installment of a doubleheader, has been rescheduled to Saturday at 10 a.m. The series finale is set to follow at approximately 1:30 p.m., weather permitting.