Photo Gallery (by Sandy King)

MARION, Ill. – The Eastern Illinois baseball team (31-31, 17-7 OVC) won the OVC Tournament elimination bracket final with a 3-1 win over Lindenwood (30-30, 14-12 OVC) on Friday night. With the win, EIU advances to the championship round to face Little Rock on Saturday.

The headline for the Panthers was the man of the mound. Bryce Riggs was dominant in his fourth start of the season, allowing just one run on two hits with a career-high 10 strikeouts through the full nine innings.

It was the first complete game nine-inning performance for an EIU pitcher since the 2021 season (Ky Hampton vs. UT Martin).

Two Panthers had multi-hit performances, including Tyler Castro and Brett Stanley who both went 2-4. Meanwhile, Ethan Rossi and Zak Goodwin both recorded sacrifice RBIs.

Following a scoreless opening frame, Brett Stanley became the first base runner of the ballgame with a one-out single before a James Love walk put Panthers on first and second. A wild pitch allowed both runners to move up 90 feet before Ethan Rossi put EIU in the scoring column with a sacrifice fly.

With runners on first and second again in the third, what looked like a tailor-made double play ball resulted in a throwing error by the Lindenwood second baseman, which allowed Tyler Castro to score and extend the lead to a pair.

After Bryce Riggs finished off his fifth scoreless inning with his seventh strikeout of the evening, Zak Goodwin extended the EIU lead by another run in the bottom of the fifth with a sacrifice bunt that scored Tyler Castro, who had initially reached base on a leadoff single.

After Riggs continued to blank the Lions through the next two innings, he carried a no-hitter into the eighth before a Filip Sarota infield single broke-up the no-hit bid. Riggs was unfazed, though, and sat down the next three Lindenwood batters in order to preserve the 3-0 advantage.

The Lions would avoid the shutout with a Kam Edwards groundout RBI in the ninth that scored Tanner Simpson, who had reached on a leadoff double. However, that was the only run Lindenwood was able to scratch across, as a foul out in the next at-bat secured the win for Eastern.

Next up for the Panthers is a rematch with Little Rock at noon on Saturday. With an EIU win, the two teams would square off in a winner take all matchup immediately following game one.