EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The Eastern Illinois baseball team (25-18, 13-6) picked up a huge win in their series opener against SIUE (23-24, 15-7 OVC) in Edwardsville on Friday night. The Panthers leaned on a pair of strong performances on the mound from Tyler Kapraun and Dalton Boruff in the 4-1 victory.

Kapraun moved his record to 5-4 on the season after allowing just one run on eight hits with seven strikeouts through the game's first five and two-thirds innings. Meanwhile, Boruff picked up his team-leading fifth save of the season, going the final 3.1 innings while allowing zero runs on three hits with three strikeouts.

Offensively, Zak Goodwin was the only Panther with multiple hits, going 2-4 with a runs scored and an RBI. Tyler Castro, Mike O'Conor, and Ethan Rossi each recorded one hit and one RBI.

After a scoreless first two innings that included a three-strikeout second from Tyler Kapraun, EIU broke into the scoring column in the third with a Tyler Castro RBI single that plated Jake Ottensmeier, who had initially reached base on bunt single before moving into scoring position on a groundout.

In the fourth, Zak Goodwin reached first base safely on an infield single before a Brett Stanley sacrifice bunt moved him into scoring position, setting the stage for Ethan Rossi to drive in the game's second run with base hit up the middle.

The Panthers added another run to their lead in the fifth, with Tyler Castro earning a free pass with two outs before stealing second, which allowed him to score on a Mike O'Conor RBI single to the left side.

Eastern put the first two runners on base in the sixth, but were unable to extend the lead after the next three batters were retired in order.

Following base hits from Ryan Niedzwiedz and Joshua Hyder to lead off the sixth, SIUE got their first run of the game on an Ethan Willoughby RBI groundout, but were unable to push any more runs across.

EIU immediately responded in the bottom of the seventh, with Tyler Castro leading off the frame with a walk before a throwing error on a Mike O'Conor fielder's choice allowed him to advance from first to third. Zak Goodwin followed that up with a perfectly placed bunt single to drive in Castro.

However, after a Brett Stanley sacrifice bunt moved runners to second and third with just one out, the next two EIU batters went down on strikes to prevent the Panthers from extending the lead further.

After Dalton Boruff retired the SIUE side in order in the bottom of the seventh, Eastern placed runners on the corners with two outs in the eighth, but were unable to capitalize after Tyler Castro was caught stealing second to end the at-bat.

Following base hits from Niedzwiedz and Franck, SIUE brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the eighth. However, a hard-hit ground ball to third base resulted in a 5-3 double play to get EIU out of the jam with no damage done.

The Cougars threatened again in the bottom of the ninth after the first two batters reached base on walks, however a pop up and fly out to shallow right kept the runners in place with two outs. Mack Mitchell kept the game alive with a single to load the bases, but Boruff got Chase Bloomer to roll into a 3-1 groundout to end the game.

Game two of the weekend series is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. ESPN+ and live stats coverage will be available.