Photo Gallery (by Sandy King)

It took two games worth of action to decide the series opener on Friday night as Eastern Illinois beat Lindenwood 12-11 in 14 innings at Williams Field.
 
Lindenwood built a 6-1 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning with EIU able to put two runs on the board to get within striking distance.
 
In the seventh Lizzie Stiverson played hero for EIU with a two-out, three-run home run to tie the game at 6-6 and send it into extra innings.
 
In the extra session each time Lindenwood scored, Eastern Illinois was able to respond until the bottom of the 14th when Marybeth Dyson reached on an error and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt.  She came around to score the game winner on an RBI single by Chloe Wamboldt.  Dyson led the Panthers going 4-of-7 at the plate.
 
Pitchers for both teams put up zeros on the board in the eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh innings before Lindenwood struck for two runs in the 12th.  Dallis Darnell had a two-run single up the middle to score Karter Skillman and Emily Geary.  Skillman and Geary both had three hits for Lindenwood as the Lions had four total players finish with three hits.
 
In the bottom of the 12th Sophia Olman came up big for EIU with a two-run homer with one out in the inning. 
 
It was a three run homer by Jolie McMinn that appeared to be the answer for the Lions in the 13th giving Lindenwood an 11-8 lead heading into the bottom of the inning.
 
The Panthers took advantage of three Lindenwood errors in the inning to eventually tie the game at 11-11 on an RBI single by Mo Hance.  Hance joined Stiverson and Olman with two hits each for EIU.
 
Karlie McKenize (1-7) pitched a scoreless 14th inning to pick up the win in relief as EIU improved to 9-16 overall, 4-0 in the OVC.  Rylan Gick started the game and then reentered in extra innings tossing nine total innings in the contest.
 
Ryleigh Owens (3-3) started the game and returned late in the game in relief and was the hard luck loser as Lindenwood fell to 11-12 overall, 2-2 in the OVC.  Freshman Ava Risum pitched well in relief in extra innings while Anna Sanders and Tori Hatton added three hits each.
 
This was the tied for the second longest game in EIU school history.