Eastern Illinois outlasts Southern Indiana in a chaotic back-and-forth Sunday afternoon affair to complete the series sweep. EIU improves to 21-11 (10-2 OVC), while USI drops to 20-17 (4-8 OVC). Panthers earn their sixth straight victory to remain tied at the top of the OVC standings.
Chaos began early with EIU scoring a run in the 2nd and 3rd innings to take an early 2-0 lead.
Collin Horneman reached on a fielder's choice, scoring Joey Hagen, who scored after a fielding error by Southern Indiana's catcher, Drue Saenz. Saenz's error was one of five combined errors in the game. Hagen raced home, causing a chaotic drop ball at the plate. Shortly after, EIU would strand three runners to end the inning.
Next time up, EIU scored once more; Chris Worcester used the windy conditions to his advantage and smashed a home run to deep left field.
The Panthers's impressive defense kept the Screaming off the scoreboard through the first five innings. Dalton Boruff tossed an impressive 5.0 scoreless innings, allowing only four hits.
However, USI took advantage of Boruff's replacement, James Geshel, scoring three runs in the 6th inning to take their first lead of the game.
Geshel earned his third win of the season but suffered five earned runs on eight hits while collecting only one strikeout. Three out of the five runs came off the home run by Gavin Boyle in the top half of the sixth inning.
EIU quickly rebounded from the deficit, scoring two runs to retake control of the contest. Quade Peters walked, followed by Tyler Castro, hit a soft single to third base. With runners in scoring position, James Love hit a hard-hit ball to the shortstop, scoring Castro and Peters. The damage continued as Mike O'Conor singled to center field, driving in Castro.
The Screaming Eagles were unfazed as they tied the game 4-4 in the next inning with Clayton Slack driving in Parker Martin.
Both offenses settled down, but not for long, as USI retook the lead in the 8th inning with two runs.
The give-and-take resumed once more as EIU quickly broke the game open with five runs in the eighth innings. USI used four different pitchers in the 8th but was unable to keep EIU off the base paths.
Panthers' offensive storm began with Castro reaching first on a walk, followed by Stanley extending his hitting streak to 29 games with a single to left field. Worcester drove in Castro with a single to left field. USI's nightmare continued with James Love reaching first on another single to left field, scoring Stanley. Hagen hit the third Panthers' single to left field in the inning to score Worcester.
With a one-run lead, EIU added their insurance runs with the fourth left-field base hit earned by Stanley to score Love. The Panthers were not done yet, scoring one more run in before ending the chaotic 8th inning. Peters hit a sacrifice fly to center field to drive home Hagen.
James Geshel faced no trouble in the 9th to hold the Panthers' sixth straight win.
By The Numbers:
EIU: 9 Runs, 15 Hits, 3 Errors
USI: 6 Runs, 12 Hits, 2 Errors
James Love 4-5 with 2 RBIs, 2B
Chris Worcester: 2-5 with 2 RBIs, HR
Quade Peters: 1-3 with RBI, BB
Joey Hagen: 3-4 with 1 RBI
Tyler Castro: 1-2 with 3 BB
Dalton Boruff: 5.0 Innings, 4 Hits, 1 BB, 0 ER
Up Next: EIU will host Saint Xavier on Wednesday before traveling to Little Rock for a weekend OVC series.
