Eastern Illinois wins a chaotic OVC series opener against SEMO 5-3. With the win, the Panthers are now tied for first place in the OVC with SIUE, who earned a victory over Lindenwood. EIU moves to 26-15 (13-6 OVC), while SEMO falls to 31-14 (12-7 OVC).
Two of the top teams in the OVC battled in a contest that featured four lead changes through the first six innings.
The Panthers broke open the scoring in the second inning with a run on two hits. Zak Goodwin and Peyton Wilson began the frame with back-to-back base hits. Dylan Drumke laid down a bunt down the third base line to move both runners into scoring position. Quade Peters knocked in the game's opening run with an RBI groundout to second base, plating Goodwin.
SEMO quickly responded with a run of their own in the third inning. Tyler Conklin surrendered a walk to Brooks Kettering. Joe Hall ripped a single right past James Love at third base, scoring Kettering.
With the game knotted up 1-1, both teams scored with power. In the 4th inning, Mike O'Conor smashed his team-high 12th home run of the season to retake a 2-1 lead.
Caleb Klein responded by outshining O'Conor's long ball with a two-run shot in the top of the 5th inning, scoring Kettering once again. However, SEMO was unable to keep their 3-2 lead intact for an extended period.
Tyler Castro threatened the RedHawks' lead early in the 5th with a base hit to center field. Castro later advanced to second on a wild pitch by Matt Wnukowski, who earned his first loss of the season. Chris Worcester punched the tying run home with a single to center field, driving in Castro.
The next time up, Dylan Drumke crushed a two-out RBI double, plating O'Conor, who began the inning with a four-pitch walk.
EIU added an insurance run on a frenzy-scoring play after the 7th inning-stretch. Castro was hit by the pitch to begin the inning. Shortly after, Brett Stanley hit a blooper back to the mound but reached safely as Wnukowski fell over as he was trying to make the throw over to first.
Castro took advantage of the situation and headed for third; Wnukowski scrambled to his feet and airmailed the throw over to third base. Castro scored on the double error to extend the Panthers lead to 5-3.
SEMO threatened James Geshel in the 8th inning with two straight walks and a hit-by-pitch, loading the bases with zero outs. However, Geshel did not panic and collected three outs to keep the short lead preserved.
Geshel struck out Ryan Lopetegui looking, followed by forcing a groundout double play. The Panthers faced no further trouble earning the narrow 5-3 win to open the weekend series.
On the mound, Tyler Conklin earned his conference-leading eighth win of the season. He allowed three earned runs with two strikeouts in 6.0 innings of work.
For SEMO, Matt Wnukowski was credited for his first loss of the season (2-1). He threw 1.1 innings, allowing two earned runs with zero strikeouts.
By The Numbers:
EIU: 5 Runs, 8 Hits, 0 Errors
SEMO: 3 Runs, 3 Hits, 2 Errors
Mike O'Conor: 1-2, HR, RBI, 2x BB
Peyton Wilson: 2-4, 2B
Dylan Drumke: 1-3 with an RBI, 2B
Brett Stanley: 1-3 with an RBI, SB
Up Next: The Panthers will continue their weekend series against SEMO on Saturday with a first pitch set for 5:00 PM.
