Panthers' pitching struggles were too much to overcome as EIU falls to SIUE on senior day 20-9. With the loss, Eastern Illinois falls to 28-18 (15-9 OVC), while SIUE improves to 30-21 (18-6 OVC). Panthers are tied for third in the OVC with SEMO after the weekend contests.
EIU celebrated 17 seniors for their historic contributions to the program, including Chris Worcester, who earned his 200th career hit as a Panther with a double in the 7th inning.
Eastern Illinois used five different arms, allowing 20 runs on 20 hits. SIUE smashed seven home runs, with three Cougars having multi-home run games. SIUE scored one or more runs in the first six innings, including five in the 6th.
Anthony Solis made his 14th start of the season, tossing 4.1 innings, allowing eight earned runs on nine hits. Solis' record now moves to 3-3 on the season.
Dalton Boruff, A.J. Hiestand, and Dominic Cristinzio each allowed three earned runs in relief. Jarrett Kinder suffered two earned runs in 3.0 innings of relief while picking up three strikeouts.
Although the pitching was shaky, the Panthers' offense contributed nine runs on 14 hits.
Three different Panthers had multi-RBI games: Zak Goodwin, Cade Zalewski, and Tyler Castro.
Brett Stanley, James Love, and Eli Hill also collected an RBI.
Ethan Rossi went perfect in the batter's box, finishing with three hits and a walk. Eleven different Panthers batters collected a hit, including two from Peters.
The Panthers cut the deficit to three in the bottom of the 5th inning. Zak Goodwin hit a base hit to center field, scoring Love and Stanley.
However, SIUE put the game away in the next half inning with five runs on six hits to extend their lead to 13-5.
A couple of pinch-hitters for the Panthers tagged three runs in the 9th, but the 20-6 score was too much to overcome.
Cade Zalewski singled to center field, scoring Colin Horneman and Brandon Shultz, who pinch-ran for Dylan Drumke.
Eli Hill collected an RBI single, scoring Zalewski for the final EIU run in the game.
By The Numbers:
EIU: 9 Runs, 14 Hits, 2 Errors
SIUE: 20 Runs, 20 Hits, 1 Error
Ethan Rossi: 3-3
Zak Goodwin: 1-4, 2x RBIs
Cade Zalewski: 1-1, 2x RBIs
Tyler Castro: 1-3 with 2x RBIs
Up Next: Panthers will head to Illinois State and Western Illinois for the final week of the regular season.
