Eastern Illinois jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Friday afternoon but a pair of late solo home runs by SIUE lifted the Cougars to a 3-2 win over the Panthers at Frost Field at Coaches Stadium.
EIU struck first in the match-up between the two teams tied for the OVC lead entering the weekend with
Quade Peters sacrifice fly scoring
Zak Goodwin in the second inning.
Mike O'Conor hit a solo home run in the fourth to push the Panthers lead to 2-0.
SIUE's pitching staff shut down EIU the remainder of the game with Joseph Martin (4-0) picking up the win in relief and Easton Harris collecting his 11th save.
The Cougars chipped away at the lead with an RBI single by Chase Bloomer in the sixth to cut EIU's lead to 2-1. Bloomer had two hits to lead SIUE as the Cougars also finished with five hits.
SIUE had solo home runs by Mack Mitchell and Bloomer in the seventh and eighth inning to take the lead.Â
James Geshel (3-3) suffered the loss in relief for EIU. The Panthers offense was limited to five hits with O'Conor's home run and a single by Peters later in the game.
EIU fell to 28-16, 15-7 in the OVC. SIUE improved to 28-21, 16-6.
