EIU baseball won a three-game series over the weekend against the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Cougars, taking two out of three games at Coaches Stadium.
Both wins for the Panthers came on Saturday, as they won both games of a doubleheader. Game one was a back-and-forth affair, with Eastern taking the lead in the fifth inning and holding on to win 8-7.
Junior right-handed pitcher Casey Perrenoud pitched five innings and earned his first win of the season. Senior right-handed pitcher Jonathan Hanscom picked up his third save of the season, getting the last six outs of the game.
Game two looked like it was going to be a high scoring game after the first inning, when freshman right-handed pitcher Bryce Riggs allowed the Cougars to score four runs in the top of the first. Eastern countered with three runs of their own, and the offense tied the game in the bottom of the second inning and took the lead in the third.
The Panthers scored a run in every inning they batted in, and Riggs settled down after the first. He and junior right-handed pitcher Lukas Touma combined to shut the Cougars out for the rest of the game. Riggs went 6.1 innings, tallying six strikeouts, and Touma fanned five Cougar batters while not allowing a single baserunner. The Panthers won 13-4.
Eastern head coach Jason Anderson said on Saturday that he was happy for his team to be back on track in the Ohio Valley Conference, rattling off six straight wins after starting 0-5.
“After you get swept in the first three games at home, it’s a tough road,” Anderson said. “But they came back, dug themselves out and we’re fighting a lot better than we did earlier.”
It was a historic day for Anderson, who notched his 200th win in his managerial career at Eastern. He joined Bill McCabe, Tom McDevitt and Jim Schmitz as the only managers in Eastern history to accomplish such a milestone.
Anderson was unaware that he was close to 200 until after game two. He was informed via a Gatorade shower during his postgame remarks that he had accomplished the feat.
Game three on Sunday was an unremarkable one for the Panthers, as they struggled against Cougar junior starting pitcher Duncan McLaughlin. He went 8.0 innings and only gave up three runs, all on one swing on a home run by sophomore third baseman Mike O’Connor. Eastern tacked on two runs late but lost 11-5.
The Panthers sit at an overall record of 11-20. Their conference record of 6-6 sees them in a three-way tie for fourth place in the OVC, with their next conference game being a three-game series this weekend in Arkansas, taking on the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
EIU softball was able to extend its lead in the Ohio Valley Conference after sweeping the series against the University of Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles.
Southern Indiana was second in the OVC behind Eastern before the series. The Screaming Eagles were 10-5 while the Panthers were 11-4. Now, the Panthers are in first at 14-4 while Southern Indiana is fifth with a conference record of 10-8.
Game one was a pitchers’ duel between freshman McKenzie Oslanzi for Eastern and junior Josie Newman for Southern Indiana. Oslanzi came out on top in this battle, with the Panthers winning 2-0.
Freshman infielder Karson Davey was the first to score, as she scored on an error in the fourth. In the seventh, junior infielder, Briana Gonzalez scored on a sacrifice fly from sophomore infielder Kendall Grover.
Oslanzi pitched a complete game while striking out six, walking two and allowing four hits.
In game two, senior pitcher Olivia Price was in the circle. She also pitched a complete game shutout, striking out six, walking two and allowing four hits.
The Panthers won the game 3-0 with RBIs from Oslanzi, senior outfielder Aryn Henke and senior infielder Jadin Justman.
Game three was another rematch of game one with Oslanzi and Newman facing off. Oslanzi came out on top again with the Panthers winning 6-1.
Oslanzi pitched another complete game with the one run that the Screaming Eagles scored being unallowed. In this game, she had four strikeouts, one walk and eight hits allowed.
Grover was able to score two runs in the third with a two-run home run, and Oslanzi helped herself out with a three-run homer, also in the third. Eastern got their sixth run in the seventh when utility player Emily Konkle scored on an error after a single from Henke.
In 14 innings of work over the series, Oslanzi allowed zero earned runs, had eight strikeouts and allowed 12 hits. She also had four RBIs. Her record improved to 18-3, first in the OVC, and her ERA dropped to 1.44, also first in the OVC.
Grover had four hits and three RBIs, which puts her sixth in OVC in OPS with 1.019 and 14th in batting average 0.346.
EIU’s softball’s next series is a doubleheader against Valparaiso University on Wednesday, who is 8-27.
The Sports Staff can be reached at 581-2812 or at densportsdesk@gmail.com.
