Grahn Pitches EIU Baseball Team To Win

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Eastern Illinois senior pitcher Andrew Grahn, a North Clay graduate, scattered four hits allowing one run in six innings as the Panthers picked up a midweek win over Saint Louis, 13-4, on Tuesday afternoon at Coaches Stadium.

Grahn (2-1) made his third straight solid start on the mound for EIU with 76 pitches setting down 17 of 19 batters at one point in his time on the mound. EIU provided Grahn some early offense as they improved to 10-29 overall. The Panthers will play a weekend Ohio Valley Conference series at Morehead State this weekend.

Demetre Taylor, the reigning OVC Player of the Week, started the offense for EIU in the second with a leadoff home run to center field. Taylor finished the day 2-for-5 with two RBI. His second RBI came in the third inning with a sacrifice fly to right.

Hunter Morris and Joseph Duncan added RBI hits in the second to give Grahn an early 3-0 lead. Morris had an RBI double as the freshman catcher was 2-for-4 in the game.

Saint Louis scored its only run against Grahn in the fourth inning as Josh Bunselmeyer grounded out with runners at second and third scoring Jake Henson. Bunselmeyer added a solo home run in the seventh against the Panthers bullpen as he drove home two of the Billikens four runs.

The Panthers extended the lead to 7-1 in the sixth with a Dane Sauer solo home run and RBI single by Teutopolis graduate, Bobby Wenthe.

In the eighth SLU scored two runs against the EIU bullpen bringing the tying run to the on-deck circle. Mike Vigliarolo had a two-run homer as he was one of three Billikens players with two hits. Henson and Braxton Martinez also had two hits.

Senior Garrison Stenger pitched EIU out of the jam in the eighth and pitched with an additional five run cushion in the ninth to pick up the save.

EIU tacked on five runs in the eighth. Mitch Gasbarro had a two-run double down the left field line. Sauer added an RBI single to center. Caleb Howell and Cale Hennemann were both hit by pitches with bases loaded to bring home the final runs. Howell was 4-for-4 on the day and reached base in all six plate appearances as he has now reached base in 14 straight plate appearances. Howell increased his career hits total to 277 as he moved into a tie for ninth on the OVC career hits list.

Duncan, Sauer and Wenthe all had multiple hits in the game as EIU had 17 hits for the day. Josh Moore (4-3) suffered the loss for Saint Louis as the Billikens used eight pitchers during the game. SLU dropped to 28-16 on the year.

Demetre Taylor Named OVC Player of Week

Eastern Illinois redshirt junior outfielder Demetre Taylor was named the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week after helping lead the Panthers to a second straight OVC weekend series win. Taylor becomes the second straight EIU player to win the weekly OVC award.

Taylor hit .714 last week in four games (10-for-14) and increased that average to .800 during the OVC series win over Eastern Kentucky. He had one double, one triple and one home run while driving home six runs during the week. In addition Taylor reached base another three times on walks.

Taylor currently leads EIU with a .364 average which ranks sixth in the OVC. He has a team high 32 RBI with five home runs. His four triples this season lead the OVC and rank 44th in the NCAA.