Illinois Downs EIU in Baseball, 5-4

MATTOON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois had a chance to send the game into extra-innings with the game-tying run just 90 feet away, but Illinois’ closer J.D. Nielsen stranded the runner at third base to give Illinois the 5-4 win at Peterson Park in Mattoon, Ill. on Tuesday night. The Panther will have to shake off the loss rather quickly as they welcome Illinois College to Coaches Stadium tomorrow at 3 p.m.

Eastern Illinois falls to 5-31 on the year, while Illinois improves to 18-16 overall.

Illinois struck first in the top of the second inning. With runners on the corners and just one out in the inning, Trent Hammond brought home a run on a sacrifice fly out to right. A strong throw in from Frankie Perrone to Mitch Gasbarro allowed the Panthers to cut down the runner trying to advance to second on the play to end the inning with no further damage.

Illinois added another run to their total in the next inning with a sacrifice fly off the bat of Dan Rowbottom to give them a 2-0 lead.
The Panthers managed to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth inning. Joseph Duncan led off the inning with a single to right. Cale Hennemann followed the hit with a single to center, but the Illinois center fielder misplayed the ball and allowed Duncan to score on the play and Hennemann wound up on third. Gasbarro plated Hennemann on the next play with an RBI groundout to knot the score at 2-2.

Illinois responded with two runs of their own on a two-run blast by Jason Goldstein over the wall in left center as the visitors reclaimed the lead at 4-2.

The scoring continued for Illinois in the top of the seventh as Illinois worked the bases loaded. Doran Turchin drew a free pass to bring in another run and extended the lead to 5-2.

Eastern Illinois closed the gap in the bottom half of the inning. With the bases loaded the Panthers elected to bring Jason Scholl of the bench to pinch hit. The move paid off in the Panthers’ favor as Scholl singled to right to drive home two runs and put the score at 5-4.

The Panthers looked to force the game into extra-innings in the bottom of the ninth as Nick Maton snuck a ball just inside the line in right field for a one-out double. A wild pitch moved Maton up to third, but the Illinois closer Nielsen closed the door for his fourth save of the season.

Chase Thurston suffered the loss on the mound for the Panthers allowing four runs (three earned) in five innings pitched. Andy Fisher was solid on the mound in relief for EIU allowing just three hits while striking out five in 2.1 innings pitched.

Demetre Taylor, Dane Toppel, Duncan, Hennemann, and Scholl all collected one hit each for the Panthers.