Widdersheim Pitches For EIU, Green Plays for SIUE

LAFAYETTE, La. – The Eastern Illinois University baseball team dropped its series finale at No. 14 Louisiana-Lafayette, 9-8, Sunday afternoon at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field. EIU falls to 1-3 on the season.

With two outs in the top of the ninth inning with two runners in scoring position, Montana Timmons lined out to centerfield to end the Panther comeback. Timmons finished the day going 4-for-5 at the plate with an RBI.

“(Montana) Timmons had a great, hard-hit ball on the last play of the game it just went right to the center fielder,” said Eastern Illinois head coach Jim Schmitz. “He showed us he can play at this level so it was good for us to learn, among other good things from our team this weekend.

“I was pleased with how the guys responded after we got down early. After what happened in game two Saturday, the game could have ran away from us today. Overall, I was happy how we battled back and that’s a big sign of a good team. We came up short, so we are going to have to correct a few things this week before we play at Arkansas.”

Jaden Widdersheim, Stewardson-Strasburg graduate, pitched 1.1 innings allowing one walk and striking out one.

The Panther baseball team was shut out in both games of its doubleheader at No. 14 Louisiana-Lafayette Saturday afternoon. EIU dropped game one, 1-0, before falling 13-0 in game two.
 
"Matt Borens was outstanding today," said Eastern Illinois head coach Jim Schmitz. "We had a chance to win the first game but a close call hurt our chances. Game two got away from us as we had to use some freshmen pitchers.
 
GAME ONE: LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 1, EIU 0

Despite a solid pitching performance from Matt Borens, the Panthers dropped the first game of the doubleheader with the Ragin' Cajuns, 1-0.
 
Borens (0-1) only allowed four hits and one run in six innings of action. He threw seven strikeouts and issued one walk in the loss. Widdersheim pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Borens and only surrendered one hit with two walks and one strikeout.
 
The lone run of the game came on a two-out, solo home run by Jace Conrad in the third inning to give Louisiana-Lafayette a 1-0 lead.
 
 
GAME TWO: LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 13, EIU 0

Louisiana-Lafayette scored in all but three innings as they used a balanced offense to defeat the Panthers, 13-0, in game two of the doubleheader.
 
Conrad hit a two-out, RBI single in the third inning to give the Ragin' Cajuns a 1-0 lead before they added an unearned run in the next frame on a fielding error to make the score 2-0. Louisiana-Lafayette scored five runs in each the fifth and sixth innings to make the score 12-0 before adding an insurance run in the eighth inning on a Kyle Clement sacrifice fly.
 
Louisiana-Lafayette had nine more hits (11-2) than EIU and left eight more runners on base (12-4). EIU had three more errors (3-0) than the Ragin' Cajuns.
 
Tyler Schweigert and Trey Russell recorded the only hits for the Panthers.

SIUE Drops Three To No. 34 Wichita State

WICHITA, Kan. – No. 34 Wichita State used a pair of eight-run innings Sunday to take the finale of a three-game series 21-2. The Shockers swept the three-game season-opening series from the Cougars.

Jarrett Bednar (0-1) made his first start at the Division I level, allowing nine runs, six earned, on seven hits in just 1 1/3 innings.

"He got behind in some counts," SIUE Head Coach Tony Stoecklin said. "He didn't get his fastball down. They're a good hitting team and they capitalized on his mistakes."

Six other pitchers worked for the Cougars. Evan Martens allowed four earned runs on five hits in 1 1/3 innings. Martens walked one and struck out one. Brett Thomas surrendered six in 2/3 of an inning. He struck out two and walked two. Caleb Wilkerson worked 1 1/3 innings allowing two runs on four hits.

J.D. Williams and P.J. Schuster combined for three scoreless innings. Williams allowed just a hit and struck out two in 1 2/3 innings. Schuster struck out one and allowed two hits in 1 1/3 innings.

"There were a couple of bright spots today," Stoecklin said. "J.D. Williams and P.J. Schuster pitched well. We're going to need them to continue to pitch well."

The Cougars managed just three hits against six Shockers pitchers, scoring single runs in the third and ninth innings.

"They ran some pretty good pitchers at us," Stoecklin said. "Overall we took some pretty poor at-bats today."

Effingham High School graduate Chase Green played all three games against Wichita State. Green, playing second base, had no stats in four at-bats in the opening contest. In the second game, he had one hit and scored a run in four at-bats. In the third contest, he had four at-bats with one strikeout and was left on base twice.