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CHARLESTON, Ill. (WCIA) — This week, Eastern Illinois University’s baseball and softball teams faced non-conference rivals on their home turf as the Spring sports season begins to pick up momentum.
In a thrilling match on Tuesday, March 24, the Panther baseball team narrowly lost to Northern Illinois in an extra-inning battle, ending with a score of 5-4.
Despite receiving 16 walks, Eastern Illinois managed to convert only one of those opportunities into a run.
However, the experienced EIU squad remains optimistic about their ability to recover from this setback.
“You need to bring players home, and we excel at getting runners in scoring positions,” remarked head coach Jason Anderson. “Winning is tough if you can’t cross the plate.” He added, “[I’m] always confident in them, but hitting tends to be contagious. Once a few players start connecting, it seems to get significantly easier.”
“This is a tight-knit group, closest I’ve ever been a part of, and so, that’s going to help us,” senior infielder Chris Worcester said. “We’re never taking the foot off the gas.”
On Wednesday, March 25, Panther softball earned a 12th-straight win on the season after a doubleheader sweep of Bradley.
EIU erased an early 1-0 deficit in game one to earn a 5-0 win, completing the sweep with an 8-5 win in game two.
“I think we came out a little flat, but we found a way to get it together and scratch a few runs there,” co-head coach Dan Paulson said. “We got a great performance out of Carly pitching, and that was a real positive to see, and our defense was pretty solid.”
EIU improved to 17-16 on the season and still 9-0 in conference play.