CHARLESTON, Ill. – Chicago State baseball made its return to the Midwest and battled defending Ohio Valley Conference regular-season champ Eastern Illinois here today, but fell to the host Panthers by a score of 4-1 at EIU’s Coaches Stadium. The Cougars dropped to 1-8 on the young season, while the Panthers improved their record to 4-14.
The visitors struck early in the first inning when junior Michael Carpen (Whiting, Ind.) scored on an RBI infield groundout by sophomore William Hill (Wheaton, Ill.) after leading off with an infield single.
EIU evened the score at 1-1 in the third inning when senior Richie Derbak lined an RBI double to plate sophomore Zach Borenstein, who opened the inning with a walk.
The Panthers captured a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning as Borenstein lined a run-scoring double to left field which scored freshman Ryan Dineen. Two more runs crossed the plate in the eighth inning to provide the final margin.
Senior Patrick Hernandez (Romeoville, Ill.) led Chicago State at the plate by hitting 3-of-4 with a double, while freshman Christian Prince (Hudsonville, Mich.) hit 2-of-3. Senior Austin McDowell (Coal City, Ill.) took the loss on the mound and fell to 0-2 on the year after giving up two runs on nine hits in seven innings thrown.
Derbak went 3-of-3 with an RBI to pace Eastern Illinois. Junior Cam Strang hit 3-of-4 with a double and scored a run on the day. Junior Mark Recchia (2-2) earned the win for the Panthers after recording two strikeouts and allowing four hits in two innings in relief, while junior Matt Miller allowed no runs and struck out a batter in the ninth to record the save.
The Cougars return to action this Friday in West Lafayette, Ind., as they begin a four-game weekend series against Purdue with a start time of 4 p.m., Eastern Time.
~CSU~