Senior right-hander Tyler Conklin pitched five innings allowing one run, and the Eastern baseball team clinched a top two seed in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament with a 10-2 win over Western Illinois on Friday at Coaches Stadium.
Conklin allowed only three hits and picked up his fourth win of the season. He was on an innings restriction, as he is working his way back from an injury. In his first start in over a month on May 10, he completed two innings and got one out in the third inning.
“He’s coming back, so last week the goal [number of innings pitched] was three innings, this week it was four,” Eastern head coach Jason Anderson said. “But he was ahead of schedule and pitch count, so we let him go out through the fifth, so hopefully that prepares him for the tournament to throw five innings in one of those games.”
Senior right-handed pitcher Christian Carew pitched in relief and went three innings, allowed one run and five total base runners before getting out of a bases loaded jam in the eighth inning.
The Panthers’ offense was just as dominant as it was in the first game of the series, putting up another double-digit performance after scoring 13 runs in game one.
Half of the runs Eastern (28-20, 16-7) scored came before Western Illinois (18-31, 9-17) even got one Panther batter out.
Freshman designated hitter James Love drew a walk with the bases loaded to make the score 2-0 in favor of Eastern. Love’s first of three RBIs in the game was part of a five run first inning.
“Drawing that walk in the first inning to get us going kind of helped us get things going,” Love said.
The Panthers had eight total players record a hit throughout the game, which is double the number of WIU players who got hits. Eastern’ offense out-hit Western Illinois 13-6
Eastern has a chance to claim the regular season OVC title for the first time since 2009 with a win tomorrow. The team currently sits in first place by four winning percentage points over Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.
At worst, the Panthers would be a two seed in the OVC tournament; meaning they have clinched a double bye into the final four which is a double elimination portion of the tournament.
“We’ve done some good things in the last couple of years,” Anderson said. “I mean, 38 wins [in 2023], and then last year, put three guys in the big leagues. It’s just part of what we’re trying to do, and just this will be another step in the right direction.”
A 1 p.m. first pitch at Coaches Stadium is scheduled for the final game of the series that could award Eastern the OVC regular season championship. Sophomore right-handed pitcher Anthony Solis is expected to be the starter for Eastern.
“It’s just been a journey,” Love said. “I mean obviously, the season has ups and downs, and we were all the way down at one point, and now it feels like we’re right where we need to be to be in a great spot.”
Bryce Parker can be reached at 581-2812 or at baparker2@eiu.edu.
