Southern Illinois Edwardsville came into Frost Field at Coaches Stadium Sunday afternoon having beat Eastern on Friday and Saturday.
Sunday was much of the same as SIUE took down the Panthers for the third day in a row winning the game 20-9.
“Boy, that was just a butt kicking all weekend. The better team won,” said Eastern head coach Jason Anderson. “I don’t know if we take anything from this. That’s just one of them weekends where we were outplayed in every phase of the game.”
The SIUE win came with seven home runs. Three players on the team each were responsible for two home runs.
SIUE junior first baseman Ryan Niedzwiedz and freshman right fielder Cooper Eggert were two of the three players on the team with two home runs. They each were able to drive in four runs on the game.
They went into the bottom of the ninth inning with a 14-run lead. Eastern was able to put up three runs in that half of the inning but came nowhere close to a full come back.
With the loss, Eastern has now dropped down to third place in the Ohio Valley Conference. Before the weekend started, they were tied with the Cougars at the top of the standings.
With just a little over a week away from the OVC tournament, SIUE has taken the first-place spot away from Eastern, and Little Rock crept in to take second away as well.
“We’re just trying to win each game,” Anderson said. “If we come up short, hopefully we left it all out on the field.
While it wasn’t the weekend that Eastern had hoped for, there is still good that came from their tough weekend.
Eastern graduate student second baseman Chris Worcester tallied his 200th career hit with the program in what is the last home game of his career.
“It’s just a great accomplishment for him,” Anderson said. “These guys have put in four great seasons in their time being here and 200 hits is just part of that.”
They called out the accomplishment over the public address system during the game, which was met with cheers and roars from the Eastern Illinois crowd.
He wasn’t the only senior who received recognition on Sunday, as the game was the team’s senior day.
The team honored 17 seniors who are moving on from the program and graduating.
“It’s a hard day for me. I hate to see these guys experience this on this weekend,” Anderson said. “I’m grateful for all of them and super proud of all of them.”
Eastern moves on to play Illinois State on Tuesday before beginning its last regular season series against Western Illinois on Thursday.
The game against Illinois State is set to start at 5 pm in Normal, Illinois.
Aaron Coffin can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].
