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HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Eastern Illinois dropped the final game of its season-opening series with Southern Mississippi, 6-0, on Sunday afternoon at Pete Taylor Park.

“I am disappointed we did not swing bats well for the third straight day,” said Eastern Illinois head baseball coach Jim Schmitz. “I was pleased with how (Brent) McNeil and (Darin) Worman came in relief and got us out of jams.”

The Panthers (0-3) recorded seven hits in the contest, paced by sophomore Ryan Dineen who was 2-for-3 at the plate.

The EIU pitching staff held the Golden Eagles (3-0) scoreless in six innings of action. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third when Southern Miss pushed three runs across the plate to take a 3-0 advantage. The Golden Eagles took a 6-0 lead in the next inning on an Isaac Rodriguez homer and a two RBI single by Tyler Koeling.

Freshman Christian Slazinik (0-1) recorded the loss, surrendering four hits and one earned run in three innings of work. McNeil threw two strikeouts and didn't allow a run in 3.1 innings of relief work.

Josh Thomason (1-0) took the win for Southern Miss, allowing five hits in six innings of work.

EIU committed three errors in the contest and left eight runners on base. Southern Miss left 11 runners stranded on the base paths and did not commit any errors.

“Southern Miss was very good in all areas and made it difficult for us to get going,” said Schmitz. “Hopefully this will make the players understand what they need to work on this week.”

EIU returns to action in a three-game series at Central Arkansas on Feb. 25-27 in Conway, Ark.