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CHARLESTON, Ill. – The Panther baseball team took advantage of six Murray State errors on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Thoroughbreds, 15-8, at Coaches Stadium. The series finale is slated for 1 p.m. on Sunday.
 
EIU captured the series on Saturday after defeating Murray State on Friday night, 6-3, in the weekend opener. The Panthers improved to 9-18 overall and 2-8 in Ohio Valley Conference action while the Thoroughbreds dropped to 12-18 on the year and 6-8 on conference play.
 
Tied at seven heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, the Panthers scored six runs on five hits and one error to take a 13-7 advantage. Caleb Howell and Treysen Vavra both drove in a run in the following inning to make the score 15-7. Brandon Elliott hit a one-out RBI triple in the ninth inning to start a Murray State rally, but Scott Houdek retired the final two batters of the contest to seal the victory.
 
EIU took an early 3-0 lead in the third inning on one hit and two errors before Murray State got within two (3-1) in the next inning on a Mike Kozlowski RBI. Murray State had its lone lead in the top of the fifth inning, 5-4, before the Panthers responded in the bottom of the frame with three runs on three hits to regain a 7-5 lead.
 
EIU had four more hits (14-10) than Murray State and committed three fewer errors (6-3). The Panthers also left six more runners on base (11-5).
 
“I was really excited how our offense had some big hits today, including a big double by Demetre Taylor to the opposite field,” said Eastern Illinois head coach Jim Schmitz. “We lost the lead once, but our guys went to work at the plate after allowing some runs and got the job done.”
 
Five Panthers had two or more hits in the game with Howell pacing the team the plate, going 3-for-6 with two RBI and two runs. Cameron Berra went 2-for-5 with two runs and a RBI while Brant Valach went 2-fo-2 with three runs.
 
Garrison Stenger (3-0) earned the win for EIU, striking out one batter while allowing one hit in one inning of work. Joe Greenfield got the start and went six innings with four strikeouts while surrendering eight hits and seven runs (two earned).
 
Sheldon Baxter (1-3) took the loss for Murray State, allowing five runs and four hits in 1.2 innings of action. Kozlowski went 1-for-4 with four RBI to pace the Thoroughbred offense.