TUESDAY'S SCORES
Lindenwood 9, @Saint Louis 1
Eastern Illinois 9, @Western Illinois 3
Ball State 12,
@Southern Indiana 1
Little Rock 8, Central Arkansas 3 (North Little Rock, Ark.)
LINDENWOOD 9, SAINT LOUIS 1
ST. LOUIS - -Senior Joe Copeland collected four hits to help propel the Lindenwood baseball team (11-41) past the Saint Louis Billikens (27-21) by a final of 9-1 on Tuesday.
Freshman Michael Walsh (2-4) started on the mound and picked up the win for Lindenwood. The right-hander went three shutout innings while giving up one hit, allowing one walk and striking out two. Junior Jett Jackson also made an impact on the mound for the Lions, throwing two shutout innings while allowing no hits, with one walk and three strikeouts.
In addition to his four hits, Copeland had two doubles, a home run and three RBI to lead the Lions. Freshman Landon Willbrand put together a noteworthy performance as well, going 1-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. Sophomore Marcus Heusohn also chipped in for Lindenwood, putting together two hits in five trips to the plate while adding a double.
The Lions got on the board immediately, starting their scoring with one run in the top of the first inning. Junior Tyson Ludwig came across to score the lone run of the inning for Lindenwood and get them on the board.
The Lions then held the Billikens scoreless before expanding their lead in the fourth inning. Lindenwood hit two home runs in the inning on the way to pushing six runs across. which brought the score to 7-0 in favor of the Lions.
Saint Louis narrowed Lindenwood's lead to 7-1 before the Lions stretched the advantage to 8-1 in the eighth inning.
Lindenwood held the Billikens without a run before their offense got back in action the next inning. Sophomore Ambrose Russo crossed home plate with the lone run of the inning for the Lions, bringing the score to 9-1 in favor of Lindenwood. The score remained 9-1 for the rest of the game, as the Lions coasted to the win.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 9, WESTERN ILLINOIS 3
MACOMB, Ill. - Eastern Illinois baseball (30-18, 10-11 OVC) picked up win number 30 on the season with a 9-3 victory over Western Illinois (12-37, 8-13 Summit). Marks the first back-to-back seasons with at least 30 wins since the 1998-99 seasons.
Six different Panthers picked up an RBI in the win. Kolten Poorman delivered two hits and an RBI while EIU's leading hitter Ryan Ignoffo went 3-5 against the Leathernecks. Cole Gober also delivered two hits.
Nick Laxner (W, 4-1) earned his fourth win of the season after pitching in 4.2 innings allowing two runs on four hits. The Eastern Illinois pitching staff ended the final 3.2 innings not allowing a hit.
Offenses were slow to get jump started on Tuesday with only two hits combined through the first two innings. Western Illinois' Chase VanDerGinst hit a solo home run to start the second inning off of Laxner to get the scoring underway.
The score would remain 1-0 heading into the fifth inning when EIU's bats produced five runs to take their first lead of the game. After two singles by Ignoffo and Poorman, Ignoffo would score on a balk by WIU to tie the game.
Catcher Grant Lashure then had an RBI single to score Poorman for the second run of the inning. Chris Worcester and Lucas DiLuca produced back-to-back RBI to extend the lead before Worcester scored on a wild pitch to make the score 5-1 in favor of the Panthers.
The Leathernecks would score one run in the fifth against Laxner and one run in the sixth against Jack Pottegier to cut the lead to 5-3.
After having the bases loaded in the seventh, Lincoln Riley hit a sac fly to deep right field to score Lashure. Poorman and Nicholas Rucker then drove in an RBI each to put the lead at 8-3. Riley would score in the ninth off of an error to end the scoring at 9-3.
Colton Coca, Blake Malatestinic and Zane Robbins pitched the final 3.2 innings for Eastern Illinois. The Panthers retired the final seven Leathernecks to end the game including three strikeouts for Robbins.
EIU scored nine runs on 10 hits with not errors in the game. WIU scored three runs on seven hits with three errors.
BALL STATE 12, SOUTHERN INDIANA 1
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana lost the 2023 home finale to Ball State University, 12-1, Tuesday evening at the USI Baseball Field. USI watched its record go to 15-36 overall, while Ball State is 33-18 in 2023.
USI fell behind early, 10-0, as Ball State scored three in the second, six in the third, and one in the fourth. The Eagles got on the board in the bottom of the fourth when junior rightfielder Ren Tachioka (Japan) scored on an error to trail, 10-1.
The Cardinals, which hit five home runs in the contest, would finish the scoring in the game with pair of runs in the top of the seventh to close out the 12-1 final.
LITTLE ROCK 8, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 3
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Recap coming soon.