TUESDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Illinois 18, @IUPUI 3 (5)
Eastern Illinois 10, @IUPUI 3
@Drake 2,
Western Illinois 1
@Evansville 10,
SIUE 0 (5)
EASTERN ILLINOIS 18, IUPUI 3 (5); EASTERN ILLINOIS 10, IUPUI 3
INDINAPOLIS, Ind. - Eastern Illinois pounded out two midweek wins with a Tuesday doubleheader sweep at IUPUI. The Panthers won the opener 18-3 before coming back to take game two by a 10-3 count.
EIU improved to 19-8 overall this season and plays Wednesday at Big Ten member Purdue. IUPUI fell to 5-23 on the season
After scoring one run in the top of the first, EIU scored six in the second inning and seven in the third inning to provide starting pitcher Karlie McKenzie (1-0) all the offense she would need during the 18-3 win.
Jadin Justman drove home the first run of the game scoring Kendall Grover with a sacrifice fly. The run was just the start of a big offensive game one for Grover who finished the game 3-for-3 with seven RBI and four runs scored.
Grover drove home two with a double in the second. She added an RBI single in the third and capped her offensive day with a 3-run homer in the fourth.
Justman and Briana Gonzalez also had big run producing efforts in game one with both driving in three runs. Justman had an RBI double in the second while Gonzalez had an 3-run homer in the third.
The Panthers banged out 16 hits in the game one win with Rachel Kaufman, Karson Davey, Sophia Olman and Emily Konkel all joining the two hit party for EIU.
McKenzie went five innings for her first collegiate win striking out 12 Jaguars. Jasmin Speth (0-4) took the loss for IUPUI.
The Jaguars scored one in the fourth and two in the fifth. The runs in the fifth came from the second hit of the day by Kendal Calvert, a two-run double.
In the second game EIU opened up a close game with six runs in the final two innings to pull away for a 10-3 win extending their current win streak over IUPUI to 11 straight games.
Rachel Kaufman (2-1) got the start in the circle tossing five innings. She would help herself at the plate with a solo home run in the first and sacrifice fly in the third finishing 2-for-3 at the plate.
Following a solo home run by Kinsey Pfeiffer in the bottom of the second to tie the game at 1-1, EIU took control again in the third. Kendall Grover, Kaufman and Jadin Justman all drove home runs in the inning to push the Panthers lead to 4-1.
McKenzie Oslanzi drove in three runs from the bottom of the Panthers order with a two-run homer in the sixth and another RBI in the seventh.
Grover, Kaufman and Justman all finished with multiple hits in the win as EIU finished with 11 hits in game two.
IUPUI scored its additional runs in the sixth and seventh innings. Pfeiffer and Maicey Bedrick each had two hits to lead IUPUI. Alexa Holman (3-10) took the loss in the circle.
DRAKE 2, WESTERN ILLINOIS 1
DES MOINES, Iowa - In a defense and pitching-heavy affair, Western Illinois softball took a 1-2 loss to Drake on Tuesday afternoon. Western shutout Drake for the first five and one-third before a two-run single from the Bulldogs ended up deciding the game.
Western led things off with a pair of outs before Bella Alvarez smacked a double into right field for the first hit of the game. Maria Luna came up after her and hit the ball in nearly the same spot, scoring Alvarez as the Leathernecks took a one-run lead into the bottom of the first.
Raven Morrison got the start for the Leathernecks, and the junior transfer put together four shutout innings. In the first, Morrison walked one before catcher Valerie Combs picked off the leadoff batter attempting to steal second. Morrison struck out the final batter of the inning to keep the Leathernecks in front.
The Western bats went down in order for the second and third frames, and Morrison got out of a jam with the bases load in the third by getting a key strikeout to end the frame.
In the fourth, Beth Pavy got her first hit of the game, a single into right, then swiped second base, but no runs scored in the inning. Morrison pitched one more shutout frame in the fourth, and Lillie Wools relieved her in the fifth inning. Wools struck out the first batter she saw in inning number five on her way to a one-two-three inning. Maria Luna singled in the sixth but the score held at 1-0 entering the bottom half of the sixth.
The Drake offense started to heat up with few chances remaining, grabbing a pair of singles early in the inning. After a steal to get both runners in scoring position, the Bulldogs capitalized with a two-RBI single to take a 2-1 lead.
Pavy singled to lead off the seventh, but three straight outs ended the game. Western fell to 12-16 on the year with the loss.
EVANSVILLE 10, SIUE 0 (5)
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - SIUE softball collected three hits Tuesday, including a career first and the extension of the nation' longest hitting streak.
The Cougars fell to Evansville 10-0 in five innings.
Paige Rocha also ran her hitting streak to 20 games, the longest of the Division I era for the Cougars. The school record is 27 set by SIUE Hall of Famer Erin Newman in 2001.
Evansville pushed the Cougars early with a five-run first inning and improved to 9-19 overall.