ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The Lindenwood baseball team (10-11, 0-1 OVC) suffered a 6-1 setback in their conference opener against Eastern Illinois (11-8, 0-0 OVC) on Friday afternoon. The Lions gave up five runs – four unearned – in the game's final two innings after holding the EIU offense in check for much of the contest.

Despite getting tagged with the loss, Lindenwood starter Josh Newell had another excellent outing, allowing just one earned run on five hits with a pair of strikeouts through 7.2 innings of work.

Though Lindenwood's offense struggled, Charlie Isom-McCall had a big day at the plate, accounting for three of the Lions' four total hits - including two doubles - and scoring their lone run.

How it Happened
Eastern quickly got out to a lead in the first inning with Brett Stanley singling and stealing second before being driven home by a Chris Worcester double. Worcester would reach third on a deep flyout, but a 5-3 groundout got the Lions out of the inning without any further damage.

Lindenwood answered right back in the bottom of the first, with Charlie Isom-McCall leading things off with a single before Kam Edwards drew a walk to put two on with nobody out. After a pop out, the two baserunners were able to move up on a botched pickoff attempt at second base before Isom-McCall came home to score on a Will Geary sacrifice fly.

Pitching dominated for both sides through the next six innings, as the two teams combined for just seven total hits entering the eighth.

However, after a two-out throwing error put runners on the corners for EIU in the bottom of the eighth, Brett Stanley put the Panthers back in front with a two-RBI triple to the gap in left field before coming home to score on a Worcester base hit to make the score 4-1 in favor of EIU.

Charlie Isom-McCall led off the bottom of the frame with a double before advancing to third on a passed ball, but the next three LU batters were set down in order to leave him stranded.

After EIU tacked on a pair of insurance runs with a Quade Peters two-RBI base hit in the top of the ninth, Lindenwood was unable to string a rally together as the side was retired without any Lions reaching base.

Next Up
Lindenwood will look to bounce back on Saturday with game two against Eastern Illinois set for 1:00 pm. CT