Pitcher Dylan Farley winds up his arm to throw out a pitch. He pitched six innings on Saturday and threw five strikeouts.

After falling short by a single run in Friday’s opener, the Arkansas State Red Wolves responded on Saturday with an 11-3 win over the Eastern Illinois Panthers, tying up their weekend series.

In Friday’s 3-2 loss, the Red Wolves led early but couldn’t hold a strong advantage, as the offense stalled late.

Leading into Saturday, however, the Red Wolves showed a more aggressive approach at the plate, striking first in the bottom of the second inning and breaking off from a scoreless start with a three-run frame. 

Infielder Raul Torres drove the first run on the board with a groundout, bringing a runner home from third, marking his first of two RBIs, and the Red Wolves quickly brought two more runners home, giving the team a 3-0 lead over the Panthers.

Panthers right-handed pitcher Anthony Solis gave up three runs on five hits during the Red Wolves’ early rally, then worked to settle the team in throughout the third, fourth, and fifth innings, keeping the Red Wolves off the scoreboard.

During the middle innings, infielder Lane Walton took the spotlight, hitting his fourth home run of the season to send two players to return to base, while his teammate Evan Griffis followed with a home run and three runs scored. Infielder Patrick Engscov added a solo home run later in the game, finishing with three RBIs and multiple-base hits. 

The Red Wolves showed a more balanced lineup than Friday, with 5 different players recording RBIs and four different hitters adding extra-base hits. 

The Red Wolves’ lead continued to grow inning by inning, and the home runs further energized the team, making it exceedingly difficult for the Panthers to find any rhythm at the plate. 

With offense rolling, right-handed pitcher Collin Maloney worked the final three innings out of the bullpen.

While pitching in relief, Maloney allowed only one hit, struck out three batters, and walked none. Maloney’s execution on the mound kept the Panthers from building any late momentum.

Despite this, outfielder James Love continued to aim at resetting the Panthers’ offense. Love scored a solo home run and a run-scoring triple. Yet, the margin between the two teams in the later innings had widened beyond the point of a Panther’s comeback, sitting at 11-3 by the seventh.

This performance follows a Red Wolves loss against Ole Miss earlier in the week, where they struggled to produce runs outside of two innings. Saturday’s win showed far more consistency from the Red Wolves at the plate, producing runs throughout multiple innings.

With their dominance over the Panthers, the Red Wolves now look ahead to close out a two-game series this week against the Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville.

Categories: Sports