CHARLESTON, Ill. (Interstat) — Ryan Niedzwiedz homered twice and drove in four runs as SIU Edwardsville overwhelmed Eastern Illinois 20-9 on Sunday afternoon at Coaches Stadium at Monier Field in an Ohio Valley Conference matchup.

The Cougars improved to 30-21 overall and 28-18 in conference play. The Panthers fell to 28-18 and 28-18.

Niedzwiedz went 3 for 5 with two home runs and four RBIs. He opened the scoring in the first inning with a two-run homer to right field that scored Chase Bloomer, and he added a solo shot in the ninth. The first baseman’s performance highlighted a day in which SIU Edwardsville collected 20 hits.

Cooper Eggert also homered twice, finishing 2 for 5 with four RBIs. His three-run homer in the ninth inning capped a seven-run outburst that pushed the lead to 20-6. Mack Mitchell went 2 for 4 with two home runs and three RBIs. Chase Bloomer was 3 for 5 with a home run and three RBIs. Sean Kang went 4 for 6 with two doubles. Brenden Fry was 2 for 4 with three RBIs.

Noah Johnson pitched three innings of relief, allowing no hits and one earned run while striking out two. Jase Phillips started and went 4 1/3 innings, giving up no hits and five earned runs with one strikeout.

For Eastern Illinois, James Love homered and drove in a run. Jarrett Kinder pitched three innings of relief, allowing four hits and two earned runs while striking out three.

SIU Edwardsville jumped ahead early. Niedzwiedz’s first-inning homer gave the Cougars a 2-0 lead. They added two more in the second on Fry’s double. The Panthers answered with two runs in the bottom of the second on Tyler Castro’s single.

The Cougars extended the lead in the third on Mitchell’s solo homer and Fry’s RBI single. Love homered for the Panthers in the third, cutting the deficit to 6-3. Bloomer led off the fourth with a solo homer, and Eggert homered in the fifth to make it 8-3. Eastern Illinois scored twice in the fifth on Zak Goodwin’s two-run single.

SIU Edwardsville broke the game open with a five-run sixth inning. Daniel Gierer scored on Niedzwiedz’s single, then Joshua Heyder singled in Bloomer. Ethan Willoughby’s sacrifice fly scored Niedzwiedz, and Mitchell followed with a two-run homer. The Cougars led 13-5 after six.

The Panthers scored once in the eighth on a fielder’s choice by Brett Stanley. In the ninth, SIU Edwardsville erupted for seven runs. Gierer doubled in Kang, Bloomer hit a sacrifice fly that scored two, Niedzwiedz homered, and Eggert ended the inning with a three-run homer. Eastern Illinois scored three in the bottom of the ninth, but the Cougars closed out the win.

SIU Edwardsville had won the first two games of the series, 16-4 on Saturday and 3-2 on Friday. The Cougars are scheduled to play at Southern Illinois on Tuesday. Eastern Illinois is set to play at Illinois State on Tuesday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Eastern Illinois 7, SIU Edwardsville 6. Interstat’s ELO system had projected the Panthers with a 53.20 percent probability to win.