Utility infielder/outfielder Jason Pinnell came up with arguably the biggest hit of the season as the Panthers closed out the sweep against Murray State with a 7-5 extra inning victory Sunday in Kentucky.

Pinnell entered the game in the ninth inning as a defensive replacement and stepped to the plate in the tenth with two baserunners on and two outs. The Charleston native delivered a double down the right field line, scoring Joe Hernandez and Pete Stone to give Eastern the extra inning lead. Reliever Chris Vaculik (1-1) pitched the final 3 2/3 innings to pick up the win for the Panthers.

“Pinnell went into the game as a defensive replacement and came up with a big hit in the tenth and Chris did a great job in relief giving up just one run and holding runners on base,” Panthers head coach Jimmy Schmitz said.

With the win, the Panthers improved to 7-17 overall, but, more importantly, 4-2 and tied for third place in the OVC.

“The thing we talked about was getting off to a good start in the conference this year and so far we have done that,” Schmitz said.

Eastern jumped out to an early three run lead in the first when Stone tripled to right field to score Marcus Jackson, Kevin Carkeek and Ryan Campbell.

The Panthers picked up another run in the second when shortstop Kyle Haines doubled to center field to increase the lead to 4-0.

Murray State came right back in the third off Eastern starter Erik Huber with a three run homer from shortstop Alex Stewart to cut the Panther lead to one. The Racers manufactured a run in the fourth after Huber walked a batter. Murray State took advantage of the base on balls when centerfielder Tyler Pittman crossed home plate on a ground out to Haines.

The score remained even until the ninth when Eastern finally got to Racers reliever Bart Peach, who had previously pitched six scoreless innings. With runners on first and second, Campbell singled to right-center to score Chris Uhles and give Eastern a short-lived 5-4 lead.

Murray State led off the ninth with a double from Ike Bridwell, who advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt. Bridwell then scored on an infield hit from Clint Griggs. Vacculik sent the game to extra frames when he got Geoff Kirksey to pop out to first and Pittman to ground out to strand to runners on base.

In the Racers tenth inning, Vaculik was again in trouble but induced catcher Chad Fogle to ground into a game-ended double play to give Eastern the road sweep.

“Vacculik’s pitching was big plus for us today because now we know what he can do,” Schmitz said.