It was an inning that lasted nearly an hour with eight meetings on the mound, four pitching changes, eight bases on balls, four hit batters and a total of 17 runs scored.

The third inning between Eastern and St. Joseph’s Wednesday was anything but pretty as the Pumas and Panthers both batted around in a wild frame.

“That inning was so long I think my wife could have driven back and forth to Cincinnati,” Panthers head coach Jimmy Schmitz joked.

But Schmitz wasn’t laughing as Saint Joseph’s scored 11 runs on just five hits after sending 17 hitters to the plate. The Pumas also benefited from two Eastern errors and six walks as Saint Joseph’s turned a 5-1 deficit into a 12-5 lead.

After two relatively uneventful innings to open the game, Eastern’s starting pitcher Erik Huber struck out the first batter in the third before getting into trouble. The big right-hander recorded only one out over the next nine hitters and was replaced by former closer Andy Kuntz.

Kuntz struggled with his control as he walked all five batters he faced. At one point in the inning, Kuntz tossed 13 consecutive balls and of the 24 pitches thrown, 17 were out of the zone. Schmitz replaced Kuntz with Charleston native Jason Pinnell who also was wild after taking the hill. Pinnell hit the first batter he faced and was behind the second batter before a meeting with catcher Joe Hernandez appeared to settle the lefty down as he struck out St. Joseph’s Mike Marshall to end the frame.

Schmitz said one reason the pitching was shaky could have been because Eastern started Jared Marshall in their previous two non-conference games. Marshall was coming back from offseason surgery and the Panther coaches wanted to let him take the mound in non-pressure situations. While the Panthers successfully accomplished their goal with Marshall, other pitchers who normally would have made appearances in non-conference games were scratched from starts.

“We started Jared the last couple of mid-week games so we have pitchers who missed their regular starts,” Schmitz said. “Maybe these pitchers don’t feel like their part of the main staff because they looked rusty.”

Eastern countered with their own high-scoring third as the Panthers scored six runs on just two hits. However, Eastern wasn’t able to overcome St. Joseph’s 11-run outburst and dropped just their second home contest in the previous six games at Coaches Stadium.