If the Eastern baseball team is trailing heading into the middle or later innings, it’s a safe bet to assume Panthers head coach Jimmy Schmitz likes to see Ryan Campbell step into the batter’s box.

The freshman third baseman led Eastern to a 10-7 victory over the in-state rival Northern Illinois Huskies.

In a mid-week affair against Chicago State on April 6, Campbell came to the plate with Eastern down 4-2 in the sixth inning and promptly delivered a leadoff double to start a three-run rally in a game the Panthers went on to win 5-4.

The situation Wednesday at Ralph McKinzie Field was eerily similar as Campbell came to the plate to leadoff the fifth inning with Eastern behind 4-1. Campbell sent Nathan Stillwell’s offering to the right-center wall for a double that opened the floodgates as Eastern would take the lead and never look back.

After Campbell’s rope, first baseman Kevin Carkeek reached base on an error to bring senior Marcus Jackson to bat with runners on first and third. Jackson surprised the Huskies with a drag bunt down the first base line to score Campbell. After a wild pitch by Stillwell to move Carkeek and Jackson into scoring position, designated hitter Pete Stone placed another bunt down the first base line to score Carkeek.

Eastern would tack on five more runs in the frame that included RBIs by David Chacon, Mark Chagnon, Chris Uhle and Kyle Haines to help the Panthers turn a three run deficit into an 8-4 lead.

After coming in to relieve starter Alex Chapple in the third inning, Ted Juske kept the Huskies hot bats at bay with 3 1/3 innings of shutout ball to pick up his first Eastern win and the praise of his coach.

“Ted was a guy that we thought would be a starter but now has moved to the bullpen and did just a great job for us today,” Schmitz said. Right now he’s throwing his pitches with a lot of confidence.”

Brian Long replaced Juske in the bottom of the seventh and the freshman immediately found himself in trouble. Long gave up a single to Eric Sansouci to start the inning and two batters later the hurler surrendered an infield single to Rob Marconi to score Sansouci. The Huskies inched closer after an RBI double from Scott Simon to cut the lead to 9-6.

With two outs and Simon on second, Schmitz went to the bullpen and brought in seldom used lefty Jason Pinnell. With the game’s outcome hanging in the balance, Pinnell was able to entice pinch hitter Kyle Pettengell to pop out to end the rally.

“If you take a look at the stats, going to Pinnell may have been a surprise move,” Schmitz said. “But with Mike Manns not able to go, Jason is veteran and he’s been through this before and he was able to retire the hitter.”

Both the Panthers and Huskies each put a run on the scoreboard in the eighth inning. Haines delivered a single right up the middle to score Chagnon. For Haines, it was his third hit on the afternoon and second run batted in.

Freshman Chris Vaculik pitched the eighth and the ninth inning to pick up his third save on the year and second in the last week.

At the plate, Campbell, Haines and Carkeek each had three hits on the day as Eastern pounded out 18 hits against eight different Huskie pitchers.

For Schmitz it was quite a rebound for his Panthers after the team lost St. Joseph’s 26-17 a day earlier at Coaches Stadium.

“It was a great turnaround,” Schmitz said. “We played a good baseball game and it always helps when your pitchers get the ball over the plate for strikes.”