After dropping a game Tuesday to the University of Illinois, Eastern resumed its mastery over in-state schools by pulling out a ninth-inning victory against Illinois State Wednesday.

The Panthers broke a 6-6 tie in the ninth by scoring two runs on four hits and then held off the Redbirds’ threat to tie the game after they had tallied a run and had a runner on third.

Senior second baseman Chris Uhle started the ninth inning rally with a one-out double down the left field line that helped the Panthers improve to 5-1 against Illinois schools on the season. With Uhle in scoring position, fellow senior Kyle Haines drove home his double play partner with a single to center field to give Eastern a 7-6 lead.

After singles by freshmen Ryan Campbell and Kevin Carkeek, the Panthers picked up a key insurance run when Pete Stone was hit by a pitch to score Haines. Eastern failed to add more damage when centerfielder Marcus Jackson struck out with the bases loaded.

Illinois State came back with its own rally in the bottom half of the inning off Panther reliever Chris Vaculik. The frame appeared to start innocently enough as leadoff hitter Chris Sheperd hit a routine ground ball to second base, but the ball was misplayed by Uhle allowing Sheperd to reach first. Sheperd moved to third on a single by first baseman Jay Molina, and the Redbirds loaded the bags after Vaculik walked Matt Bolt. Illinois State cut the lead in half when designated hitter Lucas Baughman hit a sacrifice fly to right field scoring Sheperd. With two outs and the winning run on the bases, Vaculik struck out Kyle O’Brien to end the ballgame allowing the Panthers to escape Normal with the victory.

After a lackluster performance against Illinois just 24 hours earlier, Eastern head coach Jimmy Schmitz was quite pleased with the performance turned in by the Panthers.

“This was an excellent game,” Schmitz said. “It was important to come back with a win after a disappointing loss [Tuesday].”

A big reason the Panthers were able to pick up the non-conference win was the play of designated hitter Paul Dean. After a three RBI game against the Illini, Dean stayed hot at the plate with a two-run homer Wednesday.

“Paul Dean came up big for us with the home run,” Schmitz said. “Earlier in the season he was playing well and wasn’t swinging the bat well, but he has answered his struggles.”

While Schmitz’s team was able to rebound after a poor performance, the Redbirds, after an impressive 10-5 win against Northern Illinois Tuesday, were unable to continue their momentum.

“That’s the story of our season,” Illinois State head coach Jim Brownlee said. “There is no consistency on this team at all. We made mistakes today that you would not see in an average high school game.”

Kevin Carkeek opened up the scoring for the Panthers in the top of the first on a sacrifice fly to right field. After Illinois State plated two runs across in the bottom of the frame, Eastern came back with a pair of runs in the fourth and sixth, including Dean’s two run blow. Trailing 6-2 after six and half innings, the Redbirds came back with three in the seventh and one in the eighth to tie the game and set up the deciding ninth inning.

Vaculik pitched the eighth and the ninth to pick up his fifth win against one loss on the season. Illinois State hurler Eric Theisen (2-4) surrendered both runs in the ninth to suffer the loss.

The two teams combined to use ten pitchers and commit ten errors on a day when the wind was blowing out at over 35 mph.

“There was a lot of errors today and we committed four of them,” Schmitz said. “The field was hard as could be and it was terrible playing conditions.”

But the Panthers (17-22, 10-5 OVC) overcame the elements and will next head into a crucial three-game conference showdown with first-place Austin Peay starting with a doubleheader Saturday.

“This is a big weekend,” Schmitz said. “People need to get out of the library and root us on against Austin Peay.”