During Wednesday’s pre-game batting practice, Indiana State hitters hit home run after home run. With the wind blowing out, it seemed like a bad day for Eastern to audition its No. 3 starter.

But Kenny Firlit and six other pitchers shut down Indiana State’s offense in a 6-1 victory at Coaches Stadium.

Mike Manns was the latest player to be the No. 3 starter. He failed to get out of the second inning in his two starts.

Firlit was sharp from the beginning, going two innings while allowing one unearned run and striking out two.

“He made great pitches when he had to,” Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz said. “If he can give us five, six innings with as good a fastball he has, we’ll be in good shape.”

Prior to his start against the Sycamores, Firlit had been working out of the bullpen. He said he would prefer to keep the starting role, but is comfortable wherever he pitches.

“Hopefully, I can get some more starts in,” Firlit said. “I’m not quite used to the starting role, but I’m sure I’ll take to it.”

The Panthers were aided by some costly Indiana State errors. The Sycamores had five errors in the game, leading to four unearned Panthers’ runs.

“Those five errors were . shameful,” Indiana State coach Bob Warn said.

The Panthers (16-13) broke open the game in the bottom of the seventh inning when designated hitter Keiji Szalo lined a leadoff double to the gap in left field.

Adam Varassi then reached on an error, scoring pinch runner Brandon Murphy from third to put Eastern up 3-1. Two batters later with the bases loaded, Erik Huber hit a seeing-eye, two-run single up the middle to put Eastern in control with a 5-1 lead.

“That was a perfect swing in that situation,” Schmitz said. “He wasn’t trying to do too much and the results showed. They made some boo-boos, but we did some nice things to make them pay for it.”

The rest of the bullpen finished up what Firlit started. Freshman Jake Wade (2-0) relieved Firlit in the third, pitching two shutout innings with four strikeouts.

“He made some big pitches when he had to,” Schmitz said. “We have confidence in him in long relief.”

Overall, the Panthers’ bullpen pitched seven innings, allowing three hits and no runs.

With the victory, Eastern has won eight of its last 10 games with a huge three-game lineup this weekend against Jacksonville State.

“We’ve got the momentum going,” Firlit said. “It sets us up for a big series this weekend.”