Eastern’s baseball team clinched a berth in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament even though they lost two of their three games at Eastern Kentucky this past weekend.

The Panthers took the first game of the series by a score of 11-4. Eastern consistently had people on base as they took seven walks to go along with their 16 hits. This led to scoring in six of the nine innings, highlighted by a four-run sixth.

Mike Budde got the victory for the Panthers as he came on in the third inning and put up 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.

“Mike came in game one and pitched spectacular,” Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz said.

Budde left the game after a batted ball struck him in the wrist. X-rays were negative, yet his availability for the team’s upcoming games is still uncertain.

EKU won game two of the doubleheader 2-1. Eastern only had two hits, with a solo home run by Erik Huber in the seventh inning accounting for the Panthers’ only run. Kenny Firlit pitched well for Eastern but took the loss. Firlit gave up two earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.

The Panthers put up six runs in a losing effort Sunday as EKU won the rubber match by a score of 8-6. The Colonels’ scored in each of the first five innings, yet Eastern kept pace as the score was 6-6 in the top of the fifth. Eastern managed only one hit off of EKU’s relievers, however, and when the Colonels’ plated two runs in the bottom of the fifth it proved to be the difference.

The Panthers are happy to have clinched a spot in the OVC tourney as it shows improvement over last year when they failed to qualify. Still, this weekend was a disappointment.

“At this time of year we’re not happy with one good game out of three,” Schmitz said.

The Panthers overall record now stands at 28-21 and a conference record of 14-10.

Eastern plays their final non-conference game of the season Tuesday when they travel to Bradley to play the Braves. Erik Huber gets the start on the mound for Eastern. The Panthers defeated Bradley 6-2 earlier this year at the Florida All-Star Challenge on March 16.