Freshman Tyler Kehrer started his first collegiate game on Saturday against in-state foe Chicago State at the Evansville Tournament.

The 6-foot-3 lefty from New Baden pitched four shutout innings, gave up only two hits and walked two while he only struck out three.

Brian Morrell, a 6-foot-7 right-hander from Quincy, relieved Kehrer. The sophomore continued the dominance and gave up one hit in two innings, struck out one and walked none.

The game was called after six innings due to the weather.

The Panthers (2-1) also started two freshman position players: first baseman Richie Derbeck and catcher Kory Peppenhorst.

Derbeck, who batted eighth, is batting .444 with two runs and two RBIs in three games. More importantly, he made zero errors after switching from shortstop, the position he played at Trenton-Wesclin High School.

Peppenhorst caught the games against Chicago State and Evansville. He is hitting .333 with 3 RBIs from the sixth spot in the lineup.

Huber performs well under pressure

Senior Erik Huber was honored by Baseball America when he was named preseason Ohio Valley Conference player of the year. The left fielder said he wanted to make sure his play this season earned him the same award in the postseason.

While hitting just .222, Huber had four runs and four walks in the first three games of the season and made the most of his eight times on base.

Huber stole three bases on three attempts and was driven in four times, including the final run against No. 25 Evansville. It locked up an 8-6 victory for the Panthers.

Few struggles in opening weekend

The Panthers’ numbers one and two hitters could not replicate the success of their teammates lower in the order in their first weekend of play and first time playing outdoors.

Lead-off man Brett Nommenson went hitless in 12 at-bats while No. 2 hitter Jordan Kreke had just one hit in 12 at-bats while leading the team with four strikeouts. Each collected two walks, a stolen base and a run.

Reliever Mike Manns and closer Chris Vaculik also had a rough opening weekend. Vaculik started the season by taking the loss in Eastern 4-3 defeat against Toledo but recovered and recorded his first save this year on Sunday against Evansville.

Head coach Jim Schmitz pointed before the season that Manns was having difficulty with his location.

“Manns has been inconsistent,” Schmitz said. “He needs to throw more strikes, that has been his history. He’s just not locating right now.”

Manns allowed two runs in one inning against Evansville.

Eastern’s Iron man

Senior Ryan Campbell has been Eastern’s iron man in his first three years in Charleston.

The third baseman has led the Panthers in at-bats the first three seasons of his career. Campbell stepped up to the plate 225 times his freshman year and 215 times in both his sophomore and junior seasons.

So far this season, Campbell is tied for last on the team with only seven official plate appearances, but that is because he leads the team with five walks. His patience as the No. 5 hitter has put more pressure on opposing pitchers to be effective late in the line-up, which has been unsuccessful thus far with the stellar opening weekend from Casey Spears.

Spears, a senior right fielder from Nokomis, leads the team after three games with a .500 batting average.

Senior infielder Ryan Campbell makes a play during practice at O’Brien stadium on Tuesday evening. (Jay Grabiec/The Daily Eastern News)

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