Brandon Murphy kept his infielders busy Tuesday against Millikin.

The senior pitcher from Charleston made his first appearance since March 31 and pitched five innings of two-hit ball.

Murphy didn’t allow a run and 12 of his 15 outs came by groundballs.

The rust Murphy might have shown wasn’t apparent.

Murphy, Eastern’s former No. 1 starting pitcher, helped lead the Panthers to a 12-1 win against the Big Blue.

Murphy didn’t allow a hit until there were two outs in the fourth inning, when Millikin catcher George Fear flared a single into right field.

Murphy allowed a single down the first-base line in the fifth inning, but got out of the inning with a groundball to third baseman Ryan Campbell.

Murphy wasn’t blowing away hitters with his fastball, or befuddling hitters with his breaking ball.

Freshman catcher Matt Moore said it was just straight fastballs and his location played a factor.

“We were just throwing fastballs off the plate and they were rolling over and getting our infielders some work,” Murphy said. “We just stuck with that. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. They couldn’t hit it and I just kept throwing it.”

Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz said the groundballs were a big key in the game.

“He had the right action on the ball, with a little sink on the end,” Schmitz said. “He’s one of our better arms. We just wanted to give him some confidence today, get him back into it.”

Murphy was helped out by his offense, which gave him a 4-0 lead after three innings. Eastern blew open the game in the fourth, scoring six runs on only three hits. Millkin reliever Matt Nissen struggled to find the strike zone, not retiring a batter, giving up three hits and walking four. By the time the Big Blue had gotten out of the inning, they trailed 10-0.

Moore added a solo home run over the left field fence in the fifth inning to up the Panthers’ lead to 11-0. It was Moore’s first home run in his Eastern career.

“It was just a fastball up, got my hands up and extended through,” Moore said. “I was on a big drought and just to unload like that, was pretty cool.”

Freshmen catcher Matthew Moore celebrates with teammate Mike Astrouski after hitting a homerun vs. Miliken University Tuesday afternoon. (Amir Prellberg/The Daily Eastern News)

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