Baseball game postponed

Eastern’s baseball game against Monmouth College on Tuesday was rescheduled because of rain throughout the day.

The game was supposed to be played at 2 p.m. at Coaches Stadium, but it was rescheduled for 3 p.m. on April 1 at Coaches Stadium.

Softball game rescheduled

The Eastern softball team was scheduled to play Ball State at 4 p.m. on Tuesday in Muncie, Ind., but the doubleheader was canceled because of poor weather conditions.

Eastern head coach Kim Schuette said she tried to reschedule the doubleheader against the Cardinals for today at Williams Field, but the two games will be played at Ball State starting 2 p.m. on April 22.

The Panthers open the home portion of Ohio Valley Conference play against Austin Peay with a 4 p.m. doubleheader on Friday at Williams Field.

Eastern men’s soccer signs two more

Two high school teammates have signed to play for the Eastern men’s soccer team next season.

According to the Kane County Chronicle, St. Charles North’s Mike Picinich and Austin Andrekus signed last week to play with the Panthers.

Picinich and Andrekus had previously committed to play at Western Kentucky, but the Hilltoppers soccer program was cut. The pair then accepted an offer to play at Eastern.

Andrekus and Picinich will join former teammate and Panthers’ freshman Mitch Welsch at Eastern. Welsch used a red-shirt year this past season.

St. Charles North boy’s soccer coach Eric Willson is also an Eastern alum.

Picinich scored nine goals and tallied 19 assists to give him 38 assists for his career, the most in St. Charles North history.

The North Stars (17-5-2) won four straight regional crowns during Picinich and Andrekus’ careers.

The Panthers made the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament semifinals for the second year in a row during the 2007 season.

Eastern won the Bradley Classic and UMKC Invitational team titles and finished 12-6-3 and 2-3-1 in the MVC.

Eastern has posted consecutive 10-win seasons for the first time since 1988-89 after the posted 11 wins last season.

Andrekus and Picinich are the third and fourth recruits to sign with the Panthers for next season.

Ian McCausland, the son of former Eastern wrestling coach Ralph McCausland, will join Andrekus and Picinich.

McCausland was an Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association All-State selection and finished fifth on Charleston High School’s career list with 50 goals, including 24 this past season to go with 10 assists. He led his team in both categories, as the Trojans finished 13-7-3 in 2007. McCausland was a midfielder for Charleston.

Quincy Notre Dame senior Grey Genenbacher will also play with Eastern men’s soccer next season.

Genenbacher finished his senior season with 18 goals and was an All-State Selection the past two seasons.

Former Eastern assistant football coach hired

Former Eastern offensive line coach Bill Legg accepted the position of offensive coordinator at Florida International on March 11.

Legg was the offensive line coach at Eastern from 1989-93. He was most recently the co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Purdue.

Legg was with the Boilermakers for five seasons. Legg previously coached at Marshall, West Virginia, Virginia Military Institute and West Virginia Tech.

Kevin Murphy can be reached at 581-7944 or at kjmurphy@eiu.edu.