It was a good thing there were no planes flying over Coaches Stadium Wednesday, because the Eastern baseball team would have had aerial target practice.

The Panthers hit seven home runs as they extended their winning streak to 12 games in a 25-7 win against Indiana State.

“We were having a little trouble with the lefty early on, but we stayed patient and hit the ball well,” said Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz.

He said the bats continued to do well and the Panthers got a huge boost from their relief pitching.

After two scoreless innings, Indiana State (17-11) struck first with two runs in the third inning after red-shirt freshman Mike Martin walked two with the bases loaded.

From that point on, it was all Panthers (22-5).

Eastern scored four runs in the top half of the third as senior second baseman Jordan Tokarz put Eastern on the board with an RBI groundout and senior third baseman Zach Skidmore hit a three-run home run to give Eastern a 4-2 lead.

In the fourth, Eastern extended its lead as red-shirt freshman designated hitter Ben Thoma hit the Panthers’ second home run and freshman catcher Gerik Wallsten had an RBI single to extend the lead to 6-2. After scoring two runs in the fourth, Eastern scored five more in the fifth on a two-run home run by junior first baseman Alex Gee and a three-run bomb by senior right fielder Ryan Lindquist. In the sixth and seventh innings, Eastern combined for 14 runs with senior shortstop Jordan Kreke and Thoma hitting back-to-back home runs in the sixth and junior first baseman Jake Samuels hitting a three-run home run in the seventh.

Schmitz said although the hitting was impressive, one of the most important moments of the game came in the third inning.

The Panthers were in a jam with the bases loaded having already allowed two runs. Senior right-hander Brian Morrell (3-1) came in to relieve red-shirt freshman Mike Martin with two outs and the bases loaded.

Morrell struck out Indiana State senior catcher Bronco Lafrenz and Schmitz said that gave the team confidence.

Morrell went 2 1/3 innings, allowing no runs with one hit, two walks and two strikeouts.

Freshman pitcher Matt Miller and Kreke combined the next three innings allowing one run, four hits and four strikeouts with only one walk.

The Panthers lost to Indiana State on March 10 at Indiana State 10-9.

Junior left fielder Restko said it felt great to beat them because he entered the game against them 1-for-5 in his career.

“We were talking before the game, and we knew we couldn’t let these guys stick around because they always find a way to come back,” Restko said. “We just went out there today, hit the ball well and showed them who was the better team.”

Kreke said they knew that Indiana State would be coming after them, but Eastern’s hitters responded.

“We have done a great job hitting lately and it continued today,” Kreke said.

Kreke said that they can take a lot out of this game and hopefully they can take this momentum from the plate to the Ohio Valley Conference games this weekend.

All nine of Eastern’s starters recorded at least one hit in the game, with six having multiple hit outings.

Skidmore finished two for five with two homeruns, five RBIs and four runs scored.

Kevin Mann (0-1) got the loss for Indiana State allowing three runs in 2 1/3 innings.

Eastern’s next game will be against Tennessee Martin 1 p.m. Friday in Martin, Tenn.

Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7944 or at dscusack@eiu.edu.

Sophomore Matt Miller pitches against Indiana State on Wednesday afternoon at Coaches Stadium. (Audrey Sawyer/The Daily Eastern News)

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