Troubles continued as rival Eastern Kentucky swept the Eastern baseball team this weekend in Richmond, Ky.

The sweep was the first time that head coach Jim Schmitz’s crew lost three-straight games to an Ohio Valley Conference opponent since 2008, when the Panthers (4-18, 0-3 OVC) bowed out to Samford.

Sunday’s game had Eastern fall behind 3-0 as junior pitcher Brent McNeil surrendered three runs to the Colonels (11-11, 3-0 OVC).

Then, senior left fielder Curt Restko jacked a game-tying solo homer in the seventh, tying the game 4-4.

The lead did not hold as freshman pitcher Troy Barton (0-2) loaded the bases and gave up consecutive singles as Eastern trailed 7-4.

In the ninth, junior shortstop Cam Strang and freshman right fielder Nick Priessman had RBIs but Colonels’ junior closer Ryne Purcell got his sixth save by getting sophomore catcher Gerik Wallsten to ground out for a 7-6 failure.

“Today, there was not a clutch pitch when we needed it,” Schmitz said. “The (doubleheader’s) first game was no clutch hitting, and the second was no clutch fielding.”

And Schmitz said he was not happy with the team performance in the doubleheader either.

The first game saw junior pitcher Mike Recchia have seven scoreless innings and junior closer Matt Miller (0-6) throw a season high 4.2 innings.

However, Miller gave up the game-losing single to junior outfielder Ryan Faidley to lose 1-0 in twelve innings.

Game two had the Panthers jump to a 2-0 advantage but sophomore pitcher Mike Hoekstra (1-1) relinquished six runs in a 6-3 defeat.

The coach said Eastern has not had enough clutch pitching, hitting or defense this season. Having these traits, he said, makes a team great.

“We find a way to lose and we have to stop at a point,” Schmitz said. “It says exactly what we’ve been doing all this year. Little things in baseball affect games. We are shooting ourselves in the foot every way.”

The Panthers will face Saint Louis (13-12) at 3 p.m. in St. Louis, Mo.

Bob Bajek can be reached at 581-7944 or rtbajek@eiu.edu

Sophomore Mike Hoekstra pitches against Chicago State Tuesday afternoon at Coaches Stadium. (Audrey Sawyer/The Daily Eastern News)

(more…)