Eastern baseball won back-to-back games this weekend for the first time all season, defeating the Memphis Tigers 3-1 on Friday and 4-3 Saturday before dropping the final game of their Southern Spring Swing by a score of 7-11.

Friday’s game started well for the Panthers, as junior Zach Borenstein scored to give them a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly by red-shirt junior TJ McManus.

The Tigers then tied the game at one before the Panthers pushed two more runs across in the top of the fifth with a sacrifice fly by senior middle infielder Cam Strang and a McManus run-scoring single.

The score would remain 3-1 Panthers for the rest of the game, as red-shirt junior pitcher Mike Hoekstra pitched a complete game to pick up his second win of the season.

Hoekstra struck out five Tigers while walking none over his nine innings. Head coach Jim Schmitz said he was impressed and pleased by Hoekstra’s performance.

The win on Friday snapped a five-game losing streak for the Panthers, dating back two weeks to their double-header in Evansville, Ind.

Following Friday’s win, the Panthers showed resiliency in a come-from-behind win on Saturday as they were down early and staved off a ninth-inning rally to beat Memphis 4-3.

The Panthers were behind early in Saturday’s contest as the Tigers as Memphis scored two runs in the third inning to take a two-run lead.

The Panthers came back to tie the score in the next half-inning, though, as red-shirt junior outfielder Ben Thoma hit a two-run home-run over the left field wall to even the score. Thoma’s shot was the first Panther home run of the season.

The Panthers then broke the 2-2 tie in the fifth inning with a Cam Strang RBI single. Eastern expanded the lead in the seventh inning as freshman catcher Jacob Reese drove in a run with a double.

Memphis closed the gap to 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth before junior lefty Darin Worman came in to record the last out and seal Eastern’s first back-to-back victories of the year.

Freshman right-hander Luke Bushur took the win on the mound for Eastern, working six innings and striking out four Tigers while only allowing the two runs against. Senior right-hander Brent McNeil worked 2.2 innings in relief of Bushur, striking out two while allowing one run.

Sunday’s game started off rough for the Panthers, as Memphis scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning and the Panthers never lead the game. The Tigers would go on to take the third and final meeting between the teams by a score of 7-11.

The game was tied at four in the top of the fourth inning by a three-run Eastern rally before Memphis would take the lead for good in the fifth. The Panthers had a late rally in the ninth keyed by a pair of doubles from Borenstein and McManus before Thoma truck out swinging to end the game.

The Panthers finished their spring break road trip with a record of 2-5 as they were swept by the Alabama Crimson Tide last weekend and lost to Mississippi State Tuesday before the series with Memphis. The Panthers will play their home opener at Coaches Stadium against Chicago State at 2 p.m. Tuesday. The Panthers open their conference schedule at home against Eastern Kentucky this weekend with a double header set to begin at 1 p.m.

Brad Kupiec can be reached at 581-7944 or bmkupiec@eiu.edu.

Kiran Padmaraju, professor of early childhood, elementary and middle level education, puts together a display Monday for the Women and the Environment series that will take place throughout March, which is Women’s History Month. (Kimberly Foster

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