Head Panther baseball Coach Jim Schmitz said even though he was disappointed with his team’s performance last weekend, he gives full credit to the Central Arkansas team they faced.

Schmitz said he thought Eastern and UCA were evenly matched over the weekend, but the Bears found ways to win and made great plays on defense.

“(When there are) two evenly matched teams in games, to me, a good team finds ways to win,” said Schmitz. “That’s such a cliché, but that’s what they do, if it’s a clutch hit or a clutch double play or whatever.”

Coach Schmitz said to say he was disappointed about the weekend would be an understatement.

“Disappointed is a mild way of putting it,” said Schmitz. “I thought we could have two wins down there (in Arkansas). You’ve just got to play better and we didn’t play better.”

Pitching

Coach Schmitz said the bullpen has been a definite bright spot for his team so far this season. He pointed out several pitchers in particular who pitched well in relief, but commented on junior left-hander Darin Worman in particular as being a pleasant surprise out of the bullpen.

Worman pitched 1.2 scoreless innings at Central Arkansas over two appearances, striking out one and walking one in that span.

Coach Schmitz said he credits his bullpen staff, along with assistant coach Skylar Meade, for keeping some of the earlier games from getting out of hand, score-wise.

“The relievers have done a great job. Skylar Meade, the pitching coach, is making moves at the right times, not allowing it to get out of hand,” said Schmitz. “We’re just not making the plays defensively when we have to, not getting the clutch hits when we have to, so you’re going to have to do those things somewhere this year.”

Offense beginning to move forward

The Panthers had some more success offensively, and Coach Schmitz said he thinks they’re moving in the right direction and starting to pick up a few more extra-base hits.

“I think we swung the bats well,” said Schmitz. “(Outfielder) Ben Thoma had another double, (first-baseman) T.J. McManus had a double, (infielder) Jake Samuels is hitting the ball with some authority, really getting some big base hits. Our main guy, Zach Borenstein is not getting extra base hits, so that’s going to come. We at least feel we have four guys in the lineup that are going to do well.”

Around the OVC

Elsewhere in Ohio Valley Conference action last weekend, Jacksonville State took to the road and swept Middle Tennessee by scores of 10-2, 9-6 and 12-9.

Southeast Missouri State hosted Ball State, and won two out of three by scores of 12-7, 2-6 and 22-8.

Tennessee Tech hosted Eastern Michigan and lost two out of three, finishing with final scores of 7-1, 1-5 and 8-9.

Southern Illinois- Edwardsville lost two out of three games at Oral Roberts, as they ended up with scores of 5-13, 3-6 and 6-2.

Eastern Kentucky won two out of three against Penn State, as they lost 1-7 before rebounding to win the next two by scores of 7-5 and 7-6.

Morehead State played host to Purdue, losing three games out of four. The Eagles’ match-ups with the Boilermakers concluded with scores of 8-11, 10-9, 1-18 and 9-17 in a pair of double headers Saturday and Sunday.

Tennessee-Martin played host to Indiana State, with final scores of 3-11, 7-10 and 9-8.

Murray State hosted Bowling Green State University and won two out of three, ending with scores of 6-3, 4-3 and 2-4.

Austin Peay only played one game, postponed from Friday to Saturday, as they beat Illinois State 5-4. Austin Peay’s scheduled game with Milwaukee on Sunday was cancelled.

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

Sophomore second baseman Zach Borenstein had four hits, one run and two RBIs during the game against Illinois College April 6, 2010 at Coaches Stadium. (File Photo\The Daily Eastern News)

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