The Eastern baseball team opens up a seven-game homestand at Coaches Stadium Tuesday against the

 University of Illinois.

Eastern is coming off its first win of the season Saturday at Tennessee Tech in which it won 14-2.

Panther red-shirt junior pitcher Matt Wivinis threw 7 2/3 innings and let up two unearned runs for Eastern.

Illinois is coming off a 3-game sweep of the Northwestern Wildcats in Evanston. The Fighting Illini are ranked No. 18 in the National College Baseball Writers Association Top 25 poll.

Eastern coach Jimmy Schmitz said Illinois is a team that puts a lot of pressure on the other teams’ defense in terms of stealing.

“They have a lot of guys that run with pretty good speed,” he said. “Pitching is what really stands out. Strikeouts to walks are really well. Pitching is what has taken them a long way.”

Illinois is fourth in the Big Ten with 40 stolen bases and has attempted 53 this season.

Senior Will Krug leads the Illini in stolen bases with nine in 11 attempts on the season.  Red-shirt sophomore Adam Walton is 8-for-10 in stolen bases this season.

Two Illini pitchers have earned run averages under one. Junior Kevin Duchene has started six games this season for Illinois and has a 0.64 ERA with a 4-1 record.

Junior Tyler Jay has appeared in 17 games this season and has an ERA of 0.84. He has pitched 23 innings and has struck out 36 batters.

Schmitz plans to start red-shirt senior Christian Slazinik in Tuesday’s game against Illinois.

Slazinik, on the season, is 0-4 with a 12.23 ERA.

Schmitz said Slazinik has been pitching well as of late, and he is trying to find that third arm for the weekend.

Slazinik has allowed four runs over 6 2/3 innings pitched in the last three games.

“He competed,” Schmitz said. “He was aggressive. I really liked how he’s pitched. That is how he has done it before. I think he is looking at it is that it is his time to just say here it is and stop worrying about all of the other stuff.”

The Panthers have been one of the top hitting teams in the Ohio Valley Conference as of late.

Eastern has scored 40 runs over its past four games, which include the 3-game series at Tennessee Tech and a mid-week against Illinois State

About two weeks ago Schmitz made the move to put freshmen Joe Duncan and Cale Hennemann as the top two hitters in the lineup.

Duncan is hitting .411 in his last seven games and Schmitz said he likes the way Duncan has played as of late.

“He can run,” he said. “He has been one of the better runners we have had here. His job is to get on base. His job is to hit the ground ball. I like that he kind of feels comfortable with his role.”

The Panthers and Fighting Illini will get underway at 3 p.m. at Coaches Stadium Tuesday.

Bob Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or rjreynolds@eiu.edu