The Eastern Illinois baseball team had an opportunity to make a statement with a win over an SEC opponent as it did a year ago, but Missouri was just too good in a 10-1 victory.

The Panthers could not get much of anything on offense as the Tigers struck Eastern’s starter for seven runs in the first four innings.

Logan Beaman was on the mound for the Panthers and it was a short-lived outing as he gave up five earned runs in just 2.2 innings pitched.

The Eastern bullpen did not do much to help though as they allowed four more runs the rest of the way as the struggles continue for the pitching staff.

Alex Starcevich had arguably the most impressive performance out of the bullpen as he pitched two innings of scoreless ball while notching three strikeouts.

Mizzou was supposed to offer a difficult matchup as they came in ranked 26th in the country, but the Panthers still had a chance going in.

But the offense’s struggles proved to be too much early on as the only run of the game came in the fourth inning and even that one was unearned.

Getting the bat on the ball is something head coach Jason Anderson said the team was continuing to work on, but 12 strikeouts at the plate set the team back from that against Missouri.

Some of Eastern’s best hitters were controlled as Joe Duncan was hitless, and the team notched just four hits total on the night.

Missouri on the other hand had just about all it wanted and more at the plate as they earned 15 hits.

The most frustrating part for the Panthers could be the amount of runs they allowed with two outs though as the Tigers scored five of their ten runs in those situations.

Missouri also batted an impressive .467 with two outs and .350 with runners on base.

Eastern offered the exact opposite leaving seven runners on base and batting just .125 with runners in scoring position.

The Tigers just seemed to reach base early and often and it was too costly for the Panthers young staff to overcome.

The Panthers also struggled to make any solid contact as they were forced into hitting 10 ground balls which just about only led to putouts.

Eastern now has the chance to rebound from the loss with a three-game weekend series against Samford.

Maher Kawash can be reached at 581-2812 or mwkawash@eiu.edu