The Eastern baseball team defeated Butler (22-13) 10-6 on Tuesday.

The Panther bats once again continued to hit with power. The Panthers (9-27) had four home runs from junior Logan Beaman, redshirt junior Frankie Perrone, and two came from junior Dougie Parks.

Eastern gave up four runs in the bottom of the first inning with Gehrig Parker knocking two with a double. Alex Horowitz added to the lead with another two RBI double to make the lead 4-0.

In the top-half of the second, the first of two home runs came from Parks to narrow the lead 4-1.

The Bulldogs added another insurance run in the fourth on a Chris Maranto home run. But the following inning, the Panthers bats started to kick into gear. The Bulldogs changed pitchers and got two quick outs. Junior Hunter Beetley singled and scored off of a triple from junior Andrew Curran in which Curran scored on a throwing error to cut the lead 5-3.

Junior Dustin Wilson relieved senior Alex Cain in the fifth inning and gave up no hits through three innings and had four strikeouts. Wilson got the win and is now 2-4 on the season. Cain had six hits in four innings of work and gave up five runs and had only one strikeout.

In the top of the sixth, Beaman walked and Parks belted his second home run on the night to tie the game at five. Those two home runs were Parks’ only hits in five at bats and now has seven on the year. Junior Matt Albert walked and advanced to third on a double from redshirt sophomore Josh Turnock. Albert scored on a sacrifice from Perrone to take a 6-5 lead.

Curran started the top of the seventh with a double and scored on a wild pitch to extend the lead by two. The next inning, Perrone hit a solo home run to left for his sixth home run on the year. In the bottom-half of the eighth, Parker hit a home run to cut the lead to two.

In the top of the ninth the Panthers added extra insurance runs. Sophomore Jimmy Govern walked and then Beaman hit his first home run on the season which gave the Panthers a 10-6 lead. The Panthers did not look back and ended up with the win.

Junior Michael Starcevich came in to close out the game. He went two innings giving up one run on one hit and had four strike outs and earned his third save on the year.

Luke Johnson took the loss for the Bulldogs. He went 2/3’s of an inning and gave up three runs on two hits and walked two batters.

The Panthers next game is Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Coaches Stadium and they’ll have a weekend series against Ohio Valley Conference opponent Eastern Kentucky.

Tyler McCluskey can be reached at 581-2812  or at trmccluskey@eiu.edu