In the first game against Tennessee Tech, the Eastern baseball team competed through six innings before the Golden Eagles pulled away with a 9-3 victory.

The Panthers were down 3-2 going into the 7^th inning, when the Golden Eagles’ offense came to life and hit two home runs. Senior third baseman Trevor Putzig hit a two-run homer over the left field fence, just enough to not go foul and scoring junior centerfielder Alex Junior.

Following the homer, two more Golden Eagles reached base, causing freshman pitcher Blake Malatestinic to relieve sophomore Jack Wolfe. Immediately after, senior shortstop David Garza launched the ball over the centerfield wall for a three-run blast, making the score 8-3.

Before Garza hit the three-run homer, Wolfe walked senior first baseman Chase Chambers on four straight pitches. The Panthers also ended the game with two errors, putting the team in position to not only lose to their opponent, but beating themselves.

“We made a couple mistakes in one inning and they capitalized,” assistant coach Blake Beemer said. “If we can capitalize on their mistakes, we will be in the same situation and play better baseball.”

Prior to the inning, the Panthers started to gain momentum after their two-run sixth inning, beginning with a leadoff infield single from junior catcher Josh Turnock. After senior designated hitter Dougie Parks walked, the two-out rally began.

Junior third baseman Jimmy Huber hit a line drive single down the right field line, scoring Turnock and advancing Parks to third base. The two-out RBI was Huber’s 10th on the year, putting him as the fourth Panther to have double digit RBI’s.

After a mound visit from the Tennessee Tech head coach Matt Bragga, junior second baseman Jimmy Govern connected on the fat part of the barrel, sending a line drive single to leftfield and scoring Parks.

Once the inning came to an end, no other Panthers crossed home plate for the rest of the game. For the Golden Eagles, they scored once more in the top of the ninth inning when freshman pitcher Will Klein walked Putzig, scoring their ninth and final run.

Despite the loss, there were positives to take away from Friday’s game. Due to Tennessee Tech’s first place offense in the OVC, junior starting pitcher Tyler Jones performed well Friday as he threw six innings, allowing three runs and six hits on 100 pitches.

However, to improve and win the next two games in the series, the Panthers will need to improve in all aspects of the game. More specifically, Beemer emphasized after the game that timely hitting will push the team to the next level.

“It’s been a point of note the last few weeks,” Beemer said. “We have been able to get guys on base and just haven’t been able to drive them in. I think we need that big hit and once we get that big hit, hopefully it rolls and we score a couple runs.”

The second game of the series will start at 11 a.m. Saturday. If the ran stays dormant, the third game of the series will be played after and if it rains, the game will be pushed back to Easter Sunday.

Adam Shay can be reached at 581-2812 or acshay@eiu.edu