With his team down 5-0 in the first inning, EIU’s redshirt sophomore utility player Eli Hill walked up to the plate with the bases loaded. 

He would get a hold of the fourth pitch he saw and send it over the left field wall, cutting the Northern Illinois lead to one. 

“I was just trying to hit a line drive over the second baseman’s head. He [NIU junior right-handed pitcher Gavin Micklinghoff] threw me four sliders and I just caught the last one out front,” Hill said.  

This grand slam officially marked the start of a high-scoring, back-and-forth affair that ended in Eastern losing 15-14 on Tuesday at Coaches Stadium. 

“Once you get hit for five runs in the first inning, you’ve got to come back,” junior infielder Mike O’Conor said. “Especially early, you’ve got to keep the energy up because there is a lot of ball game left to play. But when it’s back and forth like that, you can’t be riding the rollercoaster as we say,” 

NIU (8-13, 1-8) jumped out to another big lead in the sixth by having another five-run inning. 

Sophomore outfielder Charlie Parcell and senior outfielder Gavin Baldwin started the scoring by each bringing in a runner on a single. But the damage wouldn’t stop there. Senior utility player Andrew Smart hit a three-run home run to extend the Huskies’ lead to six. 

However, just like in the first inning, Eastern (9-13, 2-1) would answer again with four runs, cutting their deficit to two going into the seventh. 

Assistant coach Mike Pugliese said that a big part of team baseball is not giving up and continuing to fight. 

Despite it being close at the end of each inning all game, The Panthers wouldn’t hold a lead until the eighth inning. 

Staring at a two-run deficit with only five outs left for the Panthers, Mike O’Conor stepped up to the plate with two runners on. He would send the ball over the center field wall to give Eastern the 14-13 lead.
The score would stay at 14-13 with the Panthers up heading into the ninth inning. 

Eastern right-handed pitcher Bryce Riggs was sent out in the ninth inning to try to pick up the save. After a strikeout, Parcell singled and junior catcher Logan Gregorio would move them both into scoring position with a double. Baldwin then took the lead back for NIU with a 2-RBI single up the middle that brought in both runners. 

Sophomore right-handed pitcher Alex Day would go back out there after coming in during the eighth. After an out, Day put the next two runners on, and the Huskies made a pitching change.  

Senior right-handed pitcher Conner Lutes would come out to attempt the save. He got the first batter he faced to pop-out, then he walked the next. 

Up to the plate stepped O’Conor with bases loaded. Lutes stunned him with a 2-2 pitch painted on the inside part of the strike zone for a called strike three to end the game.  

“We can score when we are behind,” head coach Jason Anderson said. “When guys are attacking us and are just trying not to walk us, we can score then. But when it’s tight, when the game is on the line, when it’s man against man, that is when we have to be better and that’s what we struggle with the majority of the year.” 

Day got credit for the win, and Riggs would claim the loss. 

The teams combined for 14 pitchers used.  

“I feel very indifferent to [the team’s performance in the game],” Anderson said. “Offensively, we needed a day like today, where we came out and put up 14 runs. Give up five early, come right back, tie it. Give up a bunch of runs, come back, tie it. So I feel really good about the offense. We made some big defensive mistakes, but our pitchers did not do well today.” 

Eastern gave up two unearned runs and had the same number of earned runs as the Huskies at 13, which is the most earned runs allowed by Eastern all season. 

The Panthers will return to Ohio Valley Conference play Friday, traveling to play Morehead State. First pitch is set for 5 p.m.