The Eastern baseball team used a three-run third inning to complete their series sweep over Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles with a 6-1 win at Coaches Stadium Friday afternoon.

The Panthers (19-17, 9-5) used the windy weather to their advantage and held the Golden Eagles (24-16, 9-6) to a single run through nine innings, despite multiple walks and hits after the sixth inning.

The Panthers would get their first break of the game in the first inning when senior second baseman Chris Worcester hit a single after Tennessee Tech senior first baseman Crater Vrabel was unable to catch the ball while jumping to catch it in the air in the first inning.

Junior designated hitter Joey Hagen hit a ball into deep right centerfield for an RBI double to score the Panthers’ first two runs of the game with junior third baseman Mike O’Connor and Worcester scoring to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead.

Senior left fielder Brett Stanley followed Hagen’s RBI double by hitting an RBI single to allow Hagen to score to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Tennessee Tech freshman shortstop Owen Lee was not able to haul in a diving catch to allow senior shortstop Jake Ferguson on base with a single. After a sacrifice bunt by sophomore outfielder Ethan Rossi, Ferguson advanced to second base and senior outfielder Quade Peters hit an RBI single to allow Ferguson to score and give the Panthers a 4-0 lead.

In the fifth inning, Stanley bunted with runners on first and second base and the Golden Eagles focused on trying to get the lead runner, junior third baseman Mike O’Connor out before he could get to third base.

O’Conor slid into third ahead of the throw beating it by a split second, and after the original call on the field was out, the Panthers challenged it and it was overturned to load the bases with nobody out.

“Right when he got the bunt, I just busted it over to third and I knew I would beat it,” O’Conor said. “I knew right away [when they reviewed the call] that I was in there safe.”

Ferguson followed this play with a single to left centerfield to allow O’Connor and Hagen to score to increase the Panthers’ lead to 6-0.

“I was just trying to hit a ball hard,” said Ferguson, “I was having fun, that was my summer ball teammate [pitching] so I was glad I was able to face them, but I was just trying to hit some hard and hope they would find gaps.”

In the sixth inning, the Panthers started off strong with senior first baseman Tyler Castro making a diving catch in foul territory off Tennessee Tech senior shortstop Owen Lee to get the second out of the inning. The ball came in and out of Castro’s glove, so the play was reviewed but did not get overturned. Eastern’s starting pitcher, left- handed graduate Tyler Kapruan, walked two  batters to load the bases and Tennessee Tech senior centerfielder Nicho Jordan walked to allow the Golden Eagles to score and make it 6-1.

In the seventh inning, Ferguson prevented a base hit from Jordan with a jumping catch and got the final out of the inning and keep the Golden Eagles from scoring another run.

“It’s one of those plays that off the bat, I really thought it was a hit too and I sort of gave it a jump and I got a little lucky,” said Ferguson. “It’s just one of those plays that you just feel good to help out the team and help out the pitcher.”

In the ninth inning, Tennessee Tech junior right fielder Jorsixt Jiminez flew out to right field for the final out of the game to give the Panthers their fourth victory in a row.

“When the wind is blowing, and it works to our favor, we’re pretty good at small balling,” said head coach Jason Anderson, “I think we are first or second in the country in sac bunts and it has taken me a while to get these guys to buy into it, but it works, and you know especially on days like this in the Midwest. We just executed really well.”

Anderson has been happy with the Panthers’ recent improvement.

“I’ve been tough on this team all year, because I’ve thought we’ve had more, but we’ve had a lot of circumstances like injuries and weather working against us,” Anderson said.  “We’ve played tons of road games and so we just needed to break free and have a weekend like this to show we can do it and that we can win a championship.”

The Panthers will prepare to face Butler on Tuesday in Indianapolis.

Drew Farrell can be reached at 581-2812 or at atfarrell@eiu.edu.