ST. LOUIS – Brett Nommensen and Ryan Lindquist both went 4-for-4 with three runs scored, leading Eastern Illinois baseball to a 12-8 victory at Saint Louis Tuesday afternoon – the team's eighth-consecutive win.

 

The Panthers (18-5) have also won 12 of their last 13 to finish the month of March with a 15-3 record.

 

Nommensen homered twice, going deep to leadoff the game for the fourth time this season. He tied his career high with four RBIs. Lindquist posted his first career four-hit effort. Zach Skidmore, meanwhile, connected a three-run homer in the sixth inning.

 

Richie Derbak worked 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to close out the game and post his fifth save of the season. Starter Tyler Kehrer (2-1) was solid in his predetermined four innings, giving up two runs on three hits while striking out six.

 

“Tyler Kehrer, that's the best I've seen him since he's been here,” EIU head coach Jim Schmitz said. “He was really sharp and handled not pitching on the weekend [because of a rain out] very well. He showed today that he's a team player. Richie was really sharp as well. It's nice to be able to extend him in games like this.”

 

Nommensen homered in each of his first two at-bats, connecting for an opposite-field shot to leadoff the game and hitting a two-run bomb to right center in the third inning. He also doubled home a run in the fourth, singled and scored in sixth and was hit by a pitch in the eighth. The senior raised his batting average to .500 and his on-base percentage to .643, the latter stat ranking first nationally.

 

Eastern scored four times in the third and sixth innings. Derbak struck out the first batter he faced to end SLU's four-run sixth and finished with four Ks total.

 

Lindquist singled and scored in each of his first three at-bats. He also connected for a run-scoring triple in the seventh, plating Curt Restko before getting thrown out at the plate. Lindquist's line drive over the center fielder's head was the third of three straight two-out hits in the frame. Those runs allowed EIU to stretch its lead from two to four after SLU (14-12) had made it a 10-8 game in the sixth. Ben Thoma and Restko doubled earlier in the inning.

 

“We haven't had a bad inning in a while, but had a key error in the sixth,” Schmitz said. “So we only gave up four earned runs today. The neat thing was after we did that we came up and got three two-out extra-base hits.

 

“Lindquist crushed the ball today. I can't say enough about the guys that aren't playing [regularly] that are still contributing. Thoma, too, he got that rally started with a double. We love stretching out the lead where the other team doesn't think it can come back. It was kind of an ugly win. But we'll take both the ugly and clean ones.”

 

Lindquist also ignited the four-run third inning with a one-out single. He scored on Nommensen's home run to right center. The Panthers then capitalized on a pair of errors by the SLU second baseman, with a base hit by Alex Gee sandwiched in the middle. Derbak plated the final run of the inning with single to right.

 

Nommensen knocked in Lindquist with a double to right center the following frame.

 

Thoma singled to open the sixth inning and scored on sacrifice fly by Jordan Tokarz after base hits by Lindquist and Nommensen. Skidmore then cleared the bases with an opposite-field homer, his fourth of the season.

 

Nommensen's multi-homer showing was his second of the year and the fourth of the season by a Panther. Eastern has hit 25 long balls during its eight-game win streak.

The Panthers open a five-game homestand Wednesday with a 3 p.m. game against Chicago State.

More Info: Contact Ben Turner, Asst. SID