CHAMPAIGN, Ill. –
Zach Skidmore blasted a two-out, two-run homer in the eighth inning and three Eastern Illinois baseball pitchers limited Illinois to five hits in the 29th-ranked Panthers' 5-1 win at Illinois Field Tuesday evening.
The victory was EIU's third in the last four years against the Fighting Illini (21-9), but first in Champaign since 1996. Eastern (25-6) has won 15 of its last 16 games dating back to March 21.
Skidmore connected for his seventh home run of the season with
Jordan Tokarz on first base and the game tied at one. He hit out the first pitch he saw from UI reliever Mike Stankiewicz (0-1).
Jake Samuels kept the inning alive with a base hit and scored from first base on
Jordan Kreke's subsequent double off the fence in right field.
Richie Derbak (3-2) earned the victory with three innings of scoreless relief. He retired five consecutive batters at one juncture and did not issue a walk.
Eastern starter
Brian Morrell worked five innings of two-hit ball. The lone run he gave up scored on a wild pitch with the bases loaded and two outs in the second inning. Beginning with the batter at the plate at the time IU's lone run scored, Morrell set down the next eight Illini hitters in order.
“It was a cold, windy, freezing game, so we knew it would probably be low scoring,” EIU head coach
Jim Schmitz said. “About the third inning, I just told the team 'hey it's going to be this kind of game and we've got to take advantage of situations,' which we didn't early on with two base-running mistakes. They only made two bad pitches the whole game, we didn't really make any. We've been scoring a lot of runs and the pitching staff isn't getting as much credit as it can. It's easy to score when you know you are not having to go out and get that many [runs]. Great job by our pitching staff and timely hitting, and those are things we've been doing all year.”
“That's the way it is with this team,” Skidmore said. “If the hitting is down, the pitching's on. If the pitching's not on, the hitters pick the pitchers up. It's the best team I've ever played on, everybody picks everybody other up. It's no worries if we're not hitting right away, the pitchers will be there.”
Tyler Kehrer pitched the sixth inning for EIU, stranding runners on first and second by striking out Matt Dittman, the reigning Big Ten Conference Player of the Week.
The Panthers tied the game in the top of the third.
Curt Restko was hit by a pitch to begin the inning. He was put in motion with
Zach Borenstein at the plate, and the freshman executed the hit-and-run perfectly, singling through the vacated left side. Restko then alertly took third base on a pitch in the dirt. Tokarz followed with a ground ball to shortstop that plated Restko. However, Borenstein was thrown out at third.
Tokarz also knocked in a key insurance run in the top of the ninth with a sacrifice fly to left.
Ryan Lindquist scampered home from the third after reaching base on a hit by pitch. A throwing error by IU reliever John Anderson on a sacrifice bunt by Restko setup the insurance-run opportunity.
Eastern out hit Illinois, 9-5. Six of EIU's nine hits came with two outs. All five knocks the Illini recorded were singles.
The Panthers open a 10-game homestand Wednesday with a 3 p.m. contest against Blackburn College.
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Ben Turner, Asst. SID
