CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois baseball hit a season-high seven home runs in Wednesday's 25-7 victory against Indiana State at Coaches Stadium, extending the nation's longest active win streak to 12 consecutive games.

The 27th-ranked Panthers (22-5) also won for the 16th time in their last 17 games and established a new program record for the longest win streak in the Ohio Valley Conference era (1997-present). In the process, EIU avenged one of its five losses of the season (March 10 in Terre Haute) against an Indiana State (17-11) team that had won five of its last six games.

Ben Thoma posted his first career multi-homer effort. Also going deep was Zach Skidmore, Alex Gee, Ryan Lindquist, Jordan Kreke and Jake Samuels. Kreke and Thoma hit back-to-back jacks in the sixth inning.

Eastern scored 20-plus runs for the third time during its current win streak. The Panthers recorded multiple runs in five straight innings from the third through the seventh.

Brian Morrell (3-1) pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to earn the victory. He struck out the first two batters he faced, leaving the bases loaded in the third inning with a big two-out K. Eastern took the lead for good with a four-run rally in the bottom half of the frame.

 

Mike Recchia struck out three and gave up a lone single in his predetermined two innings, lowering his Ohio Valley Conference-best ERA to 0.88. Matt Miller worked two innings of one-run relief and Kreke pitched a 1-2-3 eighth.

 

“Offensively it was pretty impressive,” EIU head coach Jim Schmitz said. “But I also want to say, Morrell coming in with the bases loaded and Recchia leaving runners on was just as important. We talk about how it's not a big deal if no runs score. I don't think we would have scored that many runs if all of sudden they hit a double or home run in that situation. Morrell got us a big out in that situation. He did a great job to get us over the hump and mentally more confident.

 

“Offensively, we're continuing hitting and doing a great job. The lefty (ISU starter Kevin Mann) had us for a while, but we stayed patient with him and stayed back on him. It was a great day for a lot of the hitters. But Brian Morrell's pitching in that one inning did a lot to prevent where that game could have been if we had let it get out of hand early.”

 

Skidmore tied his career-high with five RBIs. His three-run homer with two outs in the third inning gave EIU the lead and the momentum. He later doubled home a pair in the six-run seventh. Curt Restko and Skidmore both scored four times.

 

Lindquist, Kreke and Samuels also hit three-run long balls. Thoma connected for solo shots in the fourth and sixth innings. The homers for Samuels and Thoma were the first of their careers at Coaches Stadium.

 

Indiana State stranded 14 runners, leaving the bases loaded in third and fifth innings. Morrell retired ISU's No. 7 hitter, Bronco Lafrenz, to end both threats. Eastern's senior right-hander cleaned up for Mike Martin, who walked in a pair of runs, in the third and escaped his own jam in the fifth. It was still only a 6-2 game when Morrell got out of the fifth without allowing a run to score. Gee and Lindquist then went deep in the bottom half of the frame and the five-run rally blew the game open.

 

Restko led off the third inning with a base hit and Lindquist followed with a walk. Gerik Wallsten executed his team-leading ninth sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position for Brett Nommensen. The Sycamores chose to intentionally walk EIU's leading hitter, loading the bases for Jordan Tokarz, who hit a chopper to third base. Indiana State's Luke Fieser made a nice play on a short hop and tried to turn a 5-3 double play. But Tokarz beat the throw at first base, allowing the Panthers' first run to score. Skidmore followed with an opposite-field, three-run shot and EIU never looked back.

 

Nommensen finished the day 2-for-3 with two walks and a hit by pitch, raising his national-best on-base percentage to .651. He also scored twice. He'll enter the weekend four runs shy of breaking assistant coach Sean Lyons' EIU all-time record (182).

Due to Easter, this weekend's OVC series at UT Martin is set for a Friday doubleheader, Saturday single game format. Friday's action is slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch.

More Info: Contact Ben Turner, Asst. SID