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RICHMOND, Ky. – Eastern Illinois baseball scored a pair of two-out runs in the ninth inning but left the bases loaded and suffered its ninth loss of the season in a one-run game, falling to Eastern Kentucky, 7-6, Sunday afternoon in the finale of a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series.
Curt Restko hit a game-tying solo home run in the seventh inning, his first longball of the season and fifth career.
Trailing 7-4 entering the ninth, Cam Strang singled home a run and Nick Priessman drew a bases-loaded walk. But EKU's Ryne Purcell closed out the game by getting Gerik Wallsten to ground out to third base, earning his sixth save of the season.
Eastern Kentucky (11-11, 3-0 OVC) scored three times in the bottom of the eighth inning. Jayson Langfels delivered the big hit, a two-run single with the bases loaded and the game tied 4-4.
The Colonels swept EIU (4-18, 0-3 OVC) in the conference-opening series, marking the first time the Panthers were swept by an OVC opponent since April 2008 at Samford. Eastern Kentucky was victorious in one-run games in the series opener and finale. The Panthers fell to 1-9 in one-run games this year.
The Colonels out hit EIU, 14-10, all but one batter in the EKU lineup recording at least one hit. The first five Colonel batters finished a combined 10-for-19. Restko was one of four Panthers to record two hits; he finished the series a team-best 7-for-13.
Both teams left 12 runners on base Sunday. For the series, EIU stranded 30 runners, EKU 35. On this day, the Panthers also left the bases loaded in the seventh inning and runners on the corners in the fifth.
“We had many situations to score, leaving 30 guys on base,” EIU head coach
Jim Schmitz said. “It still comes down to not being a team that's going to score [a lot of runs]. You could probably say the same for EKU, but they went home with three wins. It's difficult to explain our struggles getting over the hump. It seemed like we could have been down a lot in the ninth (Sunday) and we would have scored enough to have a chance. Clutch hitting, clutch plays, clutch pitching is what makes a good team. We're just not getting that. We've made good plays and good pitches but not really in the clutch, which you need to do over a nine-inning game.
“I'm really disappointed with the weekend overall. Getting as many scoreless innings as we did from the
[Mike] Recchia and
[Matt] Miller setup (in game one Saturday) was really nice.
[Mike] Hoesktra didn't throw bad (in game two Saturday), we just had one major boo-boo defensively. EKU seemed to have everything in place with their lineup and rotation. We're still moving things around and I'll take the blame for that. But we've still been trying to find the right combination. It's not a good start. Being 0-3 is the least of our concerns. An 0-3 start with not a lot of question marks is OK, but our situation is different.”
Troy Barton (0-2) entered the game with the scored tied 4-4 and the bases loaded with one out in the seventh inning. He struck out the first two batters he faced to escape the jam. But he gave up consecutive one-out singles an inning later and the two hits ignited EKU's three-run rally.
Rich Ruff took over for Barton after the second single and walked Jacob Daniel to load the bases for Langfels, the Preseason OVC co-Player of the Year. Langfels' opposite-field single to right center plated a pair and allowed Daniel to take third. Anthony Ottrando then plated what proved to be a key insurance run with a sacrifice fly to center field.
Daniel Rowe delivered a big two-out hit in the fourth inning, tripling home a pair of runs to cut the Colonels' lead to 3-2. That frame was interrupted by a 55-minute rain delay. After the game resumed with
Ryan Dineen on first base, Strang singled and Rowe connected for his second triple of the season. Rowe has hit safely in seven consecutive games.
Ben Thoma tied the game 3-3 with a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth inning. But Langfels went deep off EIU starter
Brent McNeil to open the bottom of the frame.
Restko singled and Thoma doubled to begin the ninth. Restko scored on Strang's single through the right side and Thoma came home after back-to-back walks to Rowe and Priessman.
EKU reliever Matt Harris (2-3) earned his second victory of the series with an inning and two-thirds of hitless relief. He left the bases loaded in the seventh inning and retired EIU 1-2-3 in the eighth.
The Panthers return to action Tuesday for a 3 p.m. game at Saint Louis.
