Game One Box | Game Two Box >>> Photo Gallery (by Sandy King)
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois baseball's starting pitchers, Mike Recchia and Mike Hoekstra, teamed up for 13 1/3 innings of three-run ball and Dillon Roark closed out both close games, as the Panthers won a pair of nail biters against Austin Peay, 2-0 and 4-3, Friday afternoon at Coaches Stadium.
Daniel Rowe threw out the potential game-tying run at home plate from center field to end the nightcap. With the bases loaded and two outs, the Governors seemed destined to tie the game on a base hit up the middle from Jared DeLong. But Rowe's one-hop throw from center beat pinch runner Chris Lewellyn to the plate and EIU catcher Gerik Wallsten tagged him out to end the game.
Game one also ended in thrilling fashion. With runners on second and third and two outs in the ninth, pinch hitter Daniel Baggett nearly hit a three-run homer to left field. The umpire on the third base line ruled it was a foul ball. Roark struck out Baggett on the next pitch to end the game.
The Panthers improved to 6-19 and 2-3 in Ohio Valley Conference play. Eastern has won each of its three home games this season. Austin Peay (14-12, 2-3 OVC) fell to 1-8 away from Clarksville in 2010.
Recchia (3-2) worked 7 1/3 innings of one-hit ball in game one, striking out seven. He has now pitched 17 1/3 scoreless innings dating back to the final inning of his March 18 start against Indiana.
Hoekstra pitched into the sixth inning of game two, giving up three runs (one earned). He struck out five and did not walk a batter for his fourth consecutive start, a streak of 21 1/3 innings.
Roark retired both batters he faced to close out game one, leaving the potential tying run at second base. In the nightcap, he inherited runners on first and second with none out in the seventh (of a seven-inning game). Before even throwing a pitch, he picked off the runner at second base, EIU's OVC-leading 14th pickoff of the season. Roark earned a save in both games, his first two as a Panther.
Roark took over for closer
Matt Miller in the ninth inning of game one and got the call over Miller in the nightcap as well. Miller did retire the first two batters he faced in the eighth with two runners aboard.
“It was about matchups,” EIU head coach
Jim Schmitz said. “Miller has not been getting the lefties out real well. Roark has a good change up to compliment the fastball. Before the game started, we said 'they've got a lot of lefties, we'll use [Miller], but we've got to matchup; that's what we've got to do.'”
After losing nine-one run games while playing 22 of their first 23 games away from Charleston, the friendly confines of Coaches Stadium may have made the difference on this day.
“The guys feel good at home,” Schmitz said. “I don't care what anyone says, when you play the first 22 of 23 on the road, it's hard. So we're finally at home and hearing the crowd cheer for you has a lot to do with the momentum. We've had a lot of bad karma, so this is OK.”
The Panthers out hit APSU 18-9 on the day after limiting the visitors to just two hits in the series opener. The shutout victory was EIU's first since an April 2009 home win against SIU Edwardsville.
Ben Thoma delivered the big hit of game two for the Panthers, a two-out, two-run, go-ahead single to center in the third inning. Eastern scored three unearned runs in the frame after APSU committed a pair of errors on back-to-back plays.
Curt Restko was 3-for-7 on the day, extending his hitting streak to eight consecutive games. With two hits in game one, he posted his fifth straight multi-hit effort.
Alex Gee was also 3-for-7 on the day and has now hit safely in seven consecutive games this season and in nine straight OVC contests dating back to last year.
Rowe extended his team-long hitting streak to nine straight games with a single in game one but it was snapped in the nightcap. He executed a sacrifice bunt in his final plate appearance of game two.
Wallsten recorded his second career three-hit effort in game one and reached base safely in all five of his official at-bats. The EIU catcher executed a sacrifice bunt in his final plate appearance of the day and the runner he advanced into scoring position ended up scoring what proved to be a key insurance run.
Both EIU runs in game one scored with two outs. Gee doubled home
Zach Borenstein in the first and
Ryan Dineen singled home Rowe in the fourth. The Panthers stranded 12 runners in the win, leaving the bases loaded in the third and the sixth.
The EIU hitters attacked the Governors pitchers early in the count. A byproduct was only one walk on the day for Eastern.
“We just said we've got to be aggressive,” Schmitz said. “[At] Eastern Kentucky [last] weekend, half the at-bats were with two strikes. That's terrible, you can't hit with two strikes. We just said, 'hey, let's be aggressive.' We were aggressive against [Saint Louis Tuesday]. The same thing here, you've got learn to be aggressive and then later on lay off certain pitches.”
The relief work of the APSU bullpen highlighted the day for the visitors. Dylan Ray, Matt Marsh and Zach Gerler teamed up for 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.
Austin Peay starters Ricky Marshall (4-3) and Ryne Harper (3-1) suffered the losses on a day in which they didn't get much offensive support. Marshall gave up two runs on eight hits through 5 1/3 innings. Harper surrendered four runs (one earned) on six hits over 4 1/3 innings.
Borenstein doubled and scored in both games, and knocked in a key insurance with a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning of the nightcap. His two-out two-bagger in the third inning of game two extended the inning for Thoma. Dineen opened the frame with a bunt single and took second when the ball was thrown away. Dineen scored from second after a ground ball off the bat of Wallsten got by Matt Kole at first base.
The series finale Sunday is slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch. The probable pitching matchup is EIU's
Josh Mueller (Jr, RHP) vs. APSU's Stephen Huff (Sr, LHP). Mueller has not pitched since March 5 due to shoulder soreness.
