MATTOON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois baseball took a one-run lead into the ninth inning after a go-ahead homer from Zach Borenstein, but Illinois tied the game with two outs and went ahead in the 10th on the way to defeating the Panthers, 6-5, Wednesday evening at Grimes Field.

Illinois pinch hitter Daniel Parker tied the game with a two-out single through the right side in the ninth inning. Michael Giller led off the 10th with a double and scored the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly to right field by Craig Lutes.

 

The Panthers (9-26) fell to 2-11 in one-run games this season. Wednesday night's loss marked the ninth time this season that EIU failed to win a game after holding a lead through at least the middle of the sixth inning.

Illinois improved to 17-16 and won both midweek games against Eastern this season. Wednesday's game marked the second time the Panthers and Fighting Illini have squared off under the lights in front of a big crowd at Mattoon's Peterson Park.

 

“It was fun; we're going to do this every year,” EIU head coach Jim Schmitz said. “Last time was a good result (a 13-3 EIU win), this time it wasn't. This town loves baseball. We're going to keep working here because it's fun. And the guys can have fun and enjoy college baseball in this kind of setting.”

Gerik Wallsten led the way for the Panthers with three hits, plating the game-tying run with a two-out single in the sixth. Borenstein connected for his solo shot in the seventh, his team-leading seventh homer of the season and the lone long ball of the night.

Ryan Dineen singled home a trio of runs in the bottom of the first. With the bases loaded and two outs, Dineen blooped a base hit into right center. It cleared the bases after all three runners were on the move with the full-count pitch.

 

“You need to do the little things, the little base hits to right that are ugly that Wallsten got,” Schmitz said. “And the big [hits] will take care of themselves. So we did that, we chipped away, we came back, we tied it and we got the lead. All the things we haven't been doing, but we've got to figure it out at the end of the game. And if we don't, it's going to be the same results.”

 

Eastern's first and sixth-inning rallies both began with two outs. But it was Parker that delivered the biggest two-out hit of the night.

 

Dillon Roark (1-3) took the mound in the top of the ninth looking to close out an EIU win. He retired the first batter of the inning but hit UI's No. 9 hitter Josh Parr with a full-count pitch. Parr moved into scoring position by stealing second base, but Roark got a big out when he fanned Willie Argo.

 

Parker was just 1-for-7 on the season entering his at-bat. Yet he was able to bounce a chopper through the right side of the infield for a two-out, run-scoring hit on an 0-1 pitch. Schmitz was disheartened after the game that Parker got the game-tying hit on a changeup instead of challenging the little-used bench player with a bevy of fastballs.

Eastern had runners on the corners with two outs in the bottom of the 10th, but Illinois closer Bryan Roberts (1-1) closed out the game by striking out Matt Kucharski on a full-count pitch. Kucharksi worked the count full after falling behind 0-2 against the hard-throwing Roberts, only to go down on a fastball up in the zone.

 

Brent McNeil and Mike Martin pitched well out of the EIU bullpen, teaming up for 5 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. McNeil entered the game with runners on first and second and Illinois having already scored three times in the top of the third. He struck Pete Cappetta to finish off the inning and proceeded to face only six batters in the next two frames.

 

Martin put together his finest relief outing of the season, striking out four while not surrendering a hit over three innings. He walked consecutive batters in the sixth inning but picked off Lutes at first base, EIU's 20th pickoff of the season.

 

Borenstein drew a four-pitch leadoff walk against lefthanded reliever Corey Kimes to open the bottom of the ninth. Roberts took over on the mound and Ryan Voitik was sent up to pinch hit after Daniel Bracken had pinch run for No. 3 hitter Alex Gee in the seventh. Voitik tried to execute a sacrifice bunt, but Roberts pounced on the comebacker and turned it into a 1-6-3 double play.

 

Shawn Ferguson made an impressive diving catch in right center to rob Lutes of a double in the eighth inning. Despite striking out against Roberts with two outs in the bottom of the 10th, Ferguson kept the inning alive when the third strike of his at-bat got through Aaron Johnson behind the plate. Wallsten followed with a base hit through the right side to give EIU a chance to extend the game, but Kucharski lost his battle with the Illini closer.

 

Gee's first of two walks on the night and two-out singles by Richie Derbak and Cam Strang set the stage for Dineen's three-run single in the first inning. In the sixth, Dineen reached on a bunt single with two outs, moved into scoring position when Ferguson was hit by a pitch and scored on Wallsten's opposite-field single.

The Panthers return to action Saturday for a 1 p.m. Ohio Valley Conference doubleheader at Murray State.