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CHARLESTON, Ill. – A game that began as a pitcher's duel between starters Josh Mueller and Jacob Petricka evolved into a blowout, as Indiana State scored eight unanswered runs – including five with outs in the seventh inning – to defeat Eastern Illinois baseball, 9-2, Friday afternoon at Coaches Stadium.
The game featured 21 hits but only Levi Ferguson's solo home run in the ninth inning went for extra bases. Indiana State (32-15) recorded 10 of its 16 hits against the five EIU (15-32) pitchers that appeared in relief.
Mueller gave up two runs on six hits over 5 1/3 innings. He struck out four and did not issue a walk. He was on a pitch count with the goal of having him fresh for next weekend's Ohio Valley Conference series opener against Southeast Missouri State.
Petricka surrendered two runs on four hits and six walks over five innings. He struck out eight.
But while the ISU bullpen backed up Petricka with four shutout innings, the Sycamores knocked around the EIU bullpen for seven runs over the final four frames.
“This game can humble you in a heartbeat,” EIU head coach Jim Schmitz said. “Wednesday night [in the win at Illinois State] we looked great. So I'm really disappointed. Josh obviously pitched well. The guys that came in [out of the bullpen] today didn't. That's been our story a little bit. We can't do well back-to-back and throw some quality pitches. And this was with a day off [Thursday]. In the [OVC] Tournament, we'll only have 18 hours off.”
Cam Strang singled and drew a pair of walks, including a bases-loaded free pass in the fifth inning that pushed across the go-ahead run. Zach Borenstein singled home EIU's first run of the game in the first inning and stole a pair of bases. Shawn Ferguson led off the fifth inning with a base hit up the middle and scored on the two-out walk to Strang.
Indiana State tied the game with a single run in the sixth and went on to score in each of the final four innings of the contest. In the first EIU-ISU game of the year March 9 in Terre Haute, the Panthers also took a one-run lead into the sixth inning but ended up losing 8-2.
Brent McNeil suffered the loss after allowing the go-ahead run to score on a two-out single by Kyle Burnam in the seventh inning. Burnam was the first of six ISU batters to reach base safely with two outs in the inning.
After hitting a batter and committing a throwing error on a failed pickoff attempt, McNeil gave way to his teammates in the bullpen. Matt Miller and Dillon Roark both allowed inherited runners to score before Roark finally brought the inning to an end by striking out Grant Grgurich, who had opened the frame with a base hit.
Both of EIU's runs came around to score after a Panther led off an inning with a single against Petricka. Matt Kucharksi reached on an infield hit in the bottom of the first and moved into third base with only one out after a passed ball and ground out. Borenstein picked up the RBI with a single through the middle.
After singling to open the bottom of the fifth, Ferguson moved into second base even though Kucharski popped up while trying to execute a sacrifice bunt. ISU catcher Tyler Graham made a nice diving catch near the backstop. Ferguson alertly tagged up at first base and was able to slide around the tag at second to advance safely. Borenstein and Alex Gee both walked to load the bases for Strang. Petricka walked Strang on four pitches after he thought he had struck out Gee on a borderline full-count pitch.
Indiana State scored in the top of the first inning against Mueller thanks to three consecutive two-out singles. Mueller responded by striking out the side in the second inning and would have retired 11 consecutive batters if not for a two-out error in the third.
Eastern and ISU are both slated to play SIU Edwardsville Saturday afternoon at Coaches Stadium. The EIU-SIUE game is set for noon with the nightcap to follow at approximately 3:30 p.m.
