Panthers Pick Up 5-4 Win Over Indiana State

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Eastern Illinois freshman catcher Hunter Morris scored pinch runner Mitch Gasbarro with a squeeze bunt in the bottom of the seventh as the Panthers picked up a 5-4 win over Indiana State at Coaches Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.

EIU improved to 2-24 overall and will host Southeast Missouri this weekend for a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series beginning Friday at 3 p.m. ISU fell to 13-17.  The game was called after eight innings due to darkness as the teams waited out an hour and a half rain delay in the top of the second inning.

Indiana State opened the game with two runs in the first as Jacob Hayes connected for a two run homer to left center scoring Derek Hannahs.

EIU was able to take advantage of a wild start by Sycamores pitcher David Stagg who walked the first three batters he faced before being lifted. Greg Kuhlman pitched out of the jam as EIU scored one run on a wild pitch and then left the bases loaded. With two outs in the top of the second the two teams waited out a rain delay. Kuhlman and EIU starter Andrew Grahn (North Clay graduate) both returned to the mound. Kuhlman got out of a bases loaded jam in the second but allowed two EIU runs in the third as Morris had a two-run single up the middle. The Paris, Ill., native was 1-for-2 with three RBI.

The Sycamores scored one run in the third on an RBI by Brian Romero. They broke a 3-3 tie in the fourth as Hannahs had a sacrifice fly which scored Tony Rosselli. Rosselli opened the inning with a double. Garrison Stenger (1-6) closed out the fourth for EIU and worked four innings of one-hit baseball with six strikeouts to pick up his first win of the season.

EIU tied the game at 4-4 in the fifth inning on a Joseph Duncan double down the right field line. Duncan was 2-for-3 as EIU had seven hits in the game. Demetre Taylor was 2-for-3. Teutopolis graduate Bobby Wenthe had a single and scored a run for EIU.

In the seventh inning EIU opened the inning with a single by Bobby Wenthe. A sacrifice bunt by Marshawn Taylor and infield error set up the Panthers with runners at first and third for Morris to lay down the squeeze. Chase Thurston closed out the eighth inning to pick up his first career save.

Hayes and Romero led ISU with two hits each. Ethan Larrison (1-2) suffered the loss allowing one earned run in four innings of relief work.