Spring Break
Baseball: Recchia dominant in rubber game
Team takes two of three in opening weekend
Collin Whitchurch / Assistant Sports Editor
Issue date: 2/23/09 Section: Sports
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Recchia gave up only four hits and walked zero. He retired the last 15 Lions he faced.
"That's your story right there," Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz said about Recchia's performance. "He was just lights-out today."
The Panthers offense was kicking on all cylinders for much of the weekend, led by senior second baseman Jordan Tokarz and senior center fielder Brett Nommensen.
The duo at the top of the batting order combined to go 10-of-21 on the weekend with both of them hitting a pair of home runs. Nommensen reached base in 12 of his 15 plate appearances on the weekend. However, he saw his 14-game hitting streak that dated back to last season end Sunday as he went 0-for-2 with two walks and one run scored.
"I was really pleased with how aggressive our offense was," Schmitz said. "We took some good swings and didn't play too tentative. We just let things happen and we were hitting the ball the other way really well."
The Panthers (3-0) won Friday's game 9-6 behind three home runs and Nommensen's 4-of-4 hitting performance.
The Lions came back Saturday to tie the series up with an 8-6 victory. Tokarz went 2-for-5 and hit a grand slam but it was not enough as the Lions tagged Eastern junior starting pitcher Tyler Kehrer for seven earned runs in 3 1/3 innings.
"We didn't play very well on Saturday," Schmitz said. "But we talked that night and came out the next day patient and were really calm."
The Panthers travel to Evansville, Ind., this weekend for the Dunn Hospitality Diamond Classic. They will play St. Louis at 1 p.m. Friday and Butler at 11 a.m. Saturday before taking on the host Aces at 3 p.m. Sunday.
Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.
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