Issue date: 4/21/09 Section: Sports

Red-shirt freshman catcher Ben Thoma celebrates his home run during the first game of a doubleheader against Jacksonville State Saturday afternoon at Coaches Stadium. The Panthers won that game 8-7, but lost two of three games in the series. (Eric Hiltner/The Daily Eastern News)

Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz will send a letter to the Ohio Valley Conference office in protest to warnings issued after Eastern senior second baseman Jordan Tokarz was thrown behind following a home run Saturday.

In the bottom of the third inning of Saturday's 13-3 loss to Jacksonville State, Eastern freshman right fielder Zach Borenstein hit a solo home run to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead.

The next pitch from Jacksonville State junior right-hander Austin Lucas went behind the head of Tokarz, prompting a warning of both benches by home plate umpire Cedric Coleman.

Schmitz came out to argue the warning, saying there was no reason for a warning to Eastern because they had done nothing wrong. Additionally, he said the warning goes against league rules.

"The OVC has a sportsmanship rule that says there are no warnings," he said. "It's on a card and has been there for 10-20 years. It's on a card and they read it to us before every game. There are no warnings."

The OVC sportsmanship policy for officials, as stated on the conference's official Web site, OVCSports.com, said: "The only warning to participants and coaches regarding sportsmanship should come at the beginning of the contest. Once the contest begins, penalties (consequences), not warnings, must be assessed for violations of unsportsmanlike conduct."

Schmitz said the throwing behind of Tokarz was something that is not uncommon by the Gamecocks.

"It's totally unsportsmanlike," he said.


Nommensen's future main concern

Senior center fielder Brett Nommensen will have surgery today to repair a broken bone in his wrist he suffered on April 10 against Tennessee Martin.

Schmitz said while the team hopes he can make a return at some point during the season, they are most concerned with his future and will not consider rushing him back if he's less than 100 percent.

"I'm more worried about (Nommensen) than us," he said. "I hope things go well for him because he has a pro career ahead of him and that's our concern right now."

Schmitz said that while losing one of the best hitters in the nation is obviously tough, he believes his team has enough offense to overcome the loss. Nommensen said he is confident the team will do fine without him.

"It's a bummer to myself and the team, but we're a strong team and have some real strong bats," said Nommensen, who is hitting .521 on the season. "You can't say that me not playing is the reason we've lost these games. I think they're going to do fine without me."


Lindquist impresses Schmitz in replacing injured star

With the injury to Nommensen, senior Ryan Lindquist has been thrust into the starting lineup on a regular basis. But, it's not like Lindquist is not accustomed to starting.

The center fielder was a regular starter in right field for the Panthers last year, starting 50 games and playing in 55 total.

Lindquist went 4-for-10 during the weekend against the Gamecocks and provided a boost defensively, making two key catches with runners on base.

"Here's a guy who started in the regional game and played almost every single game last year, and I'm amazed at the tremendous attitude a lot of my players have," Schmitz said. "We didn't want an injury, but golly, we put (Lindquist) in a week ago against a lefty and he got two hits and a home run. So, while we miss (Nommensen), Lindquist has done a great job."


Recchia, Kehrer struggles not a worry going forward

Sophomore right-hander Mike Recchia had only allowed six earned runs all season entering Sunday's series finale against Jacksonville State.

That all changed quickly, as Recchia was roughed up for eight earned runs in only 3 2/3 innings, suffering his first loss of the season.

Schmitz is not concerned with Recchia's performance and thinks he can turn things back around quickly.

"I think Recchia's fine," he said. "You can't expect someone to go out and do what Mike's been doing the entire season."

Kehrer's struggles were attributed to the incident where Tokarz was thrown at.

"When Tokarz was thrown behind I think it kind of got to him," Schmitz said. "I think it kind of rattled him and you saw him come out right after that happened and he gave up three runs."


Catcher injury updates

Sophomore third-string catcher Bart Thyer started all three of the weekend games against Jacksonville State.

Freshman starter Gerik Wallsten has not played since suffering an injury on April 10 against Tennessee Martin and red-shirt freshman Ben Thoma, Wallsten's backup, tweaked his knee in Tuesday's win against Illinois.

Thoma still played during the weekend against the Gamecocks, but was relegated to designated hitting.

Thyer allowed three passed balls during the weekend, and by comparison, Wallsten had only allowed four passed balls in 23 starts this season.

Schmitz said he hopes to have both Thoma and Wallsten back catching this week.

He plans to use Thoma Wednesday against Bradley and Wallsten Thursday against Illinois College.

"I was very disappointed with the wildness behind the plate and on the mound," he said. "The thing about Gerik is he's good because he caught the ball, it didn't create any big innings and you saw what happened this weekend when we don't catch the ball."


Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.

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