Spring Break
Baseball: Comeback attempt falls short vs. Mizzou
Panthers fall behind early; unable to overcome 7-0 deficit
Collin Whitchurch / Assistant Sports Editor
Issue date: 4/29/09 Section: Sports
The Eastern baseball team fell behind early and was never able to recover in dropping a 7-4 contest against Missouri Tuesday night in O'Fallon, Mo.
The Panthers committed three early errors, including two by senior third baseman Zach Skidmore, not helping the cause of senior right-hander Brian Morrell (4-2), who surrendered five earned runs in three innings of work.
"We just did not play well at all," Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz said. "(Morrell) wasn't sharp, and he has been great for us. We just played ugly for three innings, settled down, but by that time it was too late."
The Panthers (32-10) were unable to get on the board until the eighth inning when they got a two-run single by senior second baseman Jordan Tokarz and a two-run single by senior shortstop Jordan Kreke.
Freshman right fielder Zach Borenstein collected four of the Panthers' nine hits on the game. The game featured both teams using wooden bats instead of the customary aluminum bats that are used in the college game.
Schmitz said this was the first time in his 15-year tenure as head coach that the Panthers had played in a wooden bat game. They played with wooden bats because the stadium they were playing in was a minor league park and had a short right field wall. He said the fact that they were using wooden bats had nothing to do with the lack of offense early on.
"It had no bearing on anything with regards to what we were trying to do," he said. "It was just bad baseball all-around in the first three innings and that put us in a hole.
The Panthers return to action tonight with a neutral site game against Southern Illinois-Carbondale at 6:30 p.m. at Grimes Field in Mattoon.
Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or at cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.
The Panthers committed three early errors, including two by senior third baseman Zach Skidmore, not helping the cause of senior right-hander Brian Morrell (4-2), who surrendered five earned runs in three innings of work.
"We just did not play well at all," Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz said. "(Morrell) wasn't sharp, and he has been great for us. We just played ugly for three innings, settled down, but by that time it was too late."
The Panthers (32-10) were unable to get on the board until the eighth inning when they got a two-run single by senior second baseman Jordan Tokarz and a two-run single by senior shortstop Jordan Kreke.
Freshman right fielder Zach Borenstein collected four of the Panthers' nine hits on the game. The game featured both teams using wooden bats instead of the customary aluminum bats that are used in the college game.
Schmitz said this was the first time in his 15-year tenure as head coach that the Panthers had played in a wooden bat game. They played with wooden bats because the stadium they were playing in was a minor league park and had a short right field wall. He said the fact that they were using wooden bats had nothing to do with the lack of offense early on.
"It had no bearing on anything with regards to what we were trying to do," he said. "It was just bad baseball all-around in the first three innings and that put us in a hole.
The Panthers return to action tonight with a neutral site game against Southern Illinois-Carbondale at 6:30 p.m. at Grimes Field in Mattoon.
Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or at cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.
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