Jay Molina went 3-5 with one RBI and two runs scored, however Illinois State committed six errors defensively and fell to Eastern Illinois by a score of 8-7 Wednesday afternoon at Redbird Field.
The two teams combined for 10 errors on a day when the wind was blowing at over 35 mph.
Eastern Illinois (17-22) got a run in the top of the first off of Illinois State (14-23) starter Luke Baughman to take an early lead, however the Redbirds answered back with two of their own in the bottom half, including an RBI single by Matt Bolt.
EIU took the lead back in the third when Paul Dean hit a wind-aided home run over the leftfield wall to give the Panthers a 3-2 lead.
With Eastern leading 6-2 in the bottom of the seventh, the Panthers committed two errors in the inning, allowing ISU to get within one at 6-5. Molina had the only RBI of the inning for the Redbirds.
After reliever Kyle OBrien held EIU scoreless in the top of the eighth, pinch-hitter Greg Blaesing tied the game up at six with an RBI single to leftfield.
After Eastern got two in the top of the ninth off of Eric Theisen, ISU had its work cut out in the bottom half. Trailing 8-6, the first two batters reached base. Illinois State would eventually load the bases with one out, but come up just short, getting one run in the ninth and falling to Eastern 8-7.
Eric Theisen (2-4) took the loss for Illinois State, while Chris Vaculick (5-1) picked up the win for Eastern.
The lone bright spot for the Redbirds may have been the pitching staff. All five Redbirds who took to the mound were freshman and they yielded only four earned runs, with seven strikeouts and only one walk.
The Redbirds will next be in action when the host Southern Illinois University Friday night at 6:30 p.m. at Redbird Field. The game will be the first of a four-game Valley series with the instate rival.
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