Thursday, April 10, 2008 8:55 PM CDT
EIU falls to Indiana State
Closer Foley out in eighth, possibly injured
BY BRIAN NIELSEN, Sports Editor
bnielsen@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON -- Jim Schmitz had an “I wish you wouldn’t have asked me that” response to one question.
And this wasn’t even about the Eastern Illinois baseball coach’s intentional walk strategy that backfired when the next batter hit a three-run double turning Indiana State’s one-run edge into a four-run command.
What really might have kept Schmitz awake Wednesday night was an injury to his closer Scott Foley, who had to leave the pitcher’s mound after throwing to two batters in the eighth inning.
Wednesday’s 10-6 non-conference loss to Indiana State at Coaches Stadium could be overshadowed by a lingering loss of Foley, who has a team-high four saves.
“That’s a day-to-day thing,” Schmitz said. “We have (catcher/pitcher Richie) Derbak with a finger and now this. If Foley is hurt it is really going to change and affect us.”
Certainly, the Panthers can use all the pitching they can get if they don’t find the offense that went south the last six innings of what started like a midweek college baseball slugfest.
Jordan Takarz drilled a two-run double for the first of his three straight hits, Jordan Kreke also drove in a run with a single in Eastern’s three-run first inning, Brett Nommensen hit his season’s third home run and Kreke got another RBI single in the second and Nommensen drove in another run with a single to make it 6-2 in the third inning.
Then zilch.
Indiana State must not have gotten the memo that this was changing into a pitchers’ duel because it struck for four runs in the fourth inning and four more in the seventh on the way to raising its record to 10-17 while snapping the Panthers’ five-game winning streak and dropping their record to 14-14.
“We made some mistakes pitching wise but we’re not going to get good pitching all the time,” Schmitz said. “They didn’t throw anybody in particular at us. Offensively, I thought we should have done better.
“The last inning was a joke. It’s a base-hit approach and (Zach) Skidmore is trying to hit a three-run homer (with bases empty) and (Jordan) Kreke is trying to hit a home run.”
Even Eastern’s early offense was not enough for freshman starting pitcher Mike Recchia, who allowed Indiana State to tie the game at 6-6 by the third inning.
“Recchia hasn’t gotten any better locating his fastball since he’s gotten here,” Schmitz said. “I hope it’s a lesson for Recchia. Until he starts locating his fastball, he’ll have a hard time.”
Tyler Brandon was the most effective of Eastern’s six pitchers, blanking Indiana State on one hit for 2 1/3 innings.
Then in the seventh inning, Mattoon’s Ross Jeske allowed a single to Ryan Strausborger, a bunt single to Chris Schmidt and a double to Brady Shoemaker giving Indiana State a 2-1 lead.
Brian Morrell replaced Jeske on the mound and with a ground ball and strikeout was on the verge of getting Eastern out of the inning trailing by just one run.
Schmitz ordered an intentional walk to left-handed Brian Jett loading the bases for right-handed David Brumagin but the right-hander Morrell allowed a bases-clearing double to right field.
“Morrell has a problem when he throws slider, slider, slider,” Schmitz said. “Two of them are really good and one is bad. I stick with that (walk). It was a bad pitch.”
It was enough to beat the Panthers, who had no more offense left on this day.
Freshman Matt Miller of Charleston replaced the injured Foley in the eighth inning and got Indiana State’s last four batters with a line out and three fly outs but the damage had been done.
This ended a six-game home stand sending Eastern into a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series at Murray State starting with a 1 p.m. Saturday doubleheader.
On Tuesday the Panthers are to play Illinois at Grimes Field in Mattoon’s Peterson Park at 6:30 p.m.
Eastern AB R H BI
Nommensen, cf 4 2 2 2
Restko, lf 5 1 1 0
Tokarz, 2b 5 1 3 2
Skidmore, dh 5 1 0 0
Kreke, 3b 4 0 2 0
Facer, 1b 3 0 1 0
Strang, ss 3 0 0 0
Lindquist, rf 2 1 1 0
Gee, ph 1 0 0 0
Wright, rf 0 0 0 0
Thyer, c 2 0 0 0
Totals 34 6 10 6
2B-Tokarz. HR-Nommensen (3). S-Thyer.
Indiana State 110 400 400 - 10-11-2
Eastern Illinois 321 000 000 - 6-10-0
Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO
Rechcia 3 2/3 5 6 6 1 1
Brandon 2 1/3 1 0 0 2 2
Jeske 0 3 3 3 0 0
Morrell 1 1 1 1 1 1
Foley 1/3 1 0 0 0 0
Miller 1 2/3 0 0 0 0 0
Contact Brian Nielsen at bnielsen@jg-tc.com or 238-6856.
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