Monday, April 20, 2009 12:15 AM CDT
Glow of Pattin ceremony lost in losses
CHARLESTON – Maybe some fans somehow knew things could only go downhill.
One of the biggest, if not the biggest, crowds ever to fill Coaches Stadium got to see Jordan Tokarz’s 5-for-5 game capped by Jordan Kreke’s bases-loaded ninth-inning walk-off single giving league-leading Eastern Illinois an 8-7 win over defending regular-season champion Jacksonville State in Saturday’s opener of the Ohio Valley Conference baseball series.
That was nice prelude into former EIU and Charleston High School pitching great Marty Pattin having his No. 19 jersey retired, Pattin’s 1964 NAIA World Series team recognized and Eastern’s 1999 NCAA Division I tournament qualifier being honored between games of the doubleheader.
Many of the fans left after the ceremony they had come to see.
Others may have left when learning that Jacksonville State’s professional pitching prospect Ben Tootle was not starting game two as expected because of illness.
Who could have known how things were going to turn on what had been a pleasant Saturday afternoon with Eastern also going ahead with Rickie Derbak and Zach Borenstein home runs in the second and third innings of game two.
When Jacksonville State’s Austin Lucas fired a pitch near Tokarz’s head right after Borenstein’s home run, that merely seemed to be reason for remaining EIU fans to toss a few more heckles toward the visiting team.
Who knew the Panthers were actually on the way to not only losing that game 13-3 and then Sunday’s rubber game 10-5, handing EIU its first series loss of the OVC season?
“I thought after they threw behind Tokarz’s head everything changed,” EIU coach Jim Schmitz said.
Tokarz said: “I think that kind of got in our heads. They just destroyed us after that. We just have to play our game.”
Eastern is having to play its games these days without Brett Nommensen, whose OVC-leading .521 batting average and 11 home runs had helped the Panthers to what was looking like one of those seasons that could have its own reunion celebration in 10 years or so.
Sidelined with what was called sore wrists after the first game of the previous weekend’s OVC series, the star center fielder now is scheduled for surgery this week. Schmitz said a university release is to come today with more details.
The Panthers still had Ohio Valley earned run average leader Mike Recchia, who took a 6-0 record and 1.16 ERA into Sunday’s game.
But Jacksonville State had Recchia out of this game after scoring eight runs on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings.
“It was one of those things where we got fortunate a few times,” Jacksonville State coach Jim Case said.
Recchia was victimized by a slow roller for a base hit, a passed ball and the like.
Meanwhile, Eastern had five straight innings in which its leadoff batter reached base but did not score. Ryan Lindquist lined into a double play, Jacksonville State’s infield turned two double plays and even when Jacksonville’s shortstop Jake Sharrock bobbled what looked like a double play ball a fortunate bounce led to a force out at second base on a call argued by Schmitz.
Then came the play when Jacksonville State catcher Andrew Edge’s throw trying to get pinch-runner Josh Wilson stealing second base caromed off pitcher Chase Smith’s head only for an infielder to recover and eventually get Wilson out in a rundown between second and third to end Eastern’s four-run seventh inning.
But Schmitz was not harping on any bad luck or injuries.
“We’ve been good but we’ve had it easy,” the EIU coach said. “These guys put some pressure on us.
“I’m not upset with the losses. I’m upset with the way we responded.”
Yeah, the nice Saturday became overcast, then rainy and by Sunday with intermittent rain things just got down right gloomy for the Panthers.
“We’ve got to keep our focus,” Kreke said following Saturday’s second game which put a bit of a damper on his game-winning hit from the first game.
Sunday’s game dropped Eastern to 27-8 overall and 10-3 in the OVC while Jacksonville State is 22-14 and 7-5.
“If someone at the start of the season would have told us we’d be 10-3, we would have been happy,” Schmitz said.
Now with an injured star, the Panthers are looking to bounce back with a continuing home stand against non-conference teams Saint Louis at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Bradley at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Illinois College at 3 p.m. Thursday and Southern Illinois Edwardsville in a three-game series Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday’s first game
Eastern AB R H BI
Borenstein, rf 3 1 0 0
Tokarz, 2b 5 3 5 2
Skidmore, 3b 4 0 0 1
Gee, 1b 2 1 1 1
Samuels, ph 3 1 1 0
Kreke, ss 5 0 1 1
Thoma, dh 2 1 1 2
Derbak, dh 2 0 1 1
Lindquist, cf 4 0 2 0
Resko, lf 4 0 0 0
Thyer, c 4 1 1 0
Totals 38 8 13 8
2B-Tokarz, Samuels. HR-Tokarz 2 (11), Thoma. SF-Skidmore.
Jacksonville State 100 005 010 - 7-7-2
Eastern Illinois 401 001 101 - 8-13-2
Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO
Mueller 5 2/3 5 6 3 3 6
Morrell 1 1/3 2 1 1 0 2
Derbak (4-2) 2 0 0 0 1 2
Saturday’s second game
Eastern AB R H BI
Borenstein, rf 4 1 2 1
Tokarz, 2b 3 0 0 0
Skidmore, 3b 2 0 1 0
Samuels, 1b 3 0 0 0
Kreke, ss 3 1 1 0
Derbak, dh 3 1 1 1
Lindquist, cf 3 0 1 1
Resko, lf 3 0 0 0
Thyer, c 2 0 1 0
Totals 26 3 7 3
2B-Lindquist. HR-Borrenstein (3), Derbak (4).
Jacksonville State 000 334 3 - 13-15-0
Eastern Illinois 011 100 0 - 3-7-1
Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO
Kehrer (3-3) 4 1/3 6 6 6 4 6
Wilson 2/3 2 1 1 1 1
Martin 1 2/3 7 6 6 0 2
Green 1/3 0 0 0 0 1
Sunday’s game
Eastern AB R H BI
Borenstein, rf 5 0 2 0
Tokarz, 2b 5 2 2 0
Skidmore, 3b 3 0 1 0
Ulrey, rf 2 1 1 0
Samuels, 1b 1 0 0 1
Gee, ph 3 0 0 0
Kreke, ss 4 1 2 1
Derbak, dh 2 0 0 0
Strang, ss 1 1 1 1
Lindquist, cf 3 0 1 0
Resko, lf 2 0 1 0
Thoma, ph 1 0 0 1
Wilson, pr 0 0 0 0
Thyer, c 2 0 0 0
Zalders, c 1 0 0 0
Totals 35 5 11 4
SB-Wilson. SF-Samuels.
Jacksonville State 104 311 000 - 10-13-3
Eastern Illinois 100 000 400 - 5-11-4
Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO
Recchia (6-1) 3 2/3 7 8 8 2 3
Miller 2/3 3 1 1 1 0
Morrell 2/3 1 0 0 0 1
Derbak 1 1 1 1 0 1
Kreke 3 1 0 0 0 2
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RDCENT wrote on Apr 20, 2009 8:47 AM: