Eastern’s wrestling team has been taking a physical beating all season with injuries, but Sunday the team took another beating at the hands of the No. 11 team in the nation, Missouri.

Eastern head coach Ralph McCausland said Missouri’s coach Brian Smith summed it all up when Smith said, “I had all my injuries early your having them late.”

The Tigers, who boasted six nationally ranked wrestlers in their roster Sunday, defeated the Panthers (4-9) 48-3 and only lost one individual match.

Eastern’s only victory came from 165-pound junior Matt Veach. Veach defeated No. 8 Tyron Woodley by a 5-3 decision.

“In my book, it’s not an upset,” Eastern head coach Ralph McCausland said. “Matt Veach can be on the award stand at the national tournament this year.”

Due to injuries and ilness, the Panthers had to forfeit two matches.

Senior Frank DiFillipis and junior Pat Dowty were out of action Sunday. DiFillipis was injured Saturday night during a workout and Dowty was ill and could not compete.

“We had no senior in our lineup,” McCausland said.

Without senior leadership, only two of the matches lasted a full four periods.

Veache’s victory and junior Clay French lost by a 10-6 decision in the 174 pound weight class.

Eastern lost three matches by technical fall and three more by pins.

“What do you say when we exposed our guys to this caliber of competition?”McCausland said. “The outcome was not so good, but the experience gained is unquestionably good.”

Eastern was just one of the teams Missouri has run over in the past week. Missouri has also beat Oklahoma, Nebraska and shutout three other schools in the past week.

The Panthers next meet will be Friday, when they travel to DeKalb to grapple with Northern Illinois.