Pronouncing Illinois State designated hitter Scott Bialobreski’s name wasn’t the only problem Eastern pitchers had Tuesday at Redbird Field.

The right-handed sophomore was a perfect 3-3 at the plate, including one walk with all three of his hits flying over the outfield fence. He collected eight RBIs for the day and crossed home four times leading the Redbirds (8-13) to a 16-9 win over the Panthers (8-14).

“We were just not making too many quality pitches,” Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz said. “We were just leaving them over the plate. Pitching needs to make better pitches or it’s going to be a long year. We are creating situations that make it more difficult to be successful.”

Bialobreski, who has only started in 11 of Illinois State’s 21 games, had not homered in any of his previous 38 at-bats this season and came into the game with a .211 batting average.

It was the bottom half of the Redbirds’ lineup that killed the Panthers. The No. 6 hitter in the order, senior third baseman Lance McMillan, was 2-for-3 with three runs scored. McMillan was followed by junior catcher Greg Blaesing (three runs scored), Bialobreski and sophomore shortstop Chris Shepherd (3-5 with an RBI and a run scored).

Senior second baseman Jon Peacock provided offense from the top of the Redbirds’ lineup hitting a home run and driving in three runs. He also pitched two innings of relief.

The bright spot for the Panthers was their offense managed to stay hot. After racking up 42 runs in four games this past weekend, the Panthers scored nine more against the Redbirds.

Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week senior catcher Bret Pignatiello went 2-for-5 with his 10th home run of the season, moving him into a five-way tie for Eastern’s all-time lead in career home runs with 28.

Senior right fielder Kirk Walters also batted 2-for-5 with a home run and drove in three RBIs.

But outside of Eastern’s top four hitters in the order (senior shortstop Kyle Haines, junior second baseman Chris Uhle, Pignatiello and Walters), Eastern mustered just three hits.

After a pair of scoreless innings to start the game, Eastern cracked the scoreless tie in the top of the third with a pair of runs, but Illinois State answered with three runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning.

The Redbirds extended their lead to 6-2 in the fourth, but Eastern tied the game in the fifth with four runs, only to lose the lead in the sixth when the Redbirds added two more runs to their total.

Eastern held a brief 9-8 lead at the seventh inning stretch, but the Redbirds tagged senior reliever Nathan Stone for three unearned runs in the seventh. Sophomore Jason Pinnell relieved Stone in the eighth, but allowed five runs (four earned) while recording one out before freshman Mike Bouchez came in to get the Panthers out of the inning.