When asked about the opponent for Tuesday’s game, Eastern catcher Brett Pignatiello said Northern Illinois did not care for them because they defeated them last season. After the Panthers 9-8 win at Coaches’ Stadium Tuesday, it would be safe to say the Huskies feelings haven’t changed.

However, the boys from DeKalb should only blame themselves for the loss. The Huskies committed four errors, leading to three Panther runs, hit into a pair of double plays and left 11 men on base.

In a back-and-forth battle, Eastern struck first with a four-run second inning. Panther right fielder Kirk Walters opened up the scoring when he took Huskies’ starter Joe Piekarz deep for a lead-off home run.

Consecutive errors by Huskies’ third baseman Rob Marconi and right fielder Mike Santoro allowed the Panthers Aaron Shelbourne and Pete Stone to reach base. A walk to Panthers’ designated hitter Nolan Cork loaded the bases for Jeff Cammann.

Cammann lined Piekarz’s offering down the left field line for a two-run double. Eastern added another run off Chris Uhle’s sacrifice fly and the Panthers were quickly up 4-0.

The Huskies chipped away at the lead in the third when center fielder Jeremy Busch hit a one-out home run. Northern failed to take advantage of two straight two-out walks by Panther starter Matt Tyson when Santoro popped up to third.

The Panthers regained their four-run lead when Shelbourne beat out a potential inning-ending double play ball to score Walters from third.

The lead would be short lived as the Huskies scored one in the fourth and three in the fifth to tie the game at five.

In the bottom half of the inning, Eastern put up a four-spot thanks to Walters’ second home run of the game; a three-run shot to center.

“Walters picked us up with one swing,” Pignatiello said.

The Huskies came back with three in the seventh, but the rally was stopped as Panthers reliever Jason Pinnell enticed pinch-hitter Terry Rauk to ground into a 1-2-3 bases loaded double play to preserve the lead and the game.

“They are a very good team, it was a good win,” Panthers head coach Jim Schmitz said.

Schmitz was extremely pleased with the Panthers (12-16) ability to hit the Huskies (15-10) left-handed starter Piekarz. Eastern lost a game over the weekend to a left-handed starter from conference rival Morehead State, but Eastern battered Piekarz (4-2) for eight hits and seven runs, four of which were earned in just four innings of work.

“The biggest plus (to the win) was that they started a lefty,” Schmitz said. “The Morehead loss was to a lefty and part of our game plan was to hit the lefty.”

Schmitz wasn’t the only one satisfied with Eastern’s effort against Piekarz, Pignatiello also noted the importance of beating a lefty.

“It was a good feeling that a lefty was brought in to shut us (Eastern’s left-handed batters) down (and couldn’t),” Pignatiello said.

Micah Gray (3-0) picked up the win in relief. The senior pitched two scoreless innings to get the win.

Eastern will be back in action at Coaches’ Stadium Wednesday as they face Olivet Nazarene at 3 p.m.