Eastern broke Olivet Nazarene’s 19-game winning streak with a 17-6 win Wednesday at Coaches’ Stadium.

The starting pitcher for Eastern (13-16, 1-2) was junior Andy Kuntz, who is 0-3 for the season. The Tigers’ (24-3) starting pitcher sophomore John Palinski picked up the loss for Olivet-Nazarene making his record 2-1.

The Tigers had seven pitching changes but were still unable to grab a win from the Panthers.

Senior infielder/pitcher Aaron Shelbourne grabbed the win for Eastern making his record 1-0.

“The big key was Shelbourne had a good day,” Schmitz said.

Schmitz said this game was Shelbourne’s day.

“He had some good hits and came in and pitched well,” Schmitz said. “He keeps the ball low and throws with velocity.”

Olivet Nazarene led only once the entire game. It scored its first run when junior infielder Mark Stalter banged a home run out to center field.

Eastern was able to tie the score when junior infielder Kyle Haines responded back with a home run of his own.

The score stayed tied until the bottom of the second, when Shelbourne slammed one over the left field fence for a home run. The Panthers ended the second inning 4-1, after junior infielder Chris Uhle was able to hit out to right field for a two RBI double.

The Tigers scored again in the top of the third with another home run by Stalter. Olivet Nazarene scored again with a walk after a pitching change put in Shelbourne.

The Panthers came back with a four-run inning. Haines hit his second homer of the game, and junior catcher Eddie Rivera hit a sacrifice fly to bring in redshirt freshman outfielder Pete Stone.

The score stayed the same until the bottom of the fifth when the Panthers scored six runs to make the score 13-3. Rivera grounded to the shortstop and was thrown out but was able to get an RBI. Junior infielder Jeff Cammann hit a shot out to center field for a RBI double. Uhle followed with a hit out to the left field fence for a RBI double.

After two batters were walked, Olivet-Nazarene made a pitching change to bring in senior pitcher Wally Zukowski. Walters came in and grounded a RBI single off Zukowski. The inning ended after senior catcher/infielder Bret Pignatiello stole home after a wild pitch.

Eastern took more runs from Olivet Nazarene in the sixth inning when Danny Jordan hit a home run out to center field. Zukowski walked four to add one more run to Eastern’s score making it 15-3.

The Tigers stayed scoreless until the seventh inning when they were able to score one run off senior infielder Tony Sykes’ home run.

Olivet Nazarene tried to rally back but was only able to come up with three runs. Eastern only scored one more run in the bottom of the eighth when Walters hit a pop to left field for a RBI double.

Senior pitcher Nathan Stone closed the game for the Panthers. The first three batters hit grounders off Stone. The field got two out, and then Stone fanned the fourth batter in the top of the ninth to end the game with a Panther win.

Schmitz was pleased with the performance of his team going into the weekend.

“It is nice going into the weekend with the middle of the line-up, Pignatiello, Walters and Shelbourne, feeling good with hits,” Schmitz said.