Senior pitcher Damon White has the second lowest ERA in the Ohio Valley Conference and going into this weekend, he had a meager 2-2 record.

White pitched well all season, but has suffered from poor run support limiting his record to four decisions.

But when he faced the pitcher with the best ERA in the OVC, Southeast Missouri State University’s Tim Alvarez, Eastern’s offense came through when White need it to.

Alvarez proved why he has the best ERA in the conference by pitching five innings of no-hit baseball, but the Panthers managed to find a way to get White the run support he deserved.

Not only did White get the run support he deserved, but he also got the defensive support he needs.

In his previous eight starts before Friday’s match up with Alvarez at Cape Girardeau, Mo., White had yielded 20 runs, but only 11 of them earned. In Friday’s game, Eastern’s defense backed up White with errorless defense while White struck out 11 batters and forced seven fly outs and nine ground outs.

The Panthers might not have given White the 22 runs the Indians gave their pitching staff the following day, but with timely hitting the Panthers gave White what he needed. When White yielded his only run of the game to give the Indians the lead, the Panthers’ bats did let Alvarez hold onto the lead for long. In the Panthers’ ensuing at bat they took advantage of their first hit of the game not knowing when the next would come. A leadoff single followed by a walk and coaxing Alvarez to balk set the table for a sacrifice fly to make Alvarez pay for his mistakes, which were few.

After the Panthers proved Alvarez fallible in the sixth; they proved him beatable in the seventh. Eastern hitters stroked four consecutive hits including back-to-back home runs for for four runs. Alvarez retired 15 consecutive hitters before the sixth inning and by the seventh he allowed four consecutive hits.

While Alvarez unraveled, White got stronger. Alvarez might have pitched better for the first five innings, but White proved what a pitcher does in the last three innings matter more.

After his teammates gave him the four-run lead, which is not a secure lead for any team with the ever present aluminum bat to provide runs in bunches for college hitters, White finished strong. The Panthers ace retired eight consecutive batters to end the game.

A good pitcher will be able to retire 15 consecutive batters in the first five innings of the game. The pitchers arm will be fresh, the hitters won’t have the advantage of seeing what the pitchers has that day.

Once the Panthers figured out what Alvarez was working with, they took advantage and took the lead.

White, on the other hand, figured out how to get hitters out. By the end of the game White undoubtedly didn’t have his best stuff with him anymore. He finished the game with 147 ptiches thrown. He knew what had worked against hitters earlier in the game and what didn’t. It didn’t matter that he didn’t have his best stuff to work with. Alvarez on the other hand threw even more pitches, 156. But Eastern’s hitters were able to figure out how to hit Alvarez’s pitches as he grew fatigued.

The combination of timely hitting and smart pitching down the stretch in Friday’s game with SEMO should give Panthers fans high hope of going far in the OVC Tournament this year.