In a game in which both starting pitchers struggled and the bullpen’s dominated, the Saint Louis Billikens defeated Eastern at Coaches’ Stadium 7-5.

Kirk Miller took the mound for the Panthers and before the freshman knew what hit him, he was in immediate trouble.

The left-hander gave up a lead-off double to Billikin second baseman Jake Friederich’ but that was only the beginning. Miller was able to get the next two batters out before surrendering an RBI single toward left-field to third baseman Don Rogers.

After a wild-pitch, advancing Rogers to second, and a walk to designated hitter Corey Lawson, left-fielder Johnny Sweeney got a hold of Miller’s offering for a run-scoring single to put the Billikins up 2-0 before the Panthers stepped to the plate.

Saint Louis kept the pressure on Miller in the top of the second with the last third of the lineup causing a majority of the damage.

Miller began the inning by hitting the eighth-spot hitter Eric Mueller, and the errant pitch immediately caused problems. Junior center fielder Kyle Wort, a career .247 hitter, came to the plate and sent Miller’s pitch over the left-field fence for a two-run homer. The Billikins added another run when Rogers singled off Miller to allow first baseman Ryan Murphy to cross the plate.

The Panthers found themselves down 5-0 in the bottom of the second before starting a rally against freshman pitcher Zach Placzek.

Aaron Shelbourne led off the second and ripped his 12th home run of the year to left-field. After a pair of walks and a single, third baseman Jeff Cammann stepped into the box with the bases full of Panthers. The Boise, Idaho, native sent Placzek to the showers when he laced Placzek’s pitch down the left field line to score Nolan Cork and Danny Jordan.

Sophomore Kurt Struckhoff replaced Placzek, but Panther second baseman Chris Uhle greeted the right-hander rudely with an RBI single to cut the lead to 5-4.

The Panthers had a golden opportunity to tie or go ahead, but Struckhoff induced shortstop Kyle Haines to ground into a inning-ending double play.

In the fourth inning, the Billikens added to their lead in an auspicious way. After Friederich grounded out to short, Miller gave up a one-out walk to shortstop Aaron Thompson. A wild pitch sent Thompson to second and a ground ball to first moved him over to third with two down. With Rogers batting with a 2-1 count, umpire John Johnston called a balk on Miller and awarded home plate to Thompson.

The Panthers got the run back in the fifth as Uhle started the inning with a triple and Haines brought in his double play partner with a single to right, cutting the lead 6-5.

Saint Louis added a big insurance run off Micah Gray in the seventh when a misplayed single by right fielder Eugene Oliver allowed Rogers to reach third on the two-base error.

Lawson proceeded to put the Billikens up by two when he singled home Rogers. Unfortunately for the Panthers, they would only muster one hit over the final three innings and never posed a threat to the Billikens.

Eastern manager Jim Schmitz noted the Panthers falling behind early and the inability to make changes with the wind blowing in as the main reason they fell to 21-21 overall.

“We dug ourselves a hole by giving up five runs in the first two innings,” Schmitz said. “With the wind blowing in today, we didn’t make adjustments. We were still playing like it was Saturday when we hit 12 home runs and the wind was blowing out.”

The Panthers’ skipper disapproved the team’s lack out of patience at the plate causing them to swing at pitches out of the strike zone.

“We swung at too many high pitches today,” Schmitz said. “I’m disappointed in the offense.”

While the Panthers offense may have failed the team today, their bullpen of Gray, Jason Pinnell and Andy Kuntz allowed only one run over the final five and 1/3 innings. Schmitz was pleased with the bullpen, especially Pinnell and Kuntz.

“We needed to get some guys in there like Pinnell, and Kuntz. (They are) going to be important to this team,” Schmitz said.