It was a long time coming for a Panther outfielder this weekend, but a breakout performance finally occurred for an Eastern leader.

Marcus Jackson reached base in every one of his at bats and went 7-8 with a homerun in a double header versus Tennessee Martin on Saturday.

“It felt good,” Jackson said. “I haven’t felt this good since high school.”

The Panthers split with the Skyhawks, losing the first game 8-3 and winning the second 5-1.

The senior centerfielder suffered a season-ending hamstring injury after 14 games last year, and the South Holland native had never hit higher than .158 in his Eastern career.

“I think I can keep this pace up because I’m just seeing the ball better at the plate than I ever have before,” Jackson said.

In both games, the Panthers received solid starts from Kyle Widegren in game one and Kirk Miller in game two.

In game one, Widegren threw 106 pitches in six and a third innings, giving up four runs while walking two and striking out two. Widegren left in the seventh inning after walking a batter and giving up two hits and a run.

“We really thought we had it worked out to when Kyle came out,” head coach Jim Schmitz said.

Brian Long came in for Widegren and got Skyhawk shortstop Doug Nicodemus to ground out into an inning ending, momentum changing, double play.

Meador overcame the pressure and struck out Eastern third baseman Ryan Campbell to end the inning.

Panther miscues were prevalent in the top of the eighth inning as the Skyhawks put the game out of reach by getting four runs on three hits. In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Panthers resorted to pinch hitting to try and overcome the five-run deficit.

David Chacon pinch hit for a struggling Mike Gavin, Jason Pinnell pinch hit for Pete Stone and Paul Dean pinch hit for Hernandez. The only sub to reach base was Dean, but the Panthers still had a shot to score some runs in the inning.

The Panthers went down in order in the bottom of the ninth, leaving them thirsty for revenge in game two. Meador got the win bringing his record to 2-1 and Widegren got the loss leaving him at 0-4. Hernandez, Campbell and Jackson all had one run batted in and Jackson went 4-4 with a homer.

In game two, Kirk Miller faced Justin Bryant.

Miller went the distance and got the win, giving up one run on three hits. He struck out five and walked six.

Miller’s only blip on the radar came in the top of the second inning when he walked three consecutive batters to load the bases with one out. The momentum seemed to be in favor of the Skyhawks as everyone in their dugout rose to their feet and made some noise to try and rattle Miller. However, Miller got out of the jam and then cruised to victory.

“Kirk showed us how good he could be,” Schmitz said. “I wish it happened 10 games ago though.” Jackson continued to swing a hot bat going 3-4.

“Marcus is relaxed and he’s having fun out there,” Schmitz said.

“Coach usually tells us to take the soft stuff early, but today he told us to attack, so I went up there swinging,” Jackson said.

Kyle Haines, Uhle and Carkeek all had at least one hit and one RBI.

“This is one of the better games we’ve played in a while,” Schmitz said.