With the top schools coming to Coaches Stadium, Eastern proved its youthful team has the patience to win close games.

The Panthers took two of three in their weekend series with Ohio Valley Conference contender Southeast Missouri.

Eastern had arguably its biggest comeback of the season in game two of the series as the Panthers rallied from four down to win in extra innings.

“You try not to put too much emphasis on specific series, but for us to come back and win was big for the character of this club,” Eastern head coach Jimmy Schmitz said.

The Indians took an early lead off the bat of infielder Ernie Bracamonte. The 5-foot-9 junior from Chandler, Ariz., used all of his strength to muscle a Ted Juske pitch over the left field wall for his fifth home run to give SEMO a 2-0 advantage.

The Indians took a 3-1 lead when outfielder Frankie Montiel hit a two-run bomb to left field off Alex Chapple, which happened be the junior’s second homer on the year.

Down four in the last half of the inning, freshman infielder Adam Varassi struck out swinging but advanced to first on a passed ball, and the Panther snowball began to roll.

Outfielder Mark Chagnon grounded back to the pitcher but Derek Herbig bobbled the ball as he attempted to tag Chagnon down the first base line. As Herbig’s day ended, the Indians brought in closer Brad Smith, whose submarine style didn’t seem intimidate the Panthers.

The first batter Smith saw was Kyle Haines who picked the perfect time for his fourth home run of the year, which drove in three runs. Paul Dean pinch hit for centerfielder Marcus Jackson and doubled to left scoring Ryan Campbell to tie the game.

“We’re getting good things done when we need to by players that have needed to come around,” Schmitz said.

Dean ended the game in the ninth when he singled to right scoring Haines on a close play at the plate allowing Eastern to win 6-5. Dean’s 2-for-2 game included the game-tying and game winning hits.

Both teams waited out a three-and-a-half hour rain delay Saturday to start game No. 1 but it didn’t faze Haines as the senior drove in three runs in Eastern’s 6-5 win over SEMO.

In the ninth inning Southeast staged another rally. Ernie Bracamonte dropped a leadoff single into shallow right field. Closer Chris Vaculik struck out Frankie Montiel on a called third strike, but Freddie Lopez followed with a seeing-eye single through the left side, putting the go-ahead runner on base.

Brent Lawson grounded a ball to Campbell.

The rookie third baseman threw to Chris Uhle at second for an out but Kevin Carkeek dropped the relay. However, the umpire ruled that pinch-runner Bryan Kurt interfered with the play at second and called Lawson out to end the game, Eastern’s second inning-ending double play.

Vaculik worked the final 1 1/3 innings to pick up his fourth save for starting pitcher Kyle Widegren (5-4) who earned his fifth straight win.

The Panthers nearly erased another deficit in game two. SEMO tagged starter Jared Marshall (0-2) for four runs in 3.1 innings. Ernie Bracamonte hit a two-out, two-run homer, Freddie Lopez nailed a solo blast and Noll lined a RBI double.

From there Vaculik came in and shut the door not allowing a hit, walking three batters and striking out four. Campbell had a RBI groundout in the third then made it a one-run game in the fifth. Haines singled with two outs then the rookie third baseman lined a two-run blast over the left field fence, his team-leading sixth homer.

Eastern wasted a two-on, one-out opportunity in the sixth. In the seventh Uhle led off with a single then Haines was robbed of a base hit on a diving catch in center field by Montiel. Campbell singled Uhle to third but Kevin Carkeek struck out and Gavin grounded out to end the game.

Anthony Maupin (5-5) pitched his fourth complete game, allowing three runs on seven hits – six of those in the final three innings. He walked four and struck out five.

Campbell had three of his team’s seven hits. Marshall and Vaculik held SEMO to just five base hits.

Eastern hosts in-state rival Illinois on Tuesday, first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m.