Eastern took one game of a three-game series against Jacksonville State over the weekend, but the Panthers have plenty to be happy about despite the two losses at Williams Field.

After losing the first game of the series 10-6, the Panthers (4-14, 1-2 Ohio Valley Conference) came back to steal the second game of the series from the Gamecocks 5-4. The win was Eastern’s first over Jacksonville (19-12, 5-3) since the Gamecocks joined the OVC last season.

Eastern trailed 4-0 after three innings in the second game of the doubleheader, before the Panthers made their first mark on the board with a two-run fourth inning.

Sophomore catcher Sandyn Short drove in the first Panther run with a triple to right field and junior third baseman Rachel Karos singled in the next at bat to drive in Short.

The Panthers added another run in the sixth and entered the last inning, trailing 4-3.

Junior infielder Jenny Cervetto led off the seventh with a single, and after a sacrifice bunt advanced her to second, sophomore infielder Katy Steele drove in the tying run with a single to left.

Freshman second baseman Robyn Mackie came up to the plate with one out and the winning run on first and doubled to left center to bring Steele home. Freshman pitcher Karyn Mackie got the win, pitching seven innings allowing four runs, three earned and eight hits.

“We got a win off a very good team,” Eastern head coach Lloydene Searle said. “We pitched everyone on our roster to try and win these games and they all responded well.”

In the final game of the series, Eastern again had to work back from an early deficit.

The Gamecocks jumped out to an early lead with a four-run first inning and added two more in the second and another in the third.

The Panthers answered back with five runs in the bottom half of the third, sparked by a three-run homer off the bat of Short.

In the top of the seventh, senior pitcher Heather Hoeschen started off the inning by walking Jacksonville State’s freshman third baseman Whitney Elder, and the next batter, senior catcher Melinda McDonald, reached on a throwing error.

The Gamecocks went on to load the bases with just one out. Jacksonville grounded into a force play at home and Hoeschen walked the next batter to give the Gamecocks an 8-6 lead.

Hoeschen was able to work out of the jam, allowing just one run.

Eastern put two runners on in the seventh courtesy of two Gamecock errors.

With two outs and runners on first and second, Robyn Mackie doubled to left center to drive in two runs and tie the game at 8. Mackie was gunned at third trying to extend her double.

“The girls had great tenacity in this series,” Searle said. “They took one pitch at a time and never gave up.”

In extra innings, Jacksonville junior pitcher Christine Pierce drove a Karyn Mackie pitch over the left center field fence to put up the Gamecocks up. Eastern couldn’t answer back in the bottom half of the eighth, and Jacksonville hung on for the win.

“This was like a conference tournament game.” Searle said. “It was back and forth all weekend and (Jacksonville) probably feel a little more rewarded then we do, but we definitely had some positives this weekend.”

The Panthers travel to Samford to start a three-game series with the Bulldogs Saturday.