Eastern let an early lead slip away against Indiana State Wednesday and fell to the Sycamores 7-4.

The Panthers (9-26) had four errors on the day, allowing four unearned Sycamore runs to score.

The Panthers loaded up the bases with two outs in the second inning. Sycamore pitcher Chad Dawson walked in the first run of the game but was able to work out of the jam when Eastern third baseman Ryan Campbell popped out to the catcher.

Eastern went on to score two more runs in the second, and with sophomore pitcher Eric Huber allowing just three hits and no runs through three innings, it looked like the Panthers were gaining momentum.

But the Sycamores (21-17) would compensate on an Eastern error to strike back in the fifth.

With two runners and two outs, Indiana State outfielder Chris Schmidt grounded to second baseman Adam Varrassi, who had a wild throw to first that scored two runs.

And the Panthers’ mistakes would continue in the seventh. Junior pitcher Kenny Firlit came into pitch for the Panthers and struck out the first batter he faced.

The next batter reached on an error by shortstop Jon Hickey. After advancing the runner to second on a wild pitch, Firlit gave up a single to bring the run home.

With two outs, freshman pitcher Mike Manns hit the first batter he faced since relieving Firlit, and the following batter reached on another Hickey error that allowed another run to score.

Manns escaped the inning when he threw a wild pitch that bounced straight off the back stop and right back to catcher Joe Hernandez, who tagged out the runner trying to steal home.

Trailing 4-3 in the eighth, freshman Matt Brannigan tripled to right field, scoring junior outfielder Pete Stone, and Eastern appeared to be right back in the game.

With the score tied in the ninth, junior pitcher Mike Bouchez gave up a single to start off the inning.

The next batter laid down a sac bunt back to Bouchez, who overthrew the throw to first, allowing the runner at first to score. Indiana State would drove in two more runs to before the inning was over.

In the ninth, the Panthers put only one runner on base before the Sycamores closed the game.