Mike Budde picked the wrong time to commit his first error of the season.

In the seventh inning of the Panthers’ game against Southeast Missouri on Sunday at Coaches Stadium, Budde picked up a sacrifice bunt by first baseman Aaron Rave.

He turned to throw out designated hitter Phillip Riley at second base, but the ball short-hopped shortstop Adam Varrassi and both runners were safe.

Two batters later, Redhawks’ shortstop Jordan Payne drove in a run with a ground out to Varrassi. It ended up being the game-winner as SEMO avoided a sweep by beating the Panthers 4-3.

“I think Mike’s leg slipped a little bit, and that’s when the ball went awry,” head coach Jim Schmitz said.

The loss dropped Eastern to a game behind Jacksonville State, who swept Morehead State and is now in second place in the Ohio Valley Conference.

The Panthers (24-17, 10-7 OVC) hit the ball hard all game, but with the wind blowing in at more than 20 miles per hour, they couldn’t get anything going.

Josh Parham, who entered the game for the starting pitcher Riley after the fourth inning, pitched five innings of hitless relief. Of the 16 batters Parham faced, 10 hit the ball in the air, and two struck out.

With the wind in the hitters’ faces, the balls never had a chance to go anywhere.

“We knew the guy, we knew exactly what he was doing,” Schmitz said. “The wind kind of held up a couple of balls and that was the difference in the game. It was a good move on (SEMO head coach Mark Hogan’s) part.”

A rare event in the top of the sixth almost ended up helping the Panthers win the game. With the Redhawks (15-26, 6-11) stringing together three consecutive hits, Schmitz came out and talked to the umpires.

The game was delayed for about 10 minutes as the umpires conferred and then went to inform Hogan that the team had batted out of order.

Third baseman Daryl Graham had batted when Payne was supposed to hit.

The mistake happened because Hogan had written the wrong order on the dugout wall.

“The kids batted in the order that I had up on the wall,” Hogan said.

The rally still produced two more runs but could have been worse for the Panthers. Budde induced a fly out from catcher Levi Olson to left fielder Mark Chagnon with the bases loaded to end the inning.

The loss followed a doubleheader sweep of the Redhawks on Saturday.

In the first game, the Panthers used 12 singles and seven SEMO walks to win 7-6. Senior Kenny Firlit pitched a seven-inning, complete game, six-hitter in the 5-1 win in the nightcap.