Despite leading 5-4 in the ninth inning, Eastern’s bullpen blew another game, losing 8-6 to Southern Illinois Carbondale Wednesday at Coaches Stadium in 10 innings.

New closer, junior pitcher Mike Recchia, gave up a two-run double in the ninth and junior pitcher Dillon Roark (1-4), the losing pitcher, allowed a two-run home run in the 10th for another blown save.

Southern, in the top of the ninth, had junior center fielder Chris Murphy popping out at short, but then junior second baseman Blake Pinnon and Serritella hit consecutive singles off Recchia.

Recchia forced senior designated hitter Tyler Bullock pop out to third. However, freshman right fielder Austin Montgomery drilled a 3-2 pitch into deep center for a two-run double but Montgomery was thrown out at third. His hit made it 6-5 Southern.

“Mike is a guy that the dugout feels that he can close a game,” head coach Jim Schmitz said. “If you follow the game of baseball, you don’t get it done all the time. Mike’s going to be our closer this weekend and I’m not going to question that decision. He’s the only guy who could do it.”

The bottom of the ninth had junior shortstop Cam Strang single off Saluki senior pitcher Brent George. Sophomore third baseman Zach Borenstein struck out, but senior first baseman Alex Gee had a chopping single over Southern sophomore first baseman Chris Serritella to put runners at the corners.

“That closer throws 95 mph, so it’s really hard to look,” Gee said. “He started me off with two sliders and in the back of your mind, you have to know that he’s got a very good fastball. So all I tried to do was to stay back and I was looking for that slider; but when I got fastball, obviously, I didn’t have a great swing but I got enough for a single.”

Sophomore left fielder Ben Thoma then hit a sacrifice fly to right-center to score Strang to tie the game at 6. The Salukis got freshman pitcher Lee Weld in the game and he struck out senior designated hitter Richie Derbak looking.

The Panthers bullpen again did not hold up in the 10th. Junior pitcher Dillon Roark got freshman left fielder Nick Johnson and sophomore catcher Brian Bajer out, but then ran into trouble.

Southern senior third baseman Tony Lepore walked and then senior shortstop Michael Stalter blasted a two-run homer off the scoreboard for the 8-6 Saluki edge.

“He didn’t pitch well last night or tonight,” Schmitz said. “I’m not here to bash anyone.We came up short.”

In the bottom of the 10th Eastern sophomore catcher Gerik Wallsten slapped a single past the infield and junior right fielder Shawn Ferguson reached on a Serritelle error.

Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz substituted red-shirt freshman Daniel Bracken to pinch run for Wallsten. However, Bracken was forced out at third on a fielder’s choice hit by junior center fielder Matt Kucharski.

Strang struck out and then Borenstein came to the plate. Borenstein launched the ball to deep center for the possible game winner, but Murphy made an impressive over-the-shoulder catch to end the game.

In frustration, Borenstein jumped up and then emotionally threw his helmet to the ground.

“If the wind was not blowing in, we would’ve won the game,” Schmitz said.

To begin the game, Eastern freshman starter Troy Barton stuck out his first four Saluki batters he faced.

“Up to this point, my last couple of starts haven’t been real good and I didn’t know what the team was thinking with me pitching like whether they were behind me or not,” Barton said. “I wanted to prove to them that I was here to win a game and that I can pitch. So I thought if I struck some guys out and made good pitches, it would give us a lot of momentum.”

Then Johnson hit a solo home run in the second to open the game 1-0.

The Panthers answered in the bottom half of the second with RBI singles by freshman second baseman Ryan Dineen, red-shirt freshman George Kalousek and Kucharski.

Eastern added to its lead in the third and sixth innings on RBIs by Dineen and Kucharski.

Southern’s bats woke up in the eighth off Eastern junior pitcher Tom Kimbro when Murphy got a bunt single. Next, Pinnon singled and Serritella hit a three-run homer to deep center to cut the Panthers lead to 5-4.

“It’s been a rough year; I don’t know how else to say it,” Schmitz said. “They have one of the best closers in Brent George and we scored a run and tied it up.For the first time, we came back to tie a game in the ninth.”

Bob Bajek can be reached at 581-7944

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