The Panthers lost to Southern Illinois-Carbondale Wednesday, 2-0, as the Panthers moved to 23-7 on the season after losing their first home game of the season.

Junior first baseman Amanda Bilina led all Panthers with a 2-for-3 day at the plate.

Starting pitcher, freshman Reynae Hutchinson, and sophomore catcher Abby Wood each added a single of their own. The Panthers were out-hit 7-4 by the Salukis in the game.

Head coach Kim Schuette made several visits to the pitching mound, one to Hutchinson in the 3rd inning and one to freshman Stephanie Maday in the 4th inning. They each produced different results.

The Salukis had two runners on with one out, but the next Saluki batter hit into a double play to end the threat; in fact, the Salukis ended up stranding five runners while the Panthers stranded six.

Schuette said she told Hutchinson to just relax and focus on what she had to do and it seemed to work.

The visit to Maday was not as promising. The Salukis took advantage of an RBI single in the 4th inning to score the first run, and the winning run. The Salukis got the lead early and the Panthers could not catch up.

The victory helped the Salukis improve the squad’s all-time series lead over the Panthers to 25-14 and have now won 11 of the last 12 meetings between the two in-state rivals.

Maday pitched 2-2/3 innings and was tagged for the loss, dropping her season mark to 10-3 as she struck out two and walked one, but also allowed five of the Salukis’ hits.

Senior Amber May pitched 1-1/3 inning and retired two batters via strikes.

The Salukis’ scattered hits and got two runners across the plate to beat the Panthers on their home turf.

With the Wood at-bat and the Panthers trailing, she kept fighting off pitches trying to get on base. Schuette kept yelling to her to just have fun and relax.

“I want to relieve as much pressure off of them as I possibly can,” Schuette said.

When Wood recorded the final out, she dipped her head, but Schuette said she did a good job fighting off pitches as the final batter of the game.

The Panthers will have less than 24 hours to regroup as Eastern is scheduled to host OVC newcomer Southern Illinois-Edwardsville at 4 p.m. on Thursday.

The game will be the third in the league series between the two in-state OVC rivals, as the Panthers have already earned two wins over the Cougars, last week in Edwardsville.

Lenny Arquilla can be reached at 581-7944 or [email protected]