Sloppy defense costs Panthers

The Eastern baseball team’s hot streak came to a screeching halt on Tuesday in Terra Haute as the team was shutout 10-0 against Indiana State.

Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz said in a press release that this loss was a humbling one for the team.

“As good as we felt last week after beating a ranked team and going 3-1, the game humbled us pretty quickly today,” he said. “We had sloppy defense this afternoon and we lost our identity. Strong defense and pitching is how we win games.”

The Sycamores scored a combined five runs in both the second and third innings and would add to the lead over the next five innings to make the score 10-0.

Starting on the mound for the Panthers was freshman Andrew Grahn, who gave up seven hits and five runs (three earned) in his 2.1 innings. Grahn is now 0-2 for the season. Indiana State’s Kyle Rupe (2-0) threw ten strikeouts in seven innings, a career high.

The Panthers will compete next against South Florida on March 9-11.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-7942 or [email protected].