After dropping down to the elimination bracket in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, the Eastern baseball team used a couple of clutch hits and competitive pitching to beat Southern Illinois University Edwardsville 11-6 and keep its season alive.
The Panthers (30-21, 17-7) advance to play the loser of Friday’s first semifinal game in the winners’ bracket between Little Rock and Lindenwood.
Here are 3 takeaways from Eastern’s first two games of the tournament.
1. Bunting is not as automatic in the postseason
Eastern is the NCAA Division 1 leader in sacrifice bunts with 72, and while junior catcher Zak Goodwin picked up an RBI on a sacrifice bunt with runners on first and third base against SIUE, the Panthers had their fair share of struggles with getting the bunt down.
Freshman outfielder Jake Ottensmeier, who was able to get a sacrifice bunt down in the fourth inning, was presented with an opportunity to do the same in the seventh with senior infielder Chris Worcester at first base and nobody out.
Ottensmeier popped up the bunt attempt though, leading to a diving catch by the pitcher as the ball was about to hit the ground.
Worcester was caught between first and second base and was doubled off.
In the eighth inning, senior left fielder Brett Stanley popped up a sacrifice bunt attempt that went foul and a few pitches later in the at-bat struck out.
“There’s just more pressure in this game,” head coach Jason Anderson said. “The more pressure you can put on a pitcher, the harder it is to execute.”
SIUE had a couple moments in the game where it struggled to throw strikes when they knew the bunt was coming which was a theme when these two played in the regular season a couple weeks ago.
2. Eastern’s energy was turned up a notch against SIUE
“Thank you” was the phrase exchanged between the players throughout the game, which seemed to come from junior third baseman Mike O’Conor. After his bases-clearing three RBI triple in the fourth inning, the amped Panther dugout shouted “thank you” at an equally amped O’Conor, who had four hits in the game and tied for the team lead with three RBIs.
O’Conor wouldn’t reveal what exactly the context behind that was.
“It’s classified information,” he said was a smile on his face.
The Panthers felt like they didn’t play their brand of baseball against Little Rock, according to Anderson, and the overall feeling after the SIUE win was that Eastern had controlled the game a lot better.
“Nobody was really stepping up [against Little Rock], it was like we were just kind of happy to be here,” Anderson said. “We got to have a killer instinct. We had some higher words on the bus, and I don’t know if it worked or not, but man, I’m really proud of those guys.”
Bringing the energy in the dugout is key for Eastern’s success, according to Anderson and O’Conor.
“[Having high energy] brings everybody together,” O’Conor said. “The confidence was higher than it was in the first game.”
3. Carew and Solis got valuable late game outs
Despite getting tagged for the loss, Christian Carew was Eastern’s most effective pitcher against Little Rock.
The senior right-hander entered the game in the seventh and didn’t allow an earned run until the 10th inning when redshirt junior infielder Sammy Harris hit a pinch-hit RBI double into the right-center gap to score the go-ahead run.
Carew retired the first eight hitters he faced and 11 of the 13 batters he faced across his entire outing of three and 2/3 innings.
In the SIUE game, it was sophomore right-hander Anthony Solis who was first out of the bullpen, entering the game in the seventh after a gritty six inning outing from senior right-hander Tyler Conklin.
Solis’s fastball matched Conklin’s velocity, and only four Cougar baserunners reached against Solis on four hits.
Solis didn’t allow a walk and struck out one while getting six of his 12 outs on fly balls.
Anderson said that Solis is learning from Conklin’s competitiveness, and that it’s not about how hard he can throw rather than how many hitters he can get out.
Solis and Carew both threw just over 40 pitches and could be available to pitch again if needed.
Eastern is scheduled to face its next opponent, the loser between Little Rock and Lindenwood, Friday evening at Mtn Dew Park in Marion. First pitch is set for about 6 p.m.
Gabe Newman can be reached at 581-2812 or at ghnewman@eiu.edu.
