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Tournament Central | Jim Schmitz postgame video comments
JACKSON, Tenn. -- Zach Borenstein and Alex Gee both connected for a home run but Eastern Illinois baseball fell behind early and was never able to pull even in a 7-5 loss to Jacksonville State in the second round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Thursday evening at Pringles Park.
The Panthers (18-34) fall to the loser's bracket but fortunately do not have to play until 3 p.m. Friday, taking on the winner of the 11 a.m. elimination game. Murray State is already locked into that 11 a.m. game and will play the loser of Thursday night's Eastern Kentucky-Tennessee Tech game.
Borenstein connected for a three-run shot in the fourth inning, his team-leading 11th of the season. Gee hit a two-run blast in the eighth, his ninth of the season and fifth against JSU (30-24). Both homers made it a one-run game. Gee's long ball was the first of the tournament to left field.
But the Gamecocks scored insurance runs in the seventh and eighth innings on a two-run homer by Steven Leach and a throwing error by EIU reliever Brent McNeil, respectively. If not for Leach's two-out shot in the seventh, the Panthers could have taken the lead when Gee went deep in the eighth.
Jax State surged ahead early with a four-run second inning. The first five JSU hitters of the frame reached base safely, highlighted by a leadoff triple from Andrew Edge and a subsequent double by Kyle Bluestein.
Austin Lucas (6-0) put together a strong start for the Gamecocks, giving up five runs on 10 hits over 7 2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked two.
“In the OVC, we had more home runs than other teams did against us,” EIU head coach Jim Schmitz said. “Gee and Borenstein are really guys that have been hitting well. Things have been clicking as of late, they really have with the big guys. Obviously it happened tonight to get us back in the game. Lucas just doesn't miss much, he really doesn't. We got some hits and hit some balls really hard. I thought we had a chance to get back in it but he kept focusing and did a good job pitching.”
Josh Mueller (3-2) struck out seven in what could have been his final start as a Panther. He got stronger as the game went on and kept EIU in the game with four consecutive scoreless frames after the rough second inning. Leach chased him with the two-out homer in the seventh. The junior was charged with six runs on six hits over 6 2/3 innings.
“This could be his last game; he's a high projected draft choice,” Schmitz said. “[Jax State] coach [Jim] Case made a comment about what a warrior he is. That's all we tell the guys, its tournament time and you've got to be this kind of a guy. There's nothing to hold back. I'm still proud of the team. If we keep playing like this, anything can happen. We didn't let it get to us. We've had situations where a team would blow us out after a couple mistakes. We kept it right there but they kept pitching well and kept us one or two runs away.”
Borenstein extended his career best hitting streak to 11 games with his home run. Richie Derbak was 2-for-3 with a leadoff walk in the eighth, scoring on both long balls. Shawn Ferguson also had two hits. The home runs were EIU's only extra-base hits of the game.
Eastern only left four runners on base, two coming in the seventh inning after consecutive one-out singles by Ben Thoma and Matt Kucharski.
Gee followed Borenstein's three-run homer with a walk. With one out in the inning, Ryan Dineen beat out a bunt single. However, he tried to advance to second when the ball got away from Leach at first base. Second baseman Bert Smith backed up the play and threw out Dineen at second. So instead of having runners on the corners with one out, it became a runner on third with two outs. Lucas stranded Gee, the potential tying run, at third base when he got Thoma to ground out to shortstop.
Mike Recchia is expected to start on the mound Friday for the Panthers.
