Junior catcher Chris Robinson homered twice and drove in seven runs as Illinois beat Eastern Illinois 18-11 in a genuine slugfest at Illinois Field on Tuesday.

“When a guy gets seven RBIs and goes 4-for-4, I’d say he had a pretty good day,” said Illinois coach Itch Jones about Robinson’s hitting.

Illinois’ victory moves its record to 24-12-1, while Eastern Illinois falls to 9-30.

The Illini jumped out to an early lead in the first on a pair of two-run homers by Robinson and senior centerfielder Drew Davidson.

Illinois upped its lead to 8-0 in the second with four more runs, highlighted by Robinson’s bases-clearing double to center.

Eastern finally broke through against Illinois junior starter Joel Barickman in the third, scoring five runs on a pair of home runs and a double.

With the Illini still up 10-6 in the fourth, Barickman gave up back-to-back RBI hits with two outs and brought the tying run to the plate. Jones decided to go to his bullpen and brought in sophomore Jonathon Smiley.

Smiley immediately got out of the jam when Eastern baserunner Jason Cobb was caught stealing on his first pitch.

“That helped Smiley relax,” Jones said. “Because he’d only thrown one pitch and got one out.”

Robinson homered again, leading off the bottom of the fourth and the Illini were never in jeopardy again.

They added three more runs in the fifth and the sixth and one in the seventh to wrap up a 18-11 win.

Smiley (1-0) got the win in relief, throwing four solid innings and allowing three runs and only one hit – a three-run homer to Panthers’ centerfielder Keiji Szalo. He struck out three and walked three.

Erik Huber (0-1) took the loss for Eastern.

“My biggest concern is getting wins,” Smiley said afterwards. “So whatever I can do to get us a win, that’s what I’m going to do.”

Robinson’s seven RBIs were only one off his career-high and his two home runs marked the second time in less than a week he had homered twice in one game.

Cobb and Szalo each had four RBIs to lead the Panthers, who have lost six straight games.

Illinois has the remainder of the week off and will head to Penn State this weekend.