The Illinois baseball team would’ve liked to start its five game road trip on a better note. The Illini were upset by Eastern Illinois, 10-6 at Coaches Stadium in Charleston, Ill., yesterday afternoon.

The Panthers’ defeat of the Illini was its first win against the Illini since April 18, 2000 when Eastern Illinois beat the Illini 1-0 in Charleston. Before yesterday the Illini had won four straight against the Panthers.

“Overall I thought from both sides of the field we weren’t a very good team today,” head coach Dan Hartleb said. “We got runners on base but didn’t do a good job of playing team baseball.”

Illinois had opportunities early in the game to take control, but were unable to put together big hits with men on base.

In the top of the fourth inning Illinois had the bases loaded with one out and the game tied 1-1, but the Illini were only able to push across one run on an infield single by junior outfielder Ryan Snowden to take a 2-1 lead.

“Our offense had an opportunity early to set a precedent for the game,” Hartleb said. “Four out of the first five innings we had opportunities to move runners and make contact to score runs, but we didn’t do it. We had an opportunity to take some pressure off our defense and pitching and we did a poor job of that.”

Eastern Illinois took the lead back in the bottom of the fourth with three runs against Illini freshman starting pitcher Aaron Martin to take a 4-2 lead. Illinois senior outfielder Trevor Huisinga brought the Illini back within one in the top of the fifth inning with an RBI double.

But the Panthers broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth. The Panthers sent 10 batters to the plate and scored six runs against Illini junior relief pitcher Omar Kadir and senior relief pitcher Joel Barickman to extend the Panthers’ lead to 10-3.

“Our bullpen was poor,” Hartleb said. “We walked too many guys and the only time we pitched well was when no body was on base and there wasn’t any pressure.”

Illinois would add a run in top of the sixth and two more in the eighth inning to pull the Illini within four, but the Illini wouldn’t get any closer, falling 10-6 to the Panthers.

Snowden led the Illini at the plate, going 2-2 with one RBI and a run scored. Eastern Illinois junior outfielder Mark Chagnon hit his first home run of the season in the first inning for the Panthers.

The loss dropped the Illini to 20-18 overall and 13-9 in non-conference games. Illinois takes their road trip north to Minnesota this weekend in hopes of getting back to .500 in Big Ten play for the first time since the Illini’s first Big Ten series against Purdue.

“We’ve bounced back all year,” Hartleb said. “We have been back and forth between good and bad stretches all year. Everyday is a new day and every game is a new game. We have to look forward and get in the right frame of mind to perform.”