Kevin Duchene’s third bout with trouble proved to be his last.

Illinois’ left-handed starter entered Tuesday’s top of the sixth inning having allowed just three hits to Eastern Illinois, including a pair of two-out doubles in the two innings prior. 

He escaped those innings with relative ease, along with some help from right fielder Jordan Parr, who gunned down Eastern shortstop Cameron Berra for his fifth outfield assist of the season.

But that sixth inning was a barrage of terror from the Panthers that the Illini couldn’t handle. Down a run, Eastern scored eight times in the inning and went on to earn its first win over the Illini since 2011 with an 8-4 victory.

“They outpitched us, they played better defense than us and they outhit us,” head coach Dan Hartleb said. “It’s tough to win games when you get you get outplayed in all three aspects.”

Three relievers were brought into stymie the danger in the sixth, but by the time right-hander Andrew Mamlic retired Mitch Gasbarro, Eastern’s 12th batter of the inning, the Panthers had amassed a seven-run cushion.

Drasen Johnson and J.D. Nielson both failed to record an out in their relief attempts. Eastern recorded six hits — all singles — and the Illini committed three errors to contribute to the damage.

Duchene accounted for the first error when a ground ball by Panthers shortstop Dane Sauer ricocheted off his glove toward the third base line. Duchene’s attempt to recover resulted in a wild throw toward first base, sending Sauer to second. Caleb Howell followed by poking the ball into left field with some opposite-field hitting that sent Sauer to third base. A suicide squeeze attempt by Mitch Gasbarro was handled successfully by Duchene, who pitched the slow-rolling bunt to catcher Kelly Norris-Jones in time to tag out Sauer for the first out in the inning.

That was enough for Hartleb, who called for Johnson to replace Duchene after 5 1/3 innings. Johnson, however, was unable to help preserve the lead. Duchene was credited with the loss, his first of the season.

“I don’t really know what I was doing on that botched play,” Duchene said. “They got hot for an inning, which doesn’t usually happen, but it did today. So hats off to them.”

Illinois gained its lead off a solo home run by Justin Parr in the first inning to extend his career-best hitting streak to 17 games. Parr’s 2-for-4 hitting on the night proved to be the only asset for the Illini’s offensive attack, which was held to five hits by five Panthers pitchers. The Panthers recorded 12 hits on the night.

“The bottom of their order ate us alive,” Hartleb said, referring to Eastern’s seventh, eighth and ninth hitters, who combined to hit 5-for-12.

Illinois went eight innings without a hit before Chase Hainline singled in the bottom of the ninth. The Illini did manage to add three runs in their final inning off a three-run home run by Thomas Lindauer, though it did very little other than damage Panthers reliever Scott Houdek’s ERA.

“We didn’t have any quality at-bats,” Parr said. “One bad at-bat rolled into another.”

Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz responded by inserting No. 1 starting pitcher Joe Greenfield to close the game, suggesting this wasn’t just any midweek affair in the eyes of the Panthers.

“Signing day is coming up,” Schmitz said. “You want to win all your games, but when you’re recruiting in your home state, these are the teams you’re looking to beat.”

Jeff can be reached at [email protected] and @jkirsh91.