The Skyhawk baseball team picked up its first conference win and two losses over the weekend against Eastern Illinois.

The first of the three game series saw UTM putting up an impressive offensive effort, beating the Panthers 16-4.

EIU jumped out to the early 2-0 lead in the top of the third, but the Skyhawks answered back with a 4-run bottom half.

UTM added four more runs in the fifth, two in both the sixth and seventh, and four again in the eighth.

Total, the Skyhawks had 15 hits in 39 at bats. Designated hitter Chris Rezabeck led the charge on Friday afternoon, going 3-for-4 with two runs and four RBIs. Five other Skyhawks had two-hit games: Nick Luper, Nick Bruner, Brett Spivy, Zach Dean and Jason Moore.

On the mound, Scott Massey picked up his first victory of the year, throwing his second complete game. Massey allowed eight hits and one run while striking out four of the 37 batters he faced.

The second game of the series was a pitchers battle as both sides’ bats quieted down for a total of just nine hits combined. EIU came out on top, 3-1.

The Skyhawks lone run came in the bottom of the third when Dean scored on a single by Luper.

Adam Ledlow was tacked with his third loss of the season allowing six hits and three runs in 5.2 innings pitched. Ledlow struck out three and walked one.

After the absence of offense in the second game, the last game of the series saw both teams hitting again. The Skyhawks out-hit the Panthers, 12-10, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough for the victory. UTM lost the game, and the series, 7-2.

The Skyhawks scored early in the bottom of the first when a single by Spivy brought in Hideaki Sato.

UTM kept hitting, but couldn’t score again until the bottom of the eighth. Dean singled up the middle to bring in Douglas Nicodemus for the last run of the game.

Casey Estill struck out three and allowed six hits and five runs in his fourth loss of the season.

Micky Dobson also allowed three runs in his 2 innings pitched on the afternoon. Dustin Summers was brought in to close and gave up one hit, one walk, and one strike out in 1.1 innings.

The Skyhawks record now stands at 5-16, with a 1-2 record in the Ohio Valley Conference.

UTM travels to Southern Illinois University today to take on the Salukis at 2 p.m.

They get back to conference play this weekend facing host Eastern Kentucky for a three game series starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.