In baseball the old adage states pitching wins championships, and if the first three games of the Eastern season are any indication as to how the team will fare throughout the year this theory certainly serves true.

The Eastern baseball team started their 2004 season without the big bats of Bret Pignatiello, Danny Jordan and Kirk Walters. These ballplayers finished up their four years of college eligibility last season and with their departure the Panthers lack proven offensive power they were accustomed to in previous years.

While Eastern obviously needs to score runs to win games, the departure of pitchers Matt Tyson, Damon White and Nathan Stone will play a bigger role in the outcome of the Panthers season then the loss of those three powerful bats.

In Eastern’s opening ballgame, the Panthers met 2003 College World Series participant Southwest Missouri State and pulled off the stunner of the tournament with a 6-4 extra inning win. The Panther bats, without Pignatiello, Jordan and Walters, scored enough runs to win but it was the pitching which set the foundation for the upset.

Making his first Eastern start, junior college transfer Kyle Widegren was solid on the mound allowing a powerful SMS lineup just two runs over five innings of work. Widegren left the game with a 3-2 lead, but his chance for a win ended when SMS scored two runs in the eighth off freshman Erik Huber. Eastern won the game in the 12th and senior Andy Kuntz picked up the win throwing 4.2 innings of shutout ball.

Kuntz had to work out of trouble seemingly every inning, but the right-hander did his best Joe Borowski impersonation and escaped doom to give Eastern a huge win in game one of the Holiday Inn and Suites/Citgo Classic.

The joy in Pantherville soon ended in game two of the tournament when Eastern ran into Louisiana-Monroe. The Indians exposed Eastern’s young and inexperienced pitching to the tune of 16 hits and 15 runs in Louisiana-Monroe’s 15-4 victory. Junior college transfer Ted Juske made his first Eastern start much like Widegren did the day before, however Juske’s start was forgettable as he was roughed up for five runs on seven hits and the rest of the Panther bullpen faired little better.

In the finale of the tournament against Kansas State, Eastern starter Kirk Miller provided the Panthers with a quality outing before the Wildcats torched the bullpen of Matt Hall, Mike Bouchez and Anthony Billups for nine runs (eight earned) in just four innings.

At the plate, Eastern managed six, four and three runs in the three games over the weekend. Not exactly eye popping totals by any means, but those numbers should be good enough for a couple of wins especially with pitching dominating hitting early on in the season. What does stick out is the number of runs the Eastern pitching staff gave up. Take away the outing against SMS and the Panther ERA is near 12.00. If the SMS game is included the Panther ERA still is nearing 10.00, and not many teams are going to win ballgames.

Fans may miss the long home runs hit by Pignatiello and Walters and the solid swing of Jordan, but the fact head coach Jimmy Schmitz knew every time he sent Tyson and White to the mound he had a very good chance of getting a quality outing is more comforting than a powerful middle lineup. The loss of Stone means the Panthers will move Kuntz from middle relief to the closer spot, thus leaving a void on the mound in the sixth, seventh and eighth inning.

Eastern will get a major boost when staff ace Jared Marshall returns from off season surgery in the next few weeks. It’s possible the underclassmen and transfers will gel together to give Eastern a potent staff, but if the first weekend foreshadows the rest of the year it will be the pitchers lost, not the hitters, that have the greatest impact on the win/loss record this season.