After a disappointing weekend that saw Eastern baseball drop two of three home games against Ohio Valley Conference member Tennessee-Martin, the Panthers will hit the road for a matinee with Saint Louis University.

Although the meeting with the Billikens is a non-conference affair, Eastern head coach Jimmy Schmitz stressed the importance of the game for his struggling Panthers.

“Because all of our mid-week games are against other Illinois or Missouri schools a lot of our players know guys on the other team so the games really have a pride factor for us,” Schmitz said. “There are certain things we want to get done in the mid-week games, and we want to win these games because we will recruit against these schools.”

One of the things Schmitz wants to do is get pitcher Mike Manns innings on the mound. The freshman from Lincoln-Way Central has an 18.00 ERA in seven relief appearances spanning just three innings. Manns only faced one batter his last time out (March 27th against Tennessee-Martin) and his previous long outing was 1 and 1-3 innings against Indiana State.

“Mike has had some good spots and bad spots in relief,” Schmitz said. “He’s going to start [against Saint Louis] so he can get his feet wet and to give him some confidence and experience.”

One factor Schmitz shouldn’t worry about is the play of his outfielder Marcus Jackson. The senior from Thornwood High School went 7-8 in the doubleheader against Tennessee-Martin last Saturday and raised his batting average 80 points over the weekend to a team-leading .344.

But an area concerning Schmitz is the productivity out of the designated hitter spot. Eastern has rotated sophomores Mike Gavin and Paul Dean in the DH slot and has received little success. Gavin is hitting .155 in 17 games (15 starts) with one home run and five RBIs, while Dean is slightly better average wise at .161 but is homerless and has three RBIs in eight starts.

“I’m very worried about production at DH,” Schmitz said. “It’s certainly not a positive for us. Both [Gavin and Dean] have had a lot of at-bats but are struggling. As a coach, you like the position because it gives you another batter but we need more production. We’re looking into [the DH spot] and we need to find someone to hit.”

Both Eastern (3-16, 1-2 OVC) and Saint Louis (7-16, 1-4 C-USA) enter the game desperately looking for a win. The Panthers recent 14-game skid has been well documented but the Billikens have had their troubles as well losing seven of the previous eight games.

Schmitz said he is looking at this game to fix problems with the club before conference play resumes this weekend not as an opportunity to catch the Billikens while they are in a tailspin.

“The key to this ballgame is to take care of a lot of things and get rid of the big inning that has troubled us,” Schmitz said. “Last weekend that big inning was from the result of two homers and a double but rather because of errors and a wild pitch. We’re not staying tough right now and we need to do that.”

With the contest not counting in the OVC standings, Schmitz said he might manage a little different than in conference play. If Manns gets in trouble early in the game, the freshman will have a chance to work out of the jam according to the Panthers coach.

“I’ll do things a little different, but I want to give Mike a shot. I’m going to give some other players a chance, but we want to win because that’s the best way to turn things around.”