The Eastern baseball team will look to win its third Ohio Valley Conference series in as many weeks when the Panthers travel to Alabama to take on the Samford Bulldogs.

The conference season started slow for the Panthers as they dropped two of three to Tennessee-Martin at Coaches Stadium in late March, but Eastern has rebounded winning five of the last six OVC games to sit in a five place tie for second.

As hot as the Panthers (11-19, 6-3) are in conference play, the Bulldogs (4-23, 0-9) have been just the opposite. Samford will enter this weekend’s showdown looking for its first ever OVC win after joining the conference this year. Despite the clear difference in records, Panthers head coach Jimmy Schmitz still is expecting a hard fought set of ball games.

One player Schmitz has no trouble putting on the field is shortstop Kyle Haines. After starting the season slow, Haines has turned things on of late and, after a three-hit game against Northern Illinois on Wednesday, will bring a batting average over .300 into the weekend.

Starting with Haines offensively, is the man just to the right of him on the infield diamond, and the third baseman Ryan Campbell. The freshman from Sandburg High School is leading the Panthers with 41 hits, 14 doubles, five home runs, 23 RBIs, a .642 slugging percentage and a batting average over .380.

“Ryan Campbell has been coming through with some big contributions for us,” Schmitz said.

Schmitz also pointed to the recent play of senior second baseman Chris Uhle and freshman first baseman Kevin Carkeek as keys to the Panthers’ turnaround.

One positive for the Panthers is Marshall, who was on a 40-pitch limit his first two starts after recovering from offseason surgery and a 60-pitch limit last weekend. However, Schmitz explained Marshall’s health is improving and he expects his senior ace to go deep in the ball game.

“Jared is still on a pitch-count, but he should be able to go into the 80s or 90s on Sunday,” Schmitz said.

The series will kick off will a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.