When you’re in a slump like Eastern catcher Jason Cobb, every ball you hit finds someone.

It happened to Cobb in the bottom of the sixth inning in Wednesday’s 4-3 loss to Southern Illinois.

With the bases loaded, Cobb hit a sinking fly ball that was caught by Panther-killer Matt Brewer.

Even though a run scored on the sacrifice fly, the potential for a big inning was there and the Panthers failed to execute – scoring only one run.

“We’ve been after him most this season,” Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz said, “and he hasn’t made any adjustments to his swing.”

Cobb came into the season with a .308 career average in his two years in Charleston, and you figure his struggles can’t go on forever. Or could they?

In his recent slump (2-for-35), he has taken hittable pitches and swung at pitches far out of the strike zone, a sure sign of a slumping hitter.

Some point to benching Cobb as the best solution, but it would be hard to bench a career .300 hitter.

“If we had other people, we’d go with them,” Schmitz said. “But, that’s our guy.”

Cobb started the season as the Panthers’ cleanup hitter, but has fallen to No. 7 lately.

Schmitz said the Panthers are likely to keep Cobb in the seven hole, rather than moving him back to the four spot.

It’s hard to bench a guy for struggling as mightily as Cobb has, but the Panthers have made the commitment to keep him in the lineup.

There has been talk of moving Ryan Campbell from third base to catcher full-time and putting slick-fielding freshman Jordan Kreke to third base.

But Cobb is not a Bingo average hitter, even though he currently occupies the “O” spot on the card (.057) in his recent slump.

Eventually good hitters snap out of their slumps. Here’s hoping the Panthers keep Cobb in the lineup and he can get back on track. The only thing puzzling to me about Cobb is his home run numbers being down.

Coming off 12 home runs last season in 166 at-bats, he has struggled to maintain that power with only one home run in 114 at-bats.

Has Cobb lost some of his power? Only he can answer that question.

If the Panthers have any chance of moving up in the Ohio Valley Conference standings, they are going to need Cobb to come up in a big way.

After Wednesday’s loss, Schmitz lamented that he has “nine singles hitters” up and down his lineup.

By the tone of his voice, he was hoping one of his 3-5 hitters would produce more home runs and knock in hitters like No.1 and 2 hitters Brett Nommensen and Mark Chagnon.

So far, it hasn’t happened.

With the slump Cobb is in and the lack of power in the middle of the lineup, who’s to tell if it will ever happen.

Marc Correnti is a junior journalism major. If you think he has been in a recent slump, tell him at EIU3583@yahoo.com.