A stretch of poor non-conference play turned around this weekend for Eastern baseball, when the Panthers won two out of three against Tennessee Tech.

Eastern baseball head coach Jim Schmitz (above) earned his 500th career win this weekend and also saw his team start out conference play well.

Senior first baseman Erik Huber led the way offensively for Eastern this weekend.

Huber reached base five times in Saturday’s win, and went 4-for-5 with two home runs in Sunday’s win.

Here are three other observations from this weekend’s series against Tech.

1. Derbak can deal – Freshman Richie Derbak starts at second base, where he is a smooth fielder and can pivot quickly in turning doubles plays.

He can also help Eastern out on the mound. He proved he has the mentality of a closer also in Saturday’s first game.

He allowed one run in the ninth inning and preserved Eastern’s 9-7 win after entering the game with the bases loaded and no outs.

2. Too many runners left on base – The Panthers scored 21 runs in their three games this weekend. In Saturday’s win, 13 Panthers were left on base, while 10 were left on in Sunday’s win.

Eastern won both games, but can’t afford to waste scoring opportunities like that.

3. Campbell needs to produce – Senior third baseman Ryan Campbell is one double away from breaking the program’s all-time doubles record. But he needs to start hitting consistently.

He finished the weekend with 2 RBIs, but went 2-for-13 in the process.

Not what you need, nor want, from Campbell, who had been hitting fifth in Eastern’s lineup, but dropped to seventh in Sunday’s game.