Jim Schmitz doesn’t have a set mid-week pitching rotation for every week.

Eastern’s baseball head coach said decisions on who will start mid-week games is done on a week-to-week basis.

For Schmitz, the crucial games are the weekend series’ against Ohio Valley Conference opponents.

But this week, the Panthers have two non-conference games before this weekend’s conference series at Tennessee-Martin.

Eastern hosts Saint Louis today, then heads to Indiana State on Wednesday.

And Schmitz has the task of deciding who’s going to pitch what games and also managing to find innings for pitchers to stay fresh.

The Panthers carry 15 pitchers on the roster, and 14 have thrown at least one inning this year.

Eastern opened up OVC play this weekend in a three-game series against Tennessee Tech and started Brandon Murphy, Tyler Kehrer and Mike Manns.

But just because those three pitched this weekend’s series, doesn’t mean they are guaranteed spots for next weekend’s series.

“There’s a little competition right now,” Schmitz said. “And I don’t know if I’ve created it. It’s not a bad thing. The guys that have come through have done well.”

Kehrer struggled in his start Saturday, only lasting 1 2/3 innings. The freshman gave up five runs on four hits, and walked two batters.

Schmitz said Monday that Vaculik will start today’s game. Kehrer will start Wednesday’s game.

“You basically have seven or eight guys that you have to have ready,” Schmitz said. “It’s kind of unfair to certain kids but I got seven or eight guys, and two of them (Vaculik and Kehrer) did not have a good weekend.”

Vaculik pitched 1 2/3 innings and gave up two runs on two hits.

Vaculik, the program’s all-time saves leader, has struggled this season and posted a 12.75 ERA in 10 appearances. He hasn’t made a start this season, but has started 13 games in his career at Eastern.

“I haven’t had the senior season I’ve wanted,” Vaculik said. “(The mid-week games) are an opportunity to get my teammates to have confidence in me and confidence in myself. If I can get on a roll and gain some confidence with these games, I can kind of get my season back on track.”

Last Wednesday, Eastern defeated Chicago State 5-2 in a game that saw Schmitz use six different pitchers.

Sophomore Brian Morrell started the game; his first of the year, and the 6-foot-7 lefthander threw three innings and gave up a run on two hits.

Following Morrell was junior right hander Tyler Brandon, who threw two innings. The next four pitchers used all threw one inning each. Morrell said the team works more in terms of how many innings a pitcher throws than just solely on pitch counts.

“Mid-week games I think, we’re all just looking to throw as well as we can and try to show coaches what we can do,” he said. “If you’re only in there for three innings, there’s no reason to hold something back. Throw as hard as you can and make as many good pitches as you can.”

Schmitz said Vaculik is expected to throw the first four innings of today’s game, while Kehrer is slated for the first three innings in Wednesday’s game.

Mid-week games are crucial to the team, Schmitz said because the team can gain confidence and take the confidence into the weekend series.

Last year, Eastern went 7-4 in mid-week games once conference play started.

Junior picture Mike Manns delivers a pitch during the top of the third inning of Eastern’s 9-2 win against Tennessee Tech at Coach’s stadium on Sunday afternoon. (Jay Grabiec/The Daily Eastern News)

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