After clinching the regular season Ohio Valley Conference title last weekend, the top-seeded Panthers look to repeat as OVC Tournament champions on May 21-23 at Brooks Stadium in Paducah, Ky.

Last season, the Panthers went into the OVC Tournament as a fourth-seeded dark horse, but surprisingly earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by going on to win the OVC tourney championship.

This season, the Panthers come in as heavy favorites.

The team finished the regular season at 36-12, and went 14-4 against OVC opponents, good enough for a first place finish and an outright OVC regular season championship. Murray State finished second in the conference at 13-8-1 (32-19-1 overall).

Despite being the favorites, the Panthers are going into the competition with the same hunger they had last year. Although they won the regular season crown, the team will still have to win the tournament in order to receive an automatic bid in the NCAA Regional, which begins May 29.

If they should fail to win the OVC tournament title, the Panthers could only hope for an at-large bid to advance to the NCAA tournament. EIU is currently 37th in the RPI rankings, which are used by a selection committee to choose at-large bids. The Panthers also received three votes in the latest ESPN/USA Today poll.

Despite their impressive resume, history would be against the Panthers if they do fail to win the tournament.

No OVC team has ever received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“We’re looking at it the same way (as last year),” senior second baseman Jordan Tokarz said. “We’re going to respect everyone we play. We have a lot of confidence to win this tournament, and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

The Panthers will be getting a huge lift with the expected return of senior center fielder Brett Nommensen.

Nommensen, who was this year’s OVC Preseason Player of the Year, has been out since April 10 with a broken bone in his wrist.

Both EIU and Murray State will receive first-round byes in the OVC tournament. The Panthers will have to wait until after Wednesday’s first round games to find out who they will face in the second round.

Depending on the outcomes, the Panthers could face fourth-seeded Southwest Missouri State, fifth-seeded Tennessee Tech, or sixth-seeded Jacksonville State. EIU has gone a combined 6-1 against those three opponents this season.

This weekend, the Panthers not only look to advance to the NCAA tournament; they also have an opportunity to earn a place in the EIU record books. The team is one victory shy of tying the all-time win record for a single season.

The Panthers closed out the regular season by taking two of three from Eastern Kentucky. The weekend series was highlighted by home runs from seniors Jordan Kreke, Ryan Lindquist, and Tokarz in their last game at Coaches Stadium, an 11-5 victory over EKU on May 16.

“To win two out of three for us was big going into the tournament,” Tokarz said. “We’re going to try to carry that momentum into the tournament.”

The Panthers will face the lowest-seeded winner of Wednesday’s first round games at 6:30 p.m. on May 21.

Jeff Jurinek can be reached at 581-7943 or at jejurinek@eiu.edu.