At 6:30 p.m. today, the Panthers open up postseason play in the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. The game marks the beginning of a road leading to a possible berth in the NCAA Tournament, and a chance to advance to the College World Series.

Ultimately, the hugely successful 2009 season will be judged by how the Panthers fare this weekend and throughout the rest of the postseason. But whether they should advance or not, their accomplishments during the regular season will certainly guarantee this year’s Eastern baseball team as one of the best of all time.

The Panthers finished the regular season with a 36-12 overall record. Their winning percentage of .750 is the best since the 1981 team had a .720 winning percentage. The team is only one victory shy of tying the single-season win record of 37, set by the 1998 squad.

The Panthers hit 92 home runs during the regular season, the second-highest home run total in program history. The 1998 team owns the record with 120.

As a team, the Panthers are batting .365, which ranks them second in the nation behind only New Mexico, who is batting .369. Out of 288 teams in Division 1, Eastern is ranked third in slugging percentage (.602), sixth in home runs per game (1.92), and tenth in scoring (9.4 per game).

The team lost only one series all season when Jacksonville State took two out of three from the Panthers on April 18-19 at Coaches Stadium. Coincidently, the Panthers’ only losing streak of the season came in those two games against the Gamecocks.

During regular season conference play, the Panthers compiled a 10-2 mark in games against the other five teams that qualified for the OVC Tournament.

At the OVC league banquet on May 19, four Panthers were named First Team All-OVC: Senior Jordan Tokarz, Junior Richie Derbak, Sophomore Mike Recchia, and Freshmen Zach Borenstein. Eastern’s four first team selections are the most since the 1998 team had five players selected for the OVC First Team.

In addition, senior shortstop Jordan Kreke was named OVC Player of the Year, the first Panther to receive the honor since 2002 and the third since Eastern joined the OVC in 1997.

The Panthers were crowned regular-season OVC champions after finishing with a 14-4 record in the conference. This weekend, Eastern will attempt to become only the third team to win both the OVC regular season and tournament championships since 2001.

Eastern goes into tonight’s game as defending OVC Tournament Champions after last season’s unlikely title run as a fourth-seed. The Panthers will attempt to defend their title and win back-to-back OVC tourney titles, a feat last accomplished by Middle Tennessee State in 1995.