The Eastern baseball team finished the 2009 season 36-14 and 16-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Or so head coach Jim Schmitz thought.

That is when the Eastern compliance department approached him after the season and told him he would have to forfeit five wins because the team used an ineligible player.

Former Eastern catcher Evan Zalders had been ineligible and was not properly cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse and former compliance director Jason Hall.

He played in seven games, with two losses, but now the Panthers will add five more losses to their record.

The 2009 Panthers’ baseball team’s record will now stand at 31-19 overall and 15-5 in the OVC.

“It was a major paperwork boo-boo,” Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz said. “It had no bearing on anything. It would have been crazy if it would have been taken away our OVC Title. It’s no one’s fault, but it is. To me, it’s in the past. It’s over, let’s move on.”

Tracy Scott, Eastern’s associate athletic director for athletic support services, said this NCAA infraction was a secondary violation and was reported to the NCAA offices.

Stacey Osburn, the NCAA’s associate director for public and media relations, said a school can have major or secondary infractions and could possibly receive appropriated sanctions. One of those sanctions is the forfeiting/vacating of contests in which an ineligible student-athlete participated.

The following wins were forfeited: Illinois College, Blackburn College, Tennessee Martin, Saint Louis and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

Schmitz did not find out about Zalders’ ineligibility until mid-June and was not too upset when he found out.

Zalders was a walk-on transfer from Southwestern Illinois College who played in seven games. He is not on the team this season

Schmitz said he consoled Zalders and told him not to worry about the issue too much.

He called Zalders hardworking.

The 36-14 record would have tied the third-best winning percentage in program history (.720). The 36 wins would have also matched two other teams for the second most in program history. But the 31 wins for the 2009 campaign will now tie for seventh overall with the 2006 and 1989 teams.

The Panthers still retain their regular season OVC Title. Eastern is the OVC coaches’ preseason pick to win the conference again. The Panthers start their season against Southeastern Louisiana at 6 p.m. Friday in Hammond, La.

Kevin Murphy can be reached at 581-7944 or kjmurphy@eiu.edu.