The Panthers’ baseball squad has not been stellar in non-conference play, including losing 9-8 Wednesday to Southern Illinois-Carbondale despite a great performance from sophomore third baseman Zach Borenstein.

But Borenstein and his teammates can resurrect the season this weekend as they open Ohio Valley Conference play with a three-game series against Eastern Kentucky in Richmond, Ky.

Pitching coach Skylar Meade and the Panthers have played a strong schedule to open the year to prepare for the OVC; however, the win-loss record was not stellar, he said, but league action is a new season.

“It’s a clean slate Coach (Schmitz) has been talking about,”

Meade said.

“We are 0-0. We will have a clean slate and start over, get back to the basics to being a great team. We’ve been in literally all of these games, we just haven’t gotten to the point of finishing games.”

Again on Wednesday, Eastern’s bullpen surrendered a 7-5 lead in the seventh inning as sophomore Mike Martin, junior Rich Ruff and losing pitcher junior Matt Miller (0-5) gave up four runs in two innings.

The bullpen negated sophomore third baseman Zach Borenstein’s two homers and a career-high six RBIs.

“We’ve still had the problem of minimizing innings.” Meade said. “That is the one thing that has to change.”

Meade said the pitchers are working on attacking the zone and have done a better job. He said the season’s first six games featured many walks but the Panthers’ pitchers limited free passes the last 13 games.

The loss of junior ace Josh Mueller has affected the staff, Meade said.

The injury moved around the pitching rotation with the Panthers throwing in different situations.

Head coach Jim Schmitz stressed the importance of OVC competition.

“I tell people a conference weekend has tremendous amount of energy and nervousness,” Schmitz said. “You are playing for a conference crown, which is much different.

“Now, it really matters. A loss is a huge thing because you only have 24 conference games. Two out of three is a goal we have.

Last year, we had a lot of early success, but this year, we didn’t start off well.”

A bad weekend, Schmitz said, makes it difficult to recover from.

Sophomore designated hitter Ben Thoma agrees with his coach about conference play.

“It’s way more important, especially with our record at this point,” Thoma said. “Obviously we haven’t played the way we wanted to, but OVC play will be real important because we probably can’t get an at large bid (for the NCAA tournament) as of now, but tournament play will dictate our season.”

Eastern Kentucky (8-11) is a strong pitching team that has scrappy players, Thoma said.

“We’ve got to be defensively sound, and hopefully our pitching gets the job done,” Thoma said.

The series begins with a noon doubleheader Saturday at Richmond, Ky.

Morrell named Walter Byers Award finalist

Eastern alumus pitcher Brian Morrell has been named one of three male finalists for the NCAA’s Walter Byers Scholarship,which will be awarded to one recently graduated NCAA male and female student-athlete in late April.

Morrell finished his Eastern baseball career in 2009 following a four-year career.

The Walter Byers Award is the top male and female scholar-athlete in NCAA sports, being a postgraduate scholarship to encourage academic excellence.

Morrell is now a student at Washington University in St. Louis getting a doctorate in physical therapy.

Bob Bajek can be reached at 581-7944 or rtbajek@eiu.edu

Freshman second baseman Ryan Dineen jumps away from the base after tagging it to avoid a Chicago State player sliding into base during the game Tuesday afternoon at Coaches Stadium. (Audrey Sawyer / The Daily Eastern News)

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