With an overall record of 7-20, the Eastern baseball team is dependent on winning the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament to play in the NCAA Tournament.

The Panthers will try to win their second straight conference series against Morehead State (17-15, 1-2 OVC) beginning 1 p.m. Saturday at Coaches Stadium.

Head coach Jim Schmitz’s crew is 2-4 in OVC play, ranking sixth in the league. The top six teams make the OVC Tournament.

After being swept in three games by Eastern Kentucky (14-14, 3-3 OVC), Eastern beat Austin Peay 2-1 last weekend with strong pitching and timely hitting.

Hopefully, Schmitz said, the Morehead State series will go well because the Panthers will travel to the 2009 OVC Tournament Champion Tennessee Tech (13-17, 0-3 OVC) and Murray State (16-12, 4-2 OVC) the next two weekends.

“We’re back on the road for two straight weekends, so it’s definitely a situation where we’re telling our guys that you have to continue the little run you did with Austin Peay,” Schmitz said. “They’re really improved by making the (OVC) tournament last year.”

Last season, the Eagles beat Southeast Missouri 7-5 but lost to Jasonville State 9-0 and were eliminated by Murray State 8-5.

Morehead State is coming off a weekend sweep of OVC rival Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (7-20), but lost to Cincinnati 9-7 (14-12) 9-7 April 7 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Schmitz said pitching is the Golden Eagles strength and many of the young players have matured a year.

Morehead State is lead by red-shirt sophomore pitcher Josh Schneider (6-3, 7.77 ERA) and junior pitcher Jeff Arnold (4-0, 7.20 ERA)

“They’ve been through the league as one of the surprise teams last year and did a great job in the tournament,” Schmitz said. “The key thing is that you could expect more close games with Morehead or whoever else we play.”

Besides pitching, there are some big sticks in the Eagles’ batting lineup. The team is batting .331, tied for second in the conference behind Southeast Missouri’s .357.

Morehead State senior centerfielder J.D. Ashbrook and senior shortstop Lee Drew are carrying the lineup.

Ashbrook has 12 homers, third in OVC, 35 RBIs and is batting .437, third best in the league. Lee leads the league with 47 RBIs, and is batting .412, sixth best in the conference.

The Eagles also have sophomore leftfielder Cameron Flynn and sophomore catcher Taylor Davis, who have 35 and 34 RBIs, respectively.

Following Friday’s 1 p.m. game, there will be a second game played in a doubleheader. The series finale will be 1 p.m. Sunday at Coaches Stadium.

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