The Panther baseball team is winless this season, and this needs to change soon if they want to have a shot at the Ohio Valley Conference title this season.

Granted, the season is young, at only six games played out of a scheduled, but the Panthers need to start winning and get on a roll now, because if they fall into a rut of losing, they’ll find themselves in an inescapable hole faster than you can say “Panther baseball hasn’t won a game yet in 2011.”

Major league baseball teams have 162 regular season games, and their fans get alarmed when a team loses its first six games, so with less than a third of that schedule, it’s certainly not too soon to worry about this team.

I’m not taking anything away from the teams Eastern has already played; Southern Mississippi and Central Arkansas are both formidable opponents. But the Panthers should have been able to win at least one game out of their first six.

The team needs to cut down on the fundamental mistakes they seem to be making and tighten up their play in a hurry, unless they want to end the season at the bottom of the OVC, and I highly doubt anyone associated with this team wants that fate.

While it may seem like it, I’m not necessarily pushing the panic button just yet. I’m only saying there is cause for concern.

Keys to the season being turned around, aside from defense, will be the arrival of a consistent offense for the Panthers that can put runs on the board consistently with the new bat requirements in effect.

The new bats require teams to rely less on power and more on reaching base and moving station-to-station efficiently, so the Panthers will need to consistently find ways to score without relying on the benefit of the home-run.

This seems to have provided a challenge for Eastern thus far, as the team is averaging less than two runs per game on the year, but Saturday’s four-run performance and four Panther players with season averages over .300 have provided signs of life for Eastern’s offense. Only time will tell now if the Panthers are able to adjust in time to have a successful season.

The Panthers obviously have time left to turn their season around with 51 games remaining, but the turn around needs to start soon, and the fundamental errors need to stop, or it will be a long season indeed.

Brad Kupiec can be reached at 581-7944 or bmkupiec@eiu.edu