The Eastern baseball team showed off one of its biggest strengths this week, something that has been a strong point for the team since the early games with Southern Mississippi and Central Arkansas.

That strength, the team’s bullpen, was on display even in mid-week, as Panther starter Christian Slazinik only went 2.2 innings against Illinois before four pitchers combined to throw 6.1 innings of scoreless relief.

Even looking back to the team’s early season losses, the bullpen kept the Panthers in the game when lesser team’s pitching staffs might have given up and allowed run after run to come in as the game got out of hand.

Now that bullpen is still rock-solid, and when they have a lead to protect they often do just that, guided by pitching coach Skylar Meade calling for the pitching changes. The only problem is that sometimes the Panthers haven’t been able to muster enough offense to mount a lead to hand to the bullpen.

Now don’t get me wrong, the Panthers have hit, as evidenced by red-shirt junior Ben Thoma’s nine home runs or red-shirt junior T.J. McManus’ Ohio Valley Conference-leading .500 average in conference play.

The problem lies in the inconsistency of run-production for Eastern, as the Panthers have left too many men on base pretty much all season and suffered in the win/loss columns because of it.

Head coach Jim Schmitz has tried various things to spark the scoring, from lineup changes to playing more small ball with bunts and hit-and-runs, but the Panthers still need to find a way to score with more consistency.

If the Panthers can find more ways to score, the pitching staff will continue to hold their opposition, but you can’t win if you can’t score.

Which brings me back to the bullpen. Eastern’s relief pitching has been phenomenal all year, and that was put on display this week. Senior right-hander Brent McNeil made a strong case for OVC Pitcher of the Week, working 7.1 innings of relief over three games, allowing one unearned run on three hits and no walks while striking out eight. McNeil has been one of several outstanding Panther arms this year out of the bullpen, and if he can continue to pitch the way he has, that’s one less thing the coaching staff and fans have to worry about as the games get into the later innings.

Two Panther pitchers have already won OVC-pitcher of the week, with senior right-hander Matt Miller and red-shirt junior starter Mike Hoekstra already earning the honor. If the Panther pitching staff can follow the example set by Miller, Hoekstra and McNeil, the team ought to be in good shape as they head into the rest of their OVC schedule.

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