Editors note: This is the second installment in a series looking back at Eastern baseball coach Jim Schmitz’s 20 years coaching the Panthers.

In his second season as Eastern’s baseball coach, Jim Schmitz led the Panthers to their second appearance in the Mid-Continent tournament under his reign.

Eastern finished with a 25-22 overall record, but went 15-3 in conference play, leading to a trip down South to Troy, Ala., for the conference tournament.

While Schmitz and the rest of the Eastern baseball team made a nine and a half hour drive to Alabama, his parents also joined the trek and drove from Cincinnati to see their son coach.

But after losing to Pace University and Troy State in one day, the Panthers were eliminated, ushered out of the tournament in less time than it took to get to it.

That trip to Troy was Schmitz’s parent’s last.

“They said they’ll never do it again,” Schmitz said. “So, they drove about 13 hours just for one day.”

The season was over and the team arrived back to Charleston, bringing with it some hotel souvenirs.

After the team bus emptied, the bus driver pulled Schmitz aside.

“He tells me come here and I said what,” Schmitz said. “He said, ‘I mean there’s like 25 pillows here.’”

It turned out every member of the team decided to take a pillow from the Holiday Inn with them back to Eastern.

Schmitz said he either had to return the stolen items or pay for them, but will always remember that instance when he found out.

“It’s really hard when you lose on the road and the season is over,” he said. “You have kids who are seniors and probably shouldn’t be doing things, but it’s over, what are you going to do. Suspend them?”

Although the season ended abruptly, Schmitz was seeing some of his changes work in terms of a new hitting approach he brought to Eastern.

In 1996, he moved centerfielder Steve Dunlap to shortstop and proceeded to hit .414.

Schmitz also got see his first recruiting class, which would eventually lead Eastern to 70 wins between 1998 and 1999 and an Ohio Valley Conference championship.

“You had Sean Lyons a freshman, (Matt) Marzec is in the hall of fame, you have Mark Thomse and those three guys are the main hitters with Josh Zink in that 98’ team,” Schmitz said. “These guys were all freshmen, which is the amazing thing.”

Marzec is the all-time leader in total bases (411) for Eastern and second all-time in career home runs with 39, but the only reason he even got to play as a freshman was because of a series of injuries.

Eastern was less than 10 games into the 1996 season, when it played Indiana State on the road.

Schmitz said, Zink got a hit and because of the turf at Indiana State he got turf toe. Greg Seiders went in to pinch run for Zink and came around to score, but not before injuring his shoulder.

“He slid in head first and separates his shoulder,” Schmitz said. “So, I lose my first-string and second-string second baseman.”

With no other options for a second baseman, Schmitz looked around in his dugout and then asked Marzec if he had ever played second base. The answer was no, but Schmitz sent out the freshman on to the field anyway.

Marzec never lost the job from that day on.

Schmitz knew his second season was the start of something special. It would just take a couple of years to see how special Eastern would become.

“This was the team that became the great team,” Schmitz said.

Aldo Soto can be reached at 581-2812 or asoto2@eiu.edu.