The Eastern baseball team has back-to-back road series to begin their season as the Panthers travel to Memphis this weekend for a three-game series.

So far on the year, the Panthers are 1-2 on the season and for Memphis, they have a 2-2 record. Despite losing the first two games of the series 4-3 in 10 innings and then 7-6, the Panthers are coming off a win as they beat Louisiana Monroe 6-5.

Overall, the Panthers’ win was a group effort as seven players tallied at least one hit, totaling to 13 hits as a team. Senior left fielder Logan Beaman had three hits as he finished the day 3-5 with a run scored.

The key moment for the Panthers came in the fifth inning when senior third baseman Dougie Parks hit a three-run homerun to left field, finishing the day 2-4 with 3 RBI’s and a walk.

Another notable performance came from sophomore catcher Ryan Knernschield as he hit an RBI single in the top of the second, as well as an RBI sacrifice fly to center in the top of the eighth.

As for the pitching, the Panthers utilized six pitchers. On the stat line, senior pitcher Dustin Wilson earned the win as he threw three shutout innings, allowing four hits, striking out two batters and hitting one batter.

Freshman Blake Malatestinic was awarded his first save as a Panther, pitching 0.2 innings in the ninth, allowing two hits, one earned run, striking out and walking one batter. Also, senior Brent Stephens pitched three innings, allowing one run and striking out five batters.

Memphis is coming off an 8-6 loss against No. 9 ranked Ole Miss in a one game series. Prior to that, the Tigers won two games in a three-game series against Western Kentucky.

Players that had standout games were sophomore shortstop Alec Trela, going 3-4 with a walk and scoring twice. Senior third baseman Kyle O’Keefe led the team with two RBI’s as he went 2-4 with three strikeouts.

The Tigers, like the Panthers, used six pitchers as well in their previous game. Two of their pitchers, sophomore Danny Denz and senior Connor Alexander, allowed seven earned runs, one unearned, and as for the other four pitchers, they pitched 4.1 shutout innings.

The Panthers finished with a 21-35 overall record, going 12-18 in conference. In those 56 games played last season, Eastern did not play against Memphis.

On the 34-player roster this year, the Panthers have a veteran team as there are only three freshmen and four sophomores. For the rest of the team, there are 14 juniors and 13 seniors.

The first game of the series starts at 4 p.m. on Friday at FedEx Park in Memphis.

Adam Shay can be reached at 581-2812 or acshay@eiu.edu.