The Eastern baseball team was held out of action Tuesday evening against Missouri due to rain but was also held out of a chance at ending its three-game losing streak.

But even though that three-game losing streak still lingers until the weekend action arrives, the Panthers do not have much they need to be worried about.

Reason being is the fact that the team already looks better off than it was a year ago.

The Panthers’ three-game skid came at the hands of Georgia State in a few winnable ball games that came up just short, but plenty of positives were seen in that series.

But, unlike recent years for the program, Eastern is not still in search of its first win of the season heading into its third or fourth series.

In fact, the five-game winning streak that the team held before last weekend is enough to show just how much the Panthers have progressed.

When Eastern coach Jason Anderson first arrived three years ago, the task at hand was known to be large and a difficult one.

But with this 5-5 start to the season, the Panthers seem to finally be pointing the arrow in the right direction after a strong end to last season.

The momentum is there for the taking for this Eastern squad, and guys like senior Dougie Parks and redshirt junior Hunter Morris are already some of the guys to take advantage of that.

Parks and Morris lead the Panthers in runs batted in and have taken a dominant approach at the plate to keep Eastern in its recent ball games.

Eastern has also played some clean baseball, which cannot really be said about recent seasons.

Yes, it has only been 10 games into the year for the Panthers, but they also only have eight errors on the year, and that ranks them first in the OVC for that category.

To put that into perspective, the Panthers ranked second to last a year ago in team fielding.

That is how just about every facet of the team has been to start the season; improved.

The Panthers finished last in pitching last season as a team, but this year, rank fourth in the conference with a total ERA of 4.85.

So, while that three-game losing streak may still be in the air for now, the season is young, and so is the progress of this baseball team.

The road is going to keep getting tougher for Eastern as the season progresses of course, and first up is a challenging SEC opponent in Ole Miss.

The Panthers continue their season-opening 15-game road trip with a three-game series against Ole Miss with game one Friday evening.

Maher Kawash can be reached at 581-2812 or mwkawash@eiu.edu