On a typical day when senior right-handed pitcher Tyler Conklin is scheduled to start for Eastern’s baseball team, his pregame routine gets going long before the first pitch. 

He begins his warm-up after drinking an energy drink around an hour before the game starts. Conklin must have his earbuds so he can listen to his pregame playlist, consisting of mostly rap music, while going through his stretching routine. 

Conklin knows he’ll be doing all that on Feb. 14 against the University of Louisiana Monroe, getting the nod from manager Jason Anderson that he will be the Panthers’ opening day starting pitcher.

The news that Conklin would be the opening day starter was not shocking. Conklin was the opening day starter last season for Eastern. 

“We’ve known that since day one,” manager Jason Anderson said at the team’s first intrasquad scrimmage of the season on Jan. 31. “He has looked as good as I’ve ever seen him.”

In the scrimmage at O’Brien Field, Conklin wasn’t permitted to throw more than 60 pitches. He threw 3.2 innings, struck out five hitters and gave up four hits. 

The velocity of his fastball in his first inning of work reached 94 mph, with it consistently sitting in the low 90s throughout the outing. 

“I think he could possibly be the best college pitcher in the state,” Anderson said.

Conklin’s 2024 season was cut short due to injury.

After his opening day start last year against Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Conklin faced Nicholls State University on Feb 23, 2024. During the fifth inning, his right leg was hit with a line drive that fractured his fibula. 

Under the belief that it was just a bruise and that the pain would go away, Conklin finished the inning and then made his next scheduled start the following week against North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. 

“We didn’t know it was [fractured],” Conklin said. “My trainer and I didn’t feel a reason for me to come out [of the Nicholls State game] because I got up and threw a few warm up pitches and felt good.”

Conklin said the first few innings of his next outing felt fine, but as he got deeper into the game the pain became unbearable. He left the game in the fifth inning. 

Unable to play for the remainder of the 2024 college baseball season, Conklin said he turned his attention towards healing his leg and the summer. 

He was assigned to play in a Collegiate Summer Baseball League for the Badlands Big Sticks, a team from the Northwoods League based in Dickinson, North Dakota. 

Conklin stood out for the Big Sticks. In 11 starts, he was 5-0 with a team-best 2.85 earned run average across 60 innings of work. 

He also had 48 strikeouts compared to 23 walks and had an opponent batting average of 0.232, which was the lowest among qualified pitchers in the entire league. Conklin’s ERA was second best in the entire Northwoods League among qualified pitchers. 

Conklin says his goal for this season is to help the team win another Ohio Valley Conference championship as he did with the Panthers in 2023 and win an NCAA Regional. 

Eastern’s season-opener against ULM is set for a 6 p.m. first pitch Feb. 14.

Gabe Newman can be reached at 581-2812 or at ghnewman@eiu.edu.