Baseball team looks to rebound

After a down year last season, the Eastern baseball team has been picked to finish fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference by the Conference’s coaches.

The Panthers, who were 22-33 overall and 10-13 in the OVC, were picked to place fifth in the OVC by Baseball America, which is a national baseball publication.

Being picked fourth or fifth in different polls isn’t something that worries Eastern manager Jim Schmitz, now in his sixth season as the Panthers skipper.

“In the six years that I have been here the favorite has never been atop the conference at the end of the season,” Schmitz said.

Leading the way in the preseason predictions for the OVC were the Austin Peay Governors, followed by Southeast Missouri and Eastern Kentucky (which won the conference last year) to finish second and third respectively. They were followed Eastern, Tennessee Tech, Murray State, Morehead State, and bringing up the rear was Tennessee-Martin.

While the players are disappointed in being picked a little lower than expected they are not reading too much into it.

“A lot of those predictions and rankings are based on last years records, which at times wasn’t good,” said senior second baseman Josh Landon. “But a lot of the people who make those predictions don’t know what we have coming back, or how our new guys are.

“So, I think that we’ll be one of the surprise teams of the conference,” Landon added.

Landon, who was here for Eastern’s last conference championship in 1999, will be looked to for some leadership on a Panther team in need of veteran leaders.

“This is my last year and I want to go out on top,” Landon said. “So I am going to go out there and try to work hard and hopefully some of that will rub off on some of the younger guys.”

Helping Landon, a Baseball America preseason All-Conference pick, with some of that senior leadership will be fellow preseason All-conference pick outfielder Keith Laski.

Laski, who was here for the back to back conference titles in 1998 and 1999, will also be looked at for some help in a bullpen that is in sore need of some arms.

“I really don’t care that I haven’t pitched in eight years,” Laski said. “I just want to be the best pitcher I can be.

“I try to really concentrate in mound work with mechanics and things, and Pet Martin has really helped me a lot,” Laski said. “So hopefully I can help us out on the mound.

Although Eastern lost what manager Jim Schmitz calls two of the best players in Eastern history in Matt Marzec and John Larson, he is excited about his team, and the year they are capable of having.

“This has been one of the best fall and off-seasons we’ve had since I have gotten here,” Schmitz said. “And hopefully we can continue to build on that.”

The Panthers will open the season on Friday, February 23, 2001 when they take on the University of Arkansas in a three game series.