A lot of people remember the days when John Wayne was nicknamed “The Duke,” and how in his movies he was always was there at the right time to save the day and help his team.

Eastern has had their own “Duke” who has been in the right place at the right time to help his team all season long in junior first baseman Ben Duke.

“I’ve had to be a spark for us this season,” Duke said. “When we need a runner on base or we need a base hit, I want to be the guy who does it for us. I love that role and I want to be that guy.”

Duke was that guy for Eastern last week as he went 8-for-15 for the week including a 7-for-11 weekend at Austin Peay to earn Ohio Valley Conference “Player of the Week” and also earn Top Cat of the week honors.

“It was really good for me to have a good weekend with the bat,” Duke said. “It was to the point that after the first day, I had all the confidence in the world, and felt like I could hit anybody.

“But what was better was that the team won all three games against a team like Austin Peay,” he said.

This past weekend added to Duke’s already impressive first season with the Panthers.

The junior from Olney is hitting .345 for the season with 27 RBIs and has hit six home runs. The first baseman is also currently riding an eight-game hitting streak.

In Eastern’s first game of the weekend series with the Governors, Duke got the Panthers started by going 4-for-4 on the day with two RBIs.

“I felt like I was going to have a good day against (Mike) Weel, and I was able to get some big hits for us,” Duke said.

But Duke says that all of the hard work and dedication he has done this season has surely helped him attain some of his achievements this past week. But Duke said there may be just a little extra some thing besides his hard work helping him along.

Before every atbat, Duke has junior pitcher Andy Hoffman bless his bat for luck, and it seems to have worked.

“I really think that one of the reason that I have been hitting so well lately is because of Hoffman blessing my bat,” Duke said. “Ever since Hoffman has been blessing my bat, I have been hitting the ball pretty well.”

So what exactly does the junior pitcher do to bless the bat of his first baseman?

“Before every atbat he grabs my bat and starts with a little rub down of the bat,” Duke said. “Then he taps it a few times.

“He may chant, I don’t know,” he said. “But it’s interesting because he’s got a whole ritual for it.”

Duke isn’t the only Panther that has been using his bat since Hoffman started blessing it. Catchers Tim Aurrichio and Bret Pignatiello have also using Duke’s stick, and are beginning to become believers in Hoffman’s blessings.

“I definitely believe in it,” Pignatiello said. “Everytime that one of us don’t have him bless the bat we don’t hit the ball.”

After having such a great week last week, Duke knows that he and his team will be filled with confidence for the rest of the season.

“I think that anything less than a conference championship for our team would be a disappointment,” Duke said. “A lot of people would say that may be over confident, but I know that the team feels the same way and they would back me up.”