Good morning, sports fans. There’s only eight days left until the real season begins for athletics here on Eastern’s campus.

No disrespect to any of the other sports at Eastern, which have been great all year long, but the time has come to start getting the itch for the baseball season to start.

In a little over a week, the baseball team will begin its run at a second straight conference championship when they head to Southern Indiana for a three-game set.

And while this season should be a banner season for the Panthers on the diamond, there a few things that are bothering this close to opening day.

The major thing that concerns me the most is the stupidity of the coaches in the Ohio Valley Conference. Think about this. The Panthers were 19-1 last season in the conference. In the preseason poll done by the conference’s coaches they received just one first place vote.

Good job guys. I guess the boys from Kentucky and Tennessee still haven’t learned. Eastern is the defending OVC champ – as a matter of fact they have won two of the last three, how can they not get any respect?

The Panthers have one of the best line-ups around, with three to four guys who could legitimately hit the four spot. Not to mention the way they have improved its pitching staff in the off-season and have found a good mixture of new and old to lead them on the mound.

This brings me to my second major concern for the Panthers this season – leadership. Not leadership from the players or the coaching staff, but in the their opening series with Southern Indiana.

Manager Jim Schmitz has been suspended for the first three games of the season by the OVC, because they jobbed the Panthers in the tournament and Schmitz called them on it.

So, assistant coach Mike Rodgers will lead Eastern in the opening weekend, and I would like to offer up my services to help. I mean it.