Eastern’s hopes to restart its season with the beginning of its Ohio Valley Conference schedule opponents has not gone as planned thus far.

This weekend Eastern (5-22, 0-5) traveled to Tennesee-Martin (15-16, 6-2) and came up empty in the win column once again, as the Panthers record against the OVC now has dropped to 0-5.

Eastern, which is in the midst of a 12-game losing streak, has been unable to find the balance between its pitching staff and its offense. A big blow struck the Panthers when junior pitcher Trish Sanders was sidelined with a broken ankle.

Due to the injury to Sanders, more of the workload for the pitching staff has gone to freshman Ashley Condon and junior Kari Hagerty. Also, since Sanders was injured senior Kristen Becker has gone the distance in most of the games she has thrown, while the combination of Condon and Hagerty has been used in the other games.

Condon and Hagerty have not found much success as Condon’s ERA has grown to 6.39 and Hagerty’s ERA is now 8.08. Also, in certain situations where manager Lloydene Searle would usually turn to Sanders to finish a ball game, she has been forced to stick with Becker or one of the other pitchers.

Over this weekend, the Panthers lost both games of a doubleheader on Saturday and the third game was canceled due to rain on Sunday.

In the first game of the doubleheader, Eastern managed to keep close but came up just short. After being shutout for six innings, the Panthers managed to rally in the top of the seventh by scoring two runs.

Eastern could not push a third run across the plate and the Skyhawks won the game 3-2. The Panthers pitched Becker, who completed the game and gave up all three runs on six hits in six innings.

Becker was out-pitched by Tennessee-Martin pitcher Nicole Davis who pitched all six innings and only gave up two runs on four hits. Davis also struck out six in the game while only walking two.

Eastern’s offense was sparked by junior shortstop Mandy Lindwall who drove in both runs in the top of the seventh inning. Lindwall’s double scored Jen Green and pinch runner Bridget Own.

That was all the offense Eastern could muster as the team failed to break their losing streak, and fell into a deep hole in the conference standings.

The second game was even more of a setback for the Panthers fell to the Skyhawks by a score of 8-0.

The pitching combination of Condon and Hagerty struggled again in this game. Condon gave up seven runs, five of them earned, on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings.

Hagerty provided some relief for Condon as she pitched 1 2/3 innings and only gave up one run. But by then the Panthers were already out of the game.

The lack of offense for Eastern was due to Skyhawk pitcher Kendra Kosco, who also pitched a complete game. In shutting out the Panthers, Kosco gave up five hits, one walk and five strikeouts.

The third game of the series Sunday was canceled because of rain.