Eastern coach Jim Schmitz has been down this road before, and he understands what his team has to do to come out of the middle of the pack in the Ohio Valley Conference.

The Panthers have put themselves in position to be a force in the conference standings by winning eight of their last 11 games. The team is starting to play better as the season has progressed, and now the Panthers think they can be more consistent against OVC competition.

As the conference currently stands, the Panthers are in sixth place and are only 1 1/2 games behind the first place team, Tennessee Tech.

“One of the things we take pride in is taking our mind off of the standings and not getting caught up in that situation,” Schmitz said. “We just have to try to win two out of three games in the upcoming series and then we will be sitting a little prettier as the season ends.”

The Panthers (19-19, 6-5) start a series against Austin Peay (19-23-1, 6-4-1), another team in the middle of the jumbled OVC. The Governors are currently in second place in the conference, not even a full game behind Tennessee Tech. Behind them there is a long jam at third place with three teams tied, and then the Panthers currently stand in sixth place.

Austin Peay started the season playing better than it currently is, which gives Eastern an opportunity to win some games against a team higher in the conference. In the opening two series of conference play for the Governors, they won one game and tied one against Tennessee Tech. After that series, Austin Peay swept Morehead State and had started their conference season with a 4-0-1 record.

Since then, the Governors have lost two straight series and their overall record has dropped below .500.

“They have lost four of their last six, but the key thing is that they still are ahead of us in the conference,” Schmitz said. “We still have to come out fast in this series and get a victory right away.”

One thing the Panthers may struggle with this weekend will be controlling Austin Peay on the base paths. The Panthers have committed 81 errors in 38 games this season, and at some points, the defense has been the Achilles heel of the team.

“I think the key to them (Austin Peay) is that they run a little more,” Schmitz said. “EKU had one really good base stealer, but Austin Peay will hit and run more and just put pressure on our defense.”

Because of this, more responsibility will be on the shoulders of the Panthers’ pitching staff and catchers. Both will have to control the base paths and make sure Austin Peay does not have too much of an edge against Eastern’s defense.

Starting with this series against Austin Peay, the opportunities to gain ground in the OVC are becoming limited for Eastern. However, the team understands how to deal with the situation it is currently in.