The Eastern baseball team will open up its 100th season of play this weekend in Monroe, La., at the Holiday Inn and Suites/Citgo Classic.

The Panthers will be thrown into the fire right away as they take on 2003 College World Series participant and former Mid-Continent Conference rival Southwest Missouri State on Friday. The two schools have met 35 times, with 34 coming when the teams were in the MCC from 1984 to 1990. SMS owns a 24-11 all-time advantage over Eastern, but the schools have not met since the Bears left the MCC in 1990.

Last season, SMS went 40-26 overall and 19-11 to win the Missouri Valley Conference and head to the their first ever CWS appearance.

The Bears, who return 11 letterwinners from last year’s team, opened the 2004 season last weekend at the Texas-Arlington Invitational by defeating Arkansas-Little Rock in game one, but then SMS dropped the next pair of games to the host Texas-Arlington and Oregon State.

Against the Panthers, SMS will throw junior right-hander Derek Drage. This will be Drage’s second start for the Bears since transferring from Parkland Junior College in Champaign. In his previous outing against Arkansas-Little Rock, Drage allowed just two runs and five hits in six innings as the Bears’ bats came alive in a 13-5 win. Eastern will counter with fellow junior college transfer Kyle Widegren as he makes his Panther debut Friday.

Eastern will play game two of the tournament on Saturday when they meet Louisiana-Monroe for an evening contest. The Indians have already played in six games this year and improved their record to 3-3 record by taking two of three from Ohio Valley Conference member Tennessee-Martin.

Junior College transfer Glenn Jackson has started his career at Louisiana-Monroe with a bang hitting .600 and already scoring 10 runs. The hitting doesn’t end with Jackson, as senior catcher Jay Aulds and junior outfielder Andy Jones are both at .400. First baseman Ben Jones leads the team with 11 runs batted in. As a team, the Indians are hitting at a .287 clip and on the mound have been solid with a 2.68 ERA.

The probable starter for the Indians is senior Justin Lensch who has seen action in two games this season. The southpaw’s most impressive outing was against Tennessee-Martin this past Saturday when he shutdown the SkyHawks while scattering nine hits. Ted Juske will make his Eastern debut after transferring from McHenry Community College. The 6-5 junior has impressed early on and will get the start in game two due to injuries on the Panther pitching staff according to assistant Mitch Rosenthal.

“Ted Juske will get the start in game two. With some injuries on our staff, he has really stepped up and thrown the ball well.”

In the finale of the tournament, Eastern will face Kansas State from the Big 12 Conference. The Wildcats sit at 3-3 on the season after winning two of three from Western Illinois last weekend.

Infielder Jason Long leads the offense hitting .462 entering the tournament. Long has an on base percentage of .650 (best on the team) and has been successful on all four of his stolen base attempts.

Scheduled to go on the mound for the Wildcats is senior right-hander Nick Ponomarenko (0-1, 29.70) who was had control problems in his last start against Rice. Ponomarenko lasted just a third of an inning, surrendering five runs and walking four Owls in a 13-0 loss.

Eastern will counter with true-freshman Brian Long. The Providence Catholic graduate was First Team all-area as a senior and was named to the 2001 state all-tournament team.

Heading into the tournament with a very young team and against three quality opponents, Rosenthal said there is no clear cut favorite in Louisiana.

“I still feel that’s very early in the season and no (team) knows each other,” Rosenthal said. “It’s always an adventure when you’re playing the first few games.”

Rosenthal did mention the Panthers will be at a disadvantage because they have not taken the field yet. Louisiana-Monroe and Kansas State both started the season two weeks ago while SMS opened up last weekend.

“For some of the northern teams that is a disadvantage,” Rosenthal said. “The hitters don’t get to see live hitting and the pitcher can dominate early on.”