Eastern’s baseball team will travel to Mississippi this weekend. What awaits it in Mississippi is some good weather and an even better baseball team.

In many circumstances, a trip to Mississippi may be a delightful getaway from a boggy little central Illinois town. However, if the Panthers don’t bring their “A” game, the Panthers’ number of wins may be the only thing that’s bogged down.

Maybe all the Panthers have to look forward to on their trip to Mississippi is the weather. According to USA Today it is 75 and sunny in Tupelo, Miss., home of the 12th ranked Ole Miss Rebels.

The Rebels have won their first eight games, two against fellow Ohio Valley Conference opponent Southest Missouri State.

Ole Miss also completed three-game sweeps of both Alabama and Birmingham South.

The Rebels were led by Stephen Head, who was last week’s SEC player of the week. Head went eight for 12 with a homerun and nine runs batted in. Head will take his team leading .533 batting average, four homeruns, 21 RBI, 1.067 slugging percentage and 10 walks into the weekend series against the Panthers.

Head doesn’t only lead the Rebels in most of the major offensive categories, he leads Ole Miss in saves and is tied for the lowest earned run average on the team with 0.00.

Another advantage the Rebels have over the Panthers is an extra five games. Living in Mississippi has its perks I guess. I’m sure it’s no Orlando, but the weather is a little more consistent than Charleston’s.

With all the advantages Ole Miss seems to have, why should Eastern even play the game?

Have you ever seen the movie “Miracle?” If you haven’t, it’s about the 1980 U.S.A. Olympic hockey team, who was given no chance to beat the Soviet Union team. The U.S.A. team could have forfeited, but they decided to go out and give it their all. And what do you know, they won! That’s why you play the games.

Another reason the Panthers will play is Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz was an assistant coach under former Chicago Cub Don Kessinger at Ole Miss for four years, so he feels right at home in Tupelo, Miss.

Finally, the Panthers are playing this game because it is a good test for them. If they can hang with the 12th ranked team in the nation or do the unthinkable and pull out a win, it would be a huge confidence booster for them to take with them the rest of the season.

If they can hang with Ole Miss, who can’t they hang with?

For those of you who don’t remember, the Panthers have already pulled off one upset, beating Southwest Missouri State, who played in the College World Series just last season.

Lets recap all the advantages the Rebels have over the Panthers. They have home field advantage, last week’s SEC player of the week, good weather, more game experience this season and they’re the 12th ranked team in the nation.

That leaves the Panthers with perhaps the most dangerous advantage of them all; Nothing to lose.