Another tournament begins for Eastern as the Panthers travel down to South Carolina for the Wolfe Sycamore Classic.

Eastern, which has struggled over their past three games, are looking to find some consistency within their pitching staff.

The Panthers’ offense has been struggling to support the pitching staff causing the young pitchers to wilt the last couple of games. During the last two games, the young pitchers gave up a combined 18 runs.

That is why, going into the next tournament, Eastern is looking to change the trend that has been occurring. The diverse filed in South Carolina may prove to be quite a challenge for the youthful Panthers.

With teams like the Wolfpack of North Carolina State (6-11) and Winthrop (11-9-1), solid competition will be in the tournament.

While the Wolfpack are under the .500 mark, they may be a likely candidate for an upset for the Panthers. In the early portion of its schedule, North Carolina State has struggled against teams that are about the same size as Eastern. These kinds of teams that have defeated the Wolfpack include James Madison, Appalachian State and Elon.

With these teams defeating North Carolina State, who is the biggest name in the upcoming tournament, the Panthers feel that they could make an impact on the tournament outcome.

Winthrop is one team in Wolf Sycamore Classic that has been solid this season and is barely over the .500 mark.

The Eagles have made a push over the last seven games in which they have won five of those final games.

The first win of the four was by 2-1, and after that the Eagles extended their margins of victory behind their offense. The next three games they scored six, nine and seven runs respectively.

The Panthers will be trying to turn around that three game losing streak. The freshmen pitchers that had been successful have now run into a tough time.

But what Panther coach Lloydene Searle wants is for this pitching staff and lineup to work out the rough spots before the Ohio Valley Conference schedule starts up on March 27.