Brandon Murphy is sure this year will be different.

Last season, during the Panthers’ spring break trip to Florida, Murphy was shelled for seven runs in less than two innings against Indiana. Despite Murphy’s rough start, Eastern was able to come back and win 12-11.

Today, Murphy will have a chance to redeem himself when the Panthers travel to Memphis, Tenn., to take on the Hoosiers in the four-team Memphis Tournament.

“Last year I struggled against them – bad,” Murphy said. “I chalk that up to a bad game. They really hit me around and I walked quite a few of them. But this year is going to be a different story.”

Eastern will play Northern Iowa on Saturday before playing the host Memphis Tigers on Sunday.

Eastern also played Northern Iowa during its annual spring break trip last year. The Panthers took an early 7-0 lead, with Murphy on the mound, but a four-run sixth inning started a rally that UNI rode to 13-10 victory.

This weekend, Eastern will have a new reputation to live up to, after knocking off No. 25 Evansville on Sunday at the Purple Aces’ own tournament.

“I don’t think we have ever done that before,” Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz said about beating a top-25 team. “It was really a plus.”

Evansville closed to within one run after Eastern took an early lead, but the Panthers were able to hold off the Purple Aces and secure an 8-6 victory Sunday afternoon.

“They way we won was really nice,” Schmitz said. “We have an experienced team that knows what to do. They rallied and we shut them down and got a big win.”

Murphy said the win has done more than just boost the Panthers spirits and give them added momentum.

“Other teams see that (win) and they see we are for real,” Murphy said. “We’re a contender and other teams respect us, which is nice.”

Despite dropping its first game of the season to Toledo, Eastern regrouped to beat Chicago State and Evansville, but Schmitz is looking for more this weekend in Memphis than just wins.

The tournament, held at AutoZone Park, is the home of the St. Louis Cardinals’ Class AAA affiliate Memphis Cardinals and will be a good time to sort out the bullpen and find the right combination of arms to set up senior closer Chris Vaculik.

Eastern’s 3-0 win against Chicago State on Saturday was called after the sixth inning because of rain and Schmitz was unable to get all of his relievers playing time. He will look to do that in Memphis.

“We are looking to find some people to take the pressure off of Vaculik,” Schmitz said. “It’s so nice to have a long guy like (senior pitcher Mike) Budde, now we need to find two or three guys to get us out of the seventh and eighth innings.”

Budde pitched 2.2 scoreless innings in Evansville, giving up just two hits and striking out a pair.