In 2013, Eastern baseball coach Jim Schmitz thought he would have two top of the line pitchers headlining his pitching rotation.

The Panthers had Troy Barton and Christian Slazinik slated as the team’s No. 1 and No. 2 starting pitchers, but the hope Schmitz had of a strong pitching team quickly deteriorated in less than a week.

First, on Feb. 11, Barton was ruled out for the entire season, needing Tommy John surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow — Schmitz and Barton found out four days before the first game of the season.

Then, Slazinik started the final game at the Jackson State Tournament on Feb. 17. He threw one pitch in the season’s fourth game and was then pulled because of an injury to his right knee.

Slazinik threw only that one pitch all season.

Now, Barton and Slazinik are back, and the excitement Schmitz had last season has returned.

Barton and Slazinik returning is not the lone reason Schmitz said pitching is the strongest part of Eastern’s team, it’s what their absence meant for young pitchers last season and the experience gained.

“Our pitching staff did well last year and now we have Slaz and Barton back and (Jaden) Widdersheim, (Garrison) Stenger, (Ben) Kennedy and (Jake) Johansmeier, they all pitched through the league a little,” he said. “With that experience and being healthy we feel we’re 10-deep and that’s very rare.’

Widdersheim, Kennedy and Stenger all pitched in community college prior to 2013, but because of the injuries last year they ended up pitching more innings than expected.

Stenger and Kennedy exclusively worked out of the bullpen, appearing in 24 and 23 games, respectively, which was the most and second most appearances from relief pitchers for Eastern.

Widdersheim spent a brief time as the closer, but was then relegated to relief work, prior to starting four games last season.

As a freshman, Johansmeier started eight games and pitched in 20 total. After the season, he was named to the All-Ohio Valley Conference Newcomer Team, posting a 3.70 ERA, with a 3-4 record, while pitching in 48.2 innings.

But with Barton and Slazinik penciled into the rotation, Schmitz had a couple of options for his No. 3 starter.

Joe Greenfield led Eastern in innings pitched (93.1) and had the lowest ERA out of every starting pitcher last year for the Panthers at 3.66 in 14 starts and 18 total appearances.

Now, Greenfield will return to his original position — closer, which he was supposed to be since last year.

Meanwhile, Schmitz decided to have junior Matt Borens as the No. 3 starter.

Ultimately, choosing the third starter came down to Greenfield’s and Borens’ skill set, as Greenfield has a more dominant fastball and Borens can rely more on his secondary pitches, Schmitz said.

“To be a closer you have to have one dominant pitch,” he said. “They both have the mentality to be a closer, but Matt has a better blend of pitches. He can go to the change-up, the curve ball, where Joe is pretty much a power pitcher despite working on his change up.”

Barring injury, Eastern’s starters would pitch in the following order: Borens, Slazinik and Barton.

Although Barton and Slazinik are the top two pitchers for Eastern, as Schmitz said, the Panthers are going back to their plan of working backwards when it comes to their starting pitchers.

Last season, in mid-March against Illinois State, Schmitz switched the order of when his starters would pitch – placing his No. 3 starter in the first game of a series and having the best starter pitch the series finale.

Schmitz said he did this because it puts Eastern’s best pitcher against theoretically the opposing team’s third-best pitcher, giving the Panthers an advantage.

“That was the best way that we thought we could come away with winning one or two games in each series,” Schmitz said. “It takes ego out of it. Everyone has a way to win and this is how we feel we’re going to win.”

Aldo Soto can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].