Illinois College’s campus is stationed in Jacksonville, about a two-hour drive west of Eastern.

Since 2009, the Eastern baseball team has hosted the Blueboys at Coaches Stadium and every time the Panthers have left with a win.

On Wednesday, Illinois College will make the two-hour commute for the sixth consecutive year, trying to avoid its sixth straight loss to the Panthers.

In the previous five meetings, Illinois College has been shutout twice, while being outscored 55-9.

Last season, the Blueboys scored first and had a 1-0 lead heading into the bottom of third inning, but after five walks, a sacrifice-fly and a two-run triple hit by John Devito, Eastern once again took control of the game and won 8-5.

It was the Panthers’ sixth straight win, heading into a three-game series on the road to Tennessee Tech. The Panthers were swept by the Golden Eagles.

Before the 8-5 win against Illinois College last season, Eastern swept Murray State at home, improving its Ohio Valley Conference record to 3-8. That record fell to 3-11 after being swept by Tennessee Tech, pitting the Panthers at the bottom of the standings, where they could not recover to make the postseason tournament.

This season, Eastern is 4-8 in OVC play and after playing Illinois College Wednesday, the Panthers will play Tennessee Tech, but this time they will be at home.

Eastern will be looking for the win Wednesday and hopefully the opposite result from last year against the Golden Eagles starting Friday.

The Blueboys are 13-8 this season and are 2-2 in the Midwest Conference as the Division III program has a 5-4 record on the road this season.

Illinois College has not determined a starting pitcher yet, but Eastern will have junior Andrew Grahn take the mound for his first start of the season.

The 6-foot, 4-inch right-hander has only appeared in one game this season, coming on the road in Arkansas, where he recorded an out and allowed one run before being lifted.

Grahn has started 17 games during his first two seasons with Eastern, compiling 66.2 innings in 23 total appearances during his freshman and sophomore seasons.

Grahn is scheduled to make the first pitch at 3 p.m. Wednesday at Coaches Stadium.

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