The Eastern baseball team hit the road for its first series of the season and got off to a rough start.

The Panthers took on Southern Mississippi in a three-game series over the weekend, and came away with a 0-3 record to start the season.

The series got off to a bad start for the Panthers when they dropped the first game 6-1.

Eastern got out to an early 1-0 lead in the game, until the Golden Eagles used a three-run fourth inning to run away with the game.

Sophomore Frankie Perrone scored the lone run of the game for the Panthers on a single from sophomore Cale Hennemann.

Senior Matt Wivinis started the game on the mound for Eastern, and pitched a scoreless first inning.

The Golden Eagles scored their first run of the game in the 2nd inning and never looked back from there.

Wivinis took the loss after he pitched five innings and finished with four strikeouts, two walks and an Earned Run Average of five.

After a tough start to the series in game one, the Panthers had a chance to bounce back in game two.

Instead, Southern Mississippi ran away with an easy 18-1 victory over Eastern.

Junior Michael McCormick was the starting pitcher for the Panthers, and he fell behind early on.

The Golden Eagles opened scoring in the first inning, and got to McCormick with two runs.

Eastern answered by scoring one run in the second inning after Hennemann doubled to center field bringing in Perrone to trim the deficit to one.

Following that, the Panther’s bats went silent, and Southern Mississippi went on to have a big day.

The Golden Eagles ran McCormick after scoring five runs in the second inning to extend their lead.

McCormick was replaced after just 2 innings pitched, but Eastern still had no answer for Southern Mississippi’s offense.

Senior Jake Johansmeier was brought in to stop the scoring, but allowed four runs in 1 inning pitched.

The Golden Eagles went on to score 16 straight runs in the game, finishing with 18 and giving the Panthers their second loss of the season.

With two bad games to start the season, Eastern had motivation to turn things around quickly.

In the final game of the series, the Panthers suffered arguably the toughest loss of the three to start the season.

Senior Brendon Allen started out on the mound for Eastern, and he pitched well to start the game.

After three innings of scoreless baseball, the Golden Eagles got out to a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning.

The Panthers answered by tying the game in the fifth inning on a single from Hennemann that brought in Perrone from second base.

After holding them in the bottom half of the inning, Eastern came back in the 6th inning to score three runs and take a 4-1 lead.

Although things looked promising for the Panthers, they quickly found themselves in another hole.

Eastern gave up one run in the bottom half of the 6th as they still led 4-2.

In the 7th inning, sophomore Andy Fisher was brought in to hold the lead for the Panthers.

Fisher was unable to hold Southern Mississippi as he gave up two runs in the inning.

Two homeruns from the Golden Eagles in the bottom of the 8th sealed Eastern’s fate as they lost the final game of the series 6-4.

Fisher dropped to 0-1 on the season as he took the loss, and the Panthers dropped to 0-3 as their first series of the season came to a close.

Eastern will have little time to dwell on the series loss as they prepare to face yet another tough opponent ahead.

The Panthers turn their focus to their next game on the road against Vanderbilt, the 2014 College World Series Champion, on Wednesday at 3 p.m.

Maher Kawash can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].