CHARLESTON, Ill. – It's a case of a familiar foe in a new game day locale, as Eastern Illinois baseball opens Ohio Valley Conference Tournament play against rival Southeast Missouri State Wednesday afternoon at Pringles Park in Jackson, Tenn.
First pitch is slated for 3 p.m. in the opening game of the six-team postseason event at the home of the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx, the Seattle Mariners' Double-A affiliate in the Southern League.
The winner of the EIU-SEMO game stays out of the losers bracket and plays at 3 or 7 p.m. Thursday against either top-seeded Tennessee Tech or No. 2 seed Jacksonville State. The 3-6 game Wednesday evening featuring Murray State and Eastern Kentucky will determine Thursday's matchups. If Murray State is victorious, the EIU-SEMO winner takes on Tech at 7 p.m. If EKU is victorious, the EIU-SEMO winner squares off against JSU at 3 p.m. Thursday's losers bracket elimination game is set for 11 a.m.
After nine years in Paducah, Ky., the OVC Tournament is being played in a new location for the first time since 2000. Six different teams won the tourney title in its nine years in Paducah. Dating back to Jax State winning the event as the No. 2 seed in 2006, a different seed has won the tourney each of the last four seasons.
The winner of the 4-5 opening game has gone on to win the OVC Tournament each of the last two years, including EIU in 2008. The Panthers (17-33, 11-12 OVC) followed up their tournament title with a regular-season crown last year. Tennessee Tech (29-23, 14-6 OVC) has now duplicated the feat. Beginning with a late rally to take the finale of its series at SEMO (30-23, 13-9 OVC) the weekend of April 10-11, Tech won 14 of its final 15 OVC games to climb from the bottom of the standings to the top and claim its first regular-season crown since 1997. A year ago, the Golden Eagles won the OVC Tournament as the five seed.
Pringles Park will serve as a true neutral site this season, as none of the six qualifying teams have ever played a game at the park adjacent to Interstate 40 in Western Tennessee. Remarkably, none of the six qualifying teams has posted a neutral-site win this season, going a combined 0-10.
“We're excited to get on the field Tuesday and practice, and then play the first game of the event,” EIU head coach
Jim Schmitz said. “Hopefully we're also playing that last game on Thursday, too. I liked Paducah and was a little disappointed at first when the venue change was announced. But the OVC is looking to do bigger and better things and the new park is certainly a big part of that.”
Wednesday, EIU and SEMO will square off for the seventh time in OVC Tournament play and for the fourth time in the last six days. Eastern has played the Redhawks more than any other team in tourney play, with the series tied 3-3. The Panthers won both ends of Friday's doubleheader with SEMO to lockup up an OVC Tournament berth but had their seven-game series win streak snapped in shutout fashion a day later.
“There's not a whole lot of work to do on SEMO,” Schmitz said. “We have lots of notes on them and we know their team. It's not Tech or EKU, who we haven't played since early in the season. But I never really have a preference. The last couple years in conference play, we've really just been more concerned with ourselves. And we're healthy now. Everyone has injuries but that took away from some of our weekends early on.”
During EIU's OVC era (1997-present), it also opened tournament play against its final conference opponent of the regular season in 1998 (Eastern Kentucky) and 2000 (Middle Tennessee).
Like Tennessee Tech, the Panthers had to rally to make the most of their season. After getting swept in a three-game series by the Golden Eagles in Cookeville the weekend of April 17-18, EIU was 4-8 in conference play. Eastern went 7-4 in its remaining OVC games, posting five of those victories against teams that not only also qualified for the tourney but finished higher in the final standings.
The veteran core of the team –
Zach Borenstein,
Richie Derbak,
Alex Gee,
Cam Strang,
Josh Mueller and
Mike Recchia – led the way during the stretch run. Borenstein (.439), Derbak (.409) and Strang (.476) all batted above .400 in the final 11 OVC games and Gee accounted for five home runs and 17 RBIs. On the mound, Mueller went 3-0 while Recchia won two games and posted two saves.
“I'm really happy how we played at the end of the year, winning seven of our last 11 OVC games,” Schmitz said. “So it's nice to carry some momentum into the tournament. And just as important, everyone's finally healthy. Lineup wise, the guys at the top have been there the last two years. They know how special the tourney is and how good you have to play. We didn't do well against Tech and EKU, but it was the same deal in 2008 and we beat the teams in the tourney that had swept us during the regular season. I feel really confident with the arms we have, too.”
On its way to winning the 2008 OVC Tournament, EIU won four games in four days versus four different teams. The first two victories, against Tech and Samford, came against opponents that had swept the Panthers during the regular season. Eastern then upset top-seed Jax State in the winner's bracket final and punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament with a victory against SEMO in the championship game. Derbak, Gee, Mueller and Recchia, as well as senior
Curt Restko, all contributed during the memorable run.
However, it has been a case of feast or famine for the Panthers at the OVC Tournament the last few years. In 2006 and 2009, EIU went two-and-out despite being seeded third and first, respectively.
Southeast Missouri is making its conference-record 16th consecutive OVC Tournament appearance. As the No. 6 seed in 2008, Redhawks won three games before being eliminated by EIU. Last season, SEMO went two-and-out. Southeast has not won the tourney since 2002.
