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Eastern Illinois (25-12, 7-5 OVC) at Illinois Wesleyan (15-14, 6-6 CCIW)
Bloomington, Ill. | Horenberger Field

Wednesday, Apr. 27, 5:00 p.m.
Livestats

ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois baseball will travel north of Charleston, Ill. to near by Bloomington, Ill. to play a midweek matchup against Division III Illinois Wesleyan. EIU and IWU were supposed to play at Coaches Stadium at the Panthers campus, but the field is still under maintenance. Eastern is currently in third place after dropping three games to Murray State last weekend on a windy weekend series at Lake Land College. The Panthers look to secure a bounce back win before they travel to Tennessee Tech this weekend.

HIGH SCORING WEEKEND: Despite EIU scoring at least nine runs in all three games this past weekend versus Murray State, the Panthers went 0-3 losing their first Ohio Valley Conference series of the season. With the wind blowing out, EIU and MSU were able to tie an NCAA record for the most home runs hit in a single game by two teams with 17 (1991-Lousiville vs.Western Illinois).

Ryan Ignoffo lead the way for the Panthers' offense against the Racers as he went 8-15 with four home runs including two in game three of the series. Ignoffo totaled 11 RBIs, his most since returning to the lineup after missing nine straight games. Nathan Aide also had a strong series going 7-16 with two doubles and a home runs along with seven RBIs. On the weekend, EIU scored 39 runs including 20 in the final game of the series. Murray State outscored EIU 56-39 in three games.

OVC TOP TEN: Multiple Panthers are currently in the top-ten for various hitting and pitching categories. In 28 games played this season, Ryan Ignoffo has led the league in batting average with a .437, which is good for No. 3 in the NCAA. He also leads the conference in slugging percentage (.824), fifth in on-base percentage (.465), fourth in RBIs (43), fourth in doubles (13), and fifth in home runs (11). Ignoffo's slugging percentage is good for sixth in the NCAA.

Lucas DiLuca currently leads the conference in on-base percentage with a .500, and is ninth in the OVC in batting average with a .361. He is tied for ninth in runs scored with 37, third in walks with 30, and fifth in hit-by-pitch with eight. DiLuca's on-base percentage is tied for 27th in the NCAA.

Lincoln Riley is now second in the OVC in on-base percentage with a .494 after the Murray State series. He is also sixth in the OVC in runs scored with 38, second in walks with 31, and still leads the conference in hit-by-pitch with 18. Riley is tied for sixth in the NCAA in hbp.

PRESEASON PANTHERS: Eastern Illinois' Logan Eickhoff and Cameron Doherty both earned preseason All-OVC earlier this offseason. Eickhoff was chosen at the utility position while Doherty was chosen for relief pitching. Eickhoff played in 31 games making 26 starters in the outfield. He was among OVC leaders with a .435 batting average before suffering a mid-season injury. Eickhoff returned on April 30 at SIUE and finished the season hitting .423 to become 23rd player in program history to hit .400 or better during a season. He held an on-base percentage of .463 and slugging percentage of .514.  Doherty posted a 3-2 record with a team high five saves during the season. He finished the season with a 3.45 ERA in 75.2 innings of work. He was also selected as the OVC preseason pitcher of the year for his performance last season.

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: Hayden Birdsong's last four appearances out of the Eastern's bullpen have produced a lot of strikeouts. In his last ten innings of work, Birdsong has allowed four hits, one run, five walks, and has produced 19 strikeouts. During that time he has also picked up two OVC wins against SIUE and Austin Peay. On the season, Birdsong has a 3.67 ERA in 27.0 innings of work. He has allowed 21 hits, 12 runs, 14 walks, and 42 strikeouts which is third on the team.
 
SERIES HISTORY: The Panthers are currently losing the all-time series against Illinois Wesleyan 5-15. EIU was a Division II school when these two teams first played back in the 1960 season when EIU was in the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Panthers won the first matchup between these two school by a final score of 6-4. These two teams last met in the 1983 season when EIU won 21-5.

ON DECK: The Panthers will travel to TCookeville, Tenn. to play Tennessee Tech for a three game OVC series starting on Friday, April 29. All three games will be streamed on ESPN+ and will have Livestats.