Eastern Illinois Softball Upcoming Schedule
May 7 – vs. Tennessee Tech at 4 pm … Live Stats
May 7 – vs. Tennessee Tech at 6:30 pm … Live Stats
May 8 – vs. Tennessee Tech at 1 pm … Live Stats
ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois hosts Tennessee Tech for the final weekend of the regular season as the Panthers are looking to lock up a spot in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament next week in Oxford, Ala. EIU lost all three games to Belmont on the road this past weekend after sweeping a midweek doubleheader from SIUE. The Panthers are now 23-29 overall, 8-17 in the OVC. Tennessee Tech 31-18 overall, 13-12 in the OVC.
QUICK HITTER NOTES:
Eastern Illinois has played well at home this season at Williams Field as the Panthers own a 9-4 record in home contests. Offensively, EIU is hitting .308 as a team in home contests with
Lindy Milkowski the top hitter with a .385 home batting average.
Hannah Cravens has a team high four home runs and 19 RBI in home contests this year. The Panthers pitching staff has posted a 2.80 ERA in home games with
Rachel Kaufman leading the way with a 0.79 ERA and 2-0 record. Away from Williams Field this season EIU is hitting .265 as a team with a 5.28 team ERA.
Jaylen Prichard extended her streak of reaching base to eight straight games as the freshman hit safely in all three games at Belmont. On the season Prichard is third on the team with a .313 batting average. She connected for her second home run of the season in Nashville and has nine doubles, one triple and 21 RBI this season.
Macey McElravy extended her hitting streak to three straight games with hits in two games at Belmont this past weekend. McElravy has come on as a pinch hit specialist in the second half of the season and is hitting .286 with two doubles and a home run this season. She is currently 4-for-8 in pinch hitting situations.
EIU's offensive power numbers for the season continue to climb the EIU single season record book list. EIU now has 45 home runs which is tied for the second most in school history. EIU has 73 doubles which is the fourth most in school history. EIU has scored 269 runs this season which set the single season school record during the weekend series at Belmont. EIU has driven in a school record 249 runs, the previous mark was 235 set during the 2011 season.
Prior to Saturday's first game against Tennessee Tech the Panthers will honor five members of the EIU senior class playing their final weekend series at Williams Field. Set to be honored are
Megan Burton,
Hannah Cravens,
Sydney Cammon,
Kendall Fields and
Abi Stahlhut.
STREAKS & LEADERS
Multiple Hit Games: Hannah Cravens (15),
Megan Burton (14),
Jaylen Prichard (13),
Lindy Milkowski (10)
Multiple RBI Games: Hannah Cravens (12),
Megan Burton (10),
Lindy Milkowski (10),
Riley Dittmar (9),
Active Hitting Streaks: Jaylen Prichard (3),
Macey McElravy (3)
Active Reached Base Streak: Jaylen Prichard (8),
Hannah Cravens (5)
SEASON HIGHLIGHT NOTES:
Megan Burton was named one of 30 candidates for this year's Senior CLASS Award. Burton was last year's OVC Player of the Year after setting the school single season record for home runs. This season Burton has moved into second on the EIU career home runs list with 34. She is currently third all-time at EIU with 43 doubles and fourth all-time with 73 stolen bases. Burton has also climbed up the EIU career hits and runs scored lists this season. She is now 5th with 210 career hits and second with 149 runs scored.
In the season opening weekend at the Rosemont Dome catcher
Lindy Milkowski hit three home runs finishing the opening weekend with 11 RBI in the four games. In the win over Valparaiso she hit two grand slams in the win tying an NCAA record. Milkowski is currently second on the Panthers roster with 38 RBI as she is one of three EIU players with 30 or more RBI this season.
Starting pitcher
Tieghan Morio, a transfer from Ball State, tossed just the seventh no-hitter in program history during a 4-0 win over Alabama A&M at the River City Classic II Tournament. Morio is 4-4 on the season with nine starts in the circle. The last EIU pitcher to toss a no-hitter was Jessica Wireman on April 11, 2015 during a 3-0 win over UT Martin. Pitchers Coli Turley and Stephanie Maday have both pitched a pair of no-hitters in EIU softball history while Hanna Mennega has the other.
Rachel Kaufman was the latest EIU player to join the Grand Slam club this season as she hit a walk-off grand slam to finish off the Panthers 15-5 win over Morehead State. Kaufman drove in five runs the game. She became the third different EIU player to hit a grand slam this season joining
Lindy Milkowski (2) and
Megan Burton.
Hannah Cravens had her power numbers held in check during the weekend series against Austin Peay but still remains among the OVC leaders. Cravens is tied for the conference lead in home runs (13) and RBI (43) while ranking second in the conference in doubles with 18.. This season Cravens has moved into the EIU career top ten in doubles (3rd / 43), home runs (4th / 24) and RBI (7th / 107).
SERIES HISTORY: Eastern Illinois and Tennessee Tech will be meeting for the 64th time when the two schools open their OVC series this weekend at Williams Field. TTU leads the all-time series 34-29. The teams split a pair of games in Cookeville, Tenn., last season.
NEXT UP: The Ohio Valley Conference Tournament will take place next week in Oxford, Ala. EIU is currently eighth in the OVC standings with the top eight teams advancing to the year end event. Should EIU qualify for the OVC Tournament, they would play on Wednesday, May 11.
HEAD COACH: Tara Archibald is her third season as the head coach at Eastern Illinois. In her first season Archibald led EIU to an 11-10 record to open the season prior to COVID-10 shortening the season for all college teams. The Panthers did not get into Ohio Valley Conference play during the 2020 season. Last season she posted her second straight winning record as EIU finished at 25-19 overall, 16-14 in the OVC. Archibald has a career record of 36-29 entering the 2022 season. Archibald is a 2004 graduate of Southern Illinois where she played softball for the Salukis helping the team make the 2003 NCAA Tournament. She hails from a softball family with her father, Gerry Glasco, the head coach at Louisiana. She has coaching stops at both the high school and collegiate ranks. She is assisted by
Rachel Houck and
Aeshia Miles.
