Eastern Illinois (29-15, 10-8 OVC) at Western Illinois (6-38, 4-17 SUMMIT)
Macomb, Ill. | Alfred D. Boyer Stadium

Game One | Tuesday May 10, 3:00 p.m.
Livestats

ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois baseball will travel to Macomb, Ill. on Tuesday as they face-off against in-state Western Illinois on Tuesday, May 10 at 3:00 p.m. The series will be the first of two matchups this season between the two schools as they will later play at Coaches Stadium on May 17th for Senior Day. EIU is currently 29-15 overall after going 1-2 last weekend against Morehead State. They drop to 10-8 in the Ohio Valley Conference which is good for third. Western Illinois is 6-38 this season and are 4-17 in the Summit League which is seventh best. Western is coming off a 1-2 weekend after losing the series to Northern Colorado.

PANTHERS PLAY FIRST GAME AT COACHES STADIUM: Alhough the Panthers lost their series against Morehead State this past weekend, it marked the first true home game for EIU at Coaches Stadium. This season the Panthers have been playing all their home games at either the Rantoul Family Sports Complex or at Lake Land College.

EIU won their first true home game of the season in game one versus Morehead State by a final score of 5-3. Trevor Nicholson threw a brilliant in the first game of a double header on Saturday as he went eight innings while only allowing two runs on three hits. He also tossed 11 strikeouts in the game which marked the fourth time he has thrown double digit strikeouts. He currently is tied for sixth all-time in a single season at EIU in strikeouts with 83.

Chris Worcester collected seven hits in the series including the first home run hit this season by an EIU player in the game one win. Lucas DiLuca also homered in the first game. The Panthers scored eight runs in the game two loss. Nicholas Rucker hit a three-run home run in that game. Ryan Ignoffo and Worcester both hit RBI doubles in game three on Sunday.

OVC TOP TEN: Multiple Panthers are currently in the top-ten for various hitting and pitching categories. Trevor Nicholson has posted a 3.79 ERA (5th OVC), a .242 opp. batting average (4th OVC), and has 83 strikeouts this year (1st OVC). He has only allowed 54 hits this season (5th fewest) while giving up the fourth fewest runs (29) and fifth fewest earned runs (25) in the conference. His strikeouts per nine innings is ranked 26th at 12.59 in the NCAA, and his 83 strikeouts ranks 42nd.

Fellow pitcher Zane Robbins has collected 11 saves this season following EIU's win over Illinois Wesleyan. He set the new EIU single season record for saves after earning his 11th. Robbins is second in the OVC in saves with 11 and is fifth in games finished with 16. Robbins is tied for sixth in the NCAA with 11 saves this season.

Lucas DiLuca's .327 batting average is third on the team. He currently has a .456 on-base percentage which is fifth in the OVC. He currently is one of four Panthers with at least 50 hits (51) and has collected at least 30 RBIs. Lincoln Riley has been consistent in getting on base for EIU this season. He leads the team in walks (33), hit-by-pitch (18), and is first in on-base percentage (.469). His ob% ranks third in the OVC and 95th in the NCAA, he is fourth in walks, and first in hit-by pitches. Riley is also 15th in the NCAA in hbp with 18.

Since returning to the lineup, Ryan Ignoffo has been on a hitting streak including hitting four home runs against Murray State, a grand slam against TTU two weeks ago, and a RBI double this past week against Morehead State. He ranks first on the team in batting average (.423), hits (63), slugging percentage (.779), doubles (14), home runs (13), and RBIs (51). In the OVC he ranks first in batting average, first in slugging, sixth in ob% (.453), fifth in RBIs, sixth in home runs, and seventh in doubles. In the NCAA he ranks sixth in batting average, third in hits per game (1.80), fourth in runs batted in per game (1.46), and eighth in slugging percentage. Ignoffo has also reached base safely in 28 straight games for EIU, and is on a 10 game hitting streak.

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.
 
SERIES HISTORY: The Panthers are currently winning the all-time series against the Western Illinois Leathernecks 80-51-1. The Panthers first played Western Illinois during their inaugural season in 1960 in which W. Illinois took two of three games from the Panthers when they played each other in the IIAC. The Panthers have not played Western Illinois since the 2012 season when EIU lost 1-11 in Macomb.

SCOUTING REPORT: Nick Mitchell leads the Leathernecks at the plate as he is hitting .340 on the season with 53 hits, four doubles, and 24 RBIs. He has played in 40 games this season while starting 39 of them. Kory Olsen leads the team in doubles with nine and is tied for the lead in RBIs with Mitchell at 24. Jace Warkentien has pitched in 63.2 innings this season for Western. He has a 6.08 ERA and a 2-6 record on the season.

ON DECK: The Panthers will play their last away games of the season as they travel to Nashville, Tenn. to play a three-game series against Belmont. Friday's game will be at 5:00 p.m. with Saturday's game starting at 2:00 p.m. and Sunday's at 1:00 p.m. All games will be streamed on ESPN+ and will have Livestats.