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Eastern Illinois (3-0, 0-0 OVC) at No. 9 Arkansas (3-1, 0-0 SEC)
Fayetteville, Ark. | Baum-Walker Stadium
SEC Network+

Game One | Friday, Feb. 24, 2:00 p.m.
Game Two | Saturday, Feb. 25, 12:00 p.m.
Game Three | Sunday, Feb. 26, 1:00 p.m.

ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois baseball will continue their non-conference schedule with a trip to Fayetteville, Ark. to take on the No. 9 ranked Razorbacks of Arkansas. The Panthers have not faced a ranked team since the 2018 season when they played No. 8 Ole Miss.

EIU started their season off to a hot start with a 3-0 series sweep of Florida A&M in Tallahassee, Fl. It marked the first time since 1988 that the Panthers have swept a team during the opening weekend of the NCAA season.

At the beginning of the season, Eastern Illinois was selected to finish third in the Ohio Valley Conference standings. Southeast Missouri State was tabbed as the favorite to win by receiving 16 first place votes. Morehead State finished in second with two first place votes.

QUICK HITTER NOTES: Cole Gober was the hot hitter at the plate for the Panthers last weekend during their three games against Florida A&M. In his first career at-bat in a Panthers uniform, Gober smashed a home run which was the only one by a Panther last weekend.

He currently is leading the team in slugging percentage (min. 2 at-bats per game) with a .600. It also ranks 10th in the OVC after the first week of play. He led the team in hits with 5 and at-bats with 15. He also drove in two runs for EIU.

After being named to the OVC Preseason team early this month, Ryan Ignoffo started off to a slow start to the 2023 season. Despite only registering one hit last weekend, he was tied for the team lead in RBI with three and posted an on-base percentage of .375. Ignoffo was also solid on the mound while earning the save in game two after throwing in three innings and striking out four.

Last season, he was the team leader in batting average (.395), hits (73), doubles (16), home runs (14), RBI (58) and slugging percentage (.708%). Ignoffo was second in the OVC in batting average and also ranked 17th in the NCAA in 2022. He posted the following rankings in the NCAA last year: 10th in hits per game (1.66), 28th in slugging percentage, and 11th in RBI per game (1.32).

Chris Worcester was also a OVC Preseason first-team selection after being named the OVC Freshman of the Year last season. After missing the first weekend of the season, Worcester looks to make his debut against the Razorbacks. Last season he had 15 games with multiple hits while hitting .320.

Tyler Conklin made his season debut last weekend as the Saturday starting pitcher. In his debut, he secured his first win of the season after beating the Rattlers 4-3. Conklin tossed 6.0 inning while allowing two runs on four hits. Conklin held batters to a .182 average while striking out three.

Ky Hampton also made an impact on the mound as he was part of a 3-0 shutout of Florida A&M last Sunday. Hampton tossed 6.0 scoreless innings while allowing 7 hits and stuck out 5 Rattlers. Jonathon Hanscom finished the game for Hampton and only allowed one base runner during his three scoreless innings.

Eastern Illinois earned two saves over the weekend from Ignoffo and Hanscom. Zane Robbins also earned a win over the weekend in game one of the series after tossing the ninth and tenth innings. Ja'Lil Akbar hit the go-ahead RBI single in the 10th against A&M on Friday.

CATEGORY LEADERS
Hits: Cole Gober (5), Lincoln Riley (4), Grant Lashure (3), Nicholas Rucker (3)
RBI: Ryan Ignoffo (3), Lincoln Riley (3), Nicholas Rucker (3)
Walks: Logan Eickhoff (5), Lucas DiLuca (3), Ryan Ignoffo (3), Lincoln Riley (3)
Runs: Lincoln Riley (3), Logan Eickhoff (3), Ja'Lil Akbar (2)
Strikeouts: Ky Hampton (5), Jonathon Hanscom (5), Ryan Ignoffo (4), Zane Robbins (4)
Win: Tyler Conklin (1), Zane Robbins (1), Ky Hampton (1)
 
SERIES HISTORY: This weekend marks the 35th through 37th all-time meetings against Arkansas. The Razorbacks currently lead the all-time series 2-32. Their first meeting was held during the 1984 season when Arkansas defeated EIU by a final score of 0-6.

The Panthers won their first game versus Arkansas in 1998 by a final score of 5-4. Their last win against the Razorbacks was on March 5, 2016 when EIU defeated then No. 12 ranked Arkansas by a final score of 10-8 in 12 innings. This not only marked EIU's last ranked win, but it marked Jason Anderson's first win as the head coach of Eastern Illinois.

ON DECK: Eastern Illinois will travel to Dayton, Ohio for a four game series against the Flyers of Dayton University. Games will be played on March 3rd, 4th, and 5th with a double header on the fourth starting at 11 a.m. Live updates will be provided throughout the series.

HEAD COACH: Jason Anderson begins his eighth season as the Eastern Illinois head baseball coach. Anderson got his first win as the Eastern Illinois head coach on March 5, 2016 against No. 12 Arkansas by a final score of 10-8 (10 innings). He would go on to finish with a 15-39 record in his first season. He would improve each season over the next three years after posting 21, 23 and 26 wins before posting an 8-6 record during the 2020 COVID-19 season.  Following that season, Anderson coached Trey Sweeney who was drafted 20th overall by the New York Yankees in 2021. Sweeney was the third highest drafted Panther of all-time. In 2022, Anderson would post his most wins in a season after going 33-20 and securing the number four seed in the OVC Tournament held n Lexington, Ky. It was the most wins by an EIU team since 2001. From that team, Anderson coached two first team All-OVC players (Ryan Ignoffo and Hayden Birdsong) and the OVC Freshman of the Year (Chris Worcester). He is a 2012 graduate of the University of Illinois after playing baseball there from 1998-2000. He was the Pitcher of the Year in the Big Ten during the 2000 season, and was drafted in the 10th round by the New York Yankees. After his eight year playing career in the MLB, he made coaching stops at Danville Community College and the University of Illinois before coming to Eastern Illinois. He is assisted by Derek Francis, Forrest Arnold, Mike Pugliese and Colton Hann.