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Eastern Illinois (10-4, 0-0 OVC) at Bellarmine (7-13, 2-1 ASUN)
Louisville, Ky. | Knights Field
Tuesday, Mar. 21, 1:00 p.m. CT

Eastern Illinois at Saint Louis (12-5, 0-0 A-10)
Saint Louis, Mo. | Billiken Sports Center
Wednesday, Mar. 22, 4:00 p.m. CT

ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois baseball will have a pair of midweek games on Tuesday and Wednesday as they will travel to their 15th and 16th away games of the season at Bellarmine before going to Saint Louis on Wednesday. 

The Panthers currently sit in second place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings after winning their last six games. Last week, Eastern Illinois took both games against Arkansas Pine-Bluff before having three games canceled at Illinois State due to weather.

At the beginning of the season, Eastern Illinois was selected to finish third in the OVC standings. Southeast Missouri State was tabbed as the favorite to win by receiving 16 first place votes and are last year's defending champs. Morehead State finished in second with two first place votes.

ROAD WARRIORS: To start the 2023 campaign, Eastern Illinois baseball was scheduled to have 19 straight away games before four were canceled due to weather conditions. EIU is currently 10-4 in their first 14 away games of the season.

In the NCAA, only two teams have more road wins on the season (Rider - 12, Boston College - 11). During the 2022 season, Eastern Illinois ranked second in the nation with 24 road wins, only two behind the Huskies of Connecticut. 

QUICK HITTER NOTES: Cole Gober is leading an EIU team that ranks first in the OVC in batting average at .283. Gober currently is hitting .339 on the season with a team high 62 at-bats. His batting average ranks fourth in the conference while his team leading 21 hits ranks tied for seventh in the OVC.

Despite only hitting .286 last weekend, Gober did manage to have four hits in 14 at-bats while hitting his fifth home run of the season. In the conference, Gober ranks fifth in total bases (40), fifth in slugging percentage (.645) and seventh in home runs (5). He also has a six game hitting streak and a 14 game reached base streak.

Cade Zalewski has also been a welcomed addition to the Panthers lineup while leading the team in home runs with six. Through 13 games played, Zalewski is hitting .302 with 13 hits, 11 runs scored, two doubles and a team-leading 16 RBI.

With a .767 slugging percentage, Zalewski ranks second in the conference and 58th in the NCAA. His .423 on-base percentage also ranks 10th in the OVC while ranking second on the Panthers squad. His 16 RBI ranks 8th in the OVC and ranks third in home runs.

OVC Preseason first-team selected Ryan Ignoffo currently is hitting .294 for the Panthers in his senior season while also having a 5.06 ERA on the mound in four appearances. In his last appearance, Ignoffo earned his second save of the season after throwing the last four innings and striking out a season-high eight vs. Arkansas State.

On the season, Ignoffo has 15 hits (second on the team) while also scoring a team leading 13 runs. He has posted four home runs and one double through 14 games while having a slugging percentage of .549 (10th in OVC). Not only can he hit, Ignoffo has a team leading .457 on-base percentage (5th in OVC) after drawing 13 walks and four hbp. Ignoffo also has six games this season with multiple hits.

Ignoffo earned All-OVC First Team honors last spring. 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. He posted the following rankings in the NCAA in 2022: 10th in hits per game (1.66), 28th in slugging percentage, and 11th in RBI per game (1.32).

Lincoln Riley has proven he can get on-base after being hit by a pitch four times last weekend against Arkansas State. It tied an Eastern Illinois record for most hbp in a game, and was one shy of tying the NCAA record (5). He now moves up to seventh all-time on the EIU list in hit by pitch with 25 for his career.

During his senior season, Riley is hitting .278 while scoring 13 runs and collecting 15 hits. He is one of two Panthers this season with a triple and ranks third on the team in RBI with 13. His 1.000 field percentage in centerfield ranks first in the OVC.

On the mound, Ky Matthews-Hampton is a two-time OVC Pitcher of the Week while leading the Panthers in wins with three during his first four starts of the season. Hampton will look to earn another win this week as the projected starter against Bellarmine on Tuesday.

Over the course of four games, Hampton has a 2.45 ERA in 25.2 innings pitched while allowing only seven runs on 22 hits. He has 15 strikeouts to his name with only six walks and six extra-base hits. Opponents are hitting just .227 off of him. 

In the OVC, his ERA ranks third out of qualified pitchers this season. His opp. BA ranks eighth in the conference while his seven earned runs ranks third lowest and his six walks is also tied for the third lowest. In the NCAA, his three wins ranked tied for 53rd.

Nick Laxner looks to keep it rolling after he picked up his first win on the year for EIU in a 8-2 win over Pine Bluff. Laxner threw in 5.0 innings for EIU while striking out five and only allowing two runs on three hits. He held his opponents to just a .158 batting average while retiring the first six batters he faced.

CATEGORY LEADERS
Hits: Cole Gober (21), Lincoln Riley (15), Ryan Ignoffo (15)
RBI: Cade Zalewski (16), Gober (15), Ignoffo (14), Riley (14)
Batting Average (min. 30 at-bats): Grant Lashure (.355), Chris Worcester (.344), Gober (.339)
Home runs: Zalewski (6), Gober (5), Ignoffo (4)
Strikeouts: Tyler Conklin (17), Jonathon Hanscom (16), Ky Matthews-Hampton (15), Ignoffo (15)
Wins: Hampton (3), Zane Robbins (2), Conklin (2)
 
SERIES HISTORY: The Panthers are currently winning the all-time series against Bellarmine 8-2. Eastern Illinois has a 3-1 record against Bellarmine after they had made the jump to Division I during the 2021 season. 

The Panthers and Roosevelt have never played each other. Last season, the two were supposed to meet in Rantoul, Ill. but was canceled due to weather.

SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS: Bellarmine is currently 7-13 heading into this week while also taking their first ASUN series of the season vs. Eastern Kentucky. The Knights had played Southern Illinois early this season marking the only common opponent so fat this season for both teams. 

Casey Sorg is a do it all player for the Knights as he currently leads Bellarmine in batting average with a .378. He currently has four home runs and five doubles on the season while hitting home 13 RBI. He also has started two games on the mound while posting a 3.00 ERA with six strikeouts.

Bellarmine is led by first year head coach Chris Dominguez. He currently has a 7-13 record as a head coach.

ON DECK: Eastern Illinois will host their first weekend series of the season as Ohio Valley Conference play starts at Coaches Stadium. The Panthers will welcome the Skyhawks of UT Martin to Coaches Stadium starting on Friday, March 24 at 3:00 p.m.

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.