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Eastern Illinois (15-12, 1-5 OVC) at Lindenwood (7-25, 4-5 OVC)
Saint Charles, Mo. | Lou Brock Sports Complex
Tuesday, Apr. 11, 6:00 p.m. CT | Stats | Listen

Eastern Illinois vs. Western Illinois (4-22, 1-5 Summit)
Charleston, Ill. | Coaches Stadium
Wednesday, Apr. 12, 3:00 p.m. CT | Stats | Watch

ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois baseball will play two midweek games this week before returning to Ohio Valley Conference play at Coaches Stadium this season against Little Rock. The Panthers will travel to Lindenwood in a non-conference matchup on Tuesday before returning home on Wednesday to faceoff vs. Western Illinois.

Over the weekend, the Panthers went 0-3 against the Cougars of SIUE in OVC play. Eastern Illinois has not played a midweek game since defeating Illinois Wesleyan at Coaches Stadium on March 29 by a final of 24-7.

EIU is currently in ninth place in the conference with a 1-5 record. The Panthers will play an OVC weekend series the rest of the season.

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 had played 20 straight away games. EIU currently is 14-10 on the road including a victory over No. 3 Arkansas earlier this season by a score of 12-3.

In the NCAA, the Panthers are second in road wins with 14. Last season, EIU ranked second in the nation with 24 road wins, only two behind the Huskies of Connecticut. All three games this weekend will count as away games despite being labeled as the home team.

QUICK HITTER NOTES: Eastern Illinois was 0-3 overall last week after dropping all three weekend games at SIUE. EIU managed just 18 hits last weekend and only scored six runs, three of those coming from an RBI.

As a team, EIU is currently hitting .277 for the season which ranks second in the conference. Eastern's .385 on-base percentage also ranks first in the OVC. The Panthers have the lowest amount of strikeouts as a team with just 198.

On the base pads, Eastern Illinois ranks 47th in the country in the stolen bases per game with an average of 1.70 per game. With 16 sacrifice bunts on the season, EIU also can play the small game ranking 53th in the NCAA.

On the mound, Eastern pitching staff has been solid with the second lowest ERA in the OVC at 4.96. They are allowing their opponents to hit just .279 on the season while they have also given up the second lowest amount of hits to opponents (257).

With a solid defense backing up EIU pitchers, the Panthers have only allowed 150 runs this season which is the lowest in the OVC. EIU has also only given up 87 walks this season which is the lowest in the conference. Their walks per nine innings (3.37) ranks 22nd in the NCAA.

EIU's defense has been solid even with runners on base as they average 0.74 per game in turning double plays. Eastern ranks fifth in the OVC in fielding percentage at a .966. Their 2279 assists in the field ranks second in the OVC.

Logan Eickhoff was the most consistent hitter for the Panthers last weekend against SIUE after starting all three games in the outfield. Eickhoff hit .455 last week with five hits including a double. He was the only Panther to record an RBI in the series (3).

On the season, Eickhoff has hit .375 in 15 games played.with 15 hits. He has two doubles and one triple while also collecting five RBI. With speed to burn, Eickhoff is third on the team in steals with nine while also having a .479 on-base percentage.

Primarily a designated hitter, Jared Evans has been active at the plate while making eight starts. He has a total of 15 hits in 38 at-bats with four doubles and two home runs. He currently has a slugging percentage of .658 while also posting a .489 on-base percentage.

Despite only having two hits last weekend at SIUE, Riley still found a way to get on ase including being walked once and being hit by a pitch twice. In the nation, Riley ranks 37th in hit by pitch with 11 and 35th in hit-by-pitch per game (0.41).

Riley is hitting .294 for the year while being one of three Panthers to start of 27 games (Ryan Ignoffo and Cole Gober). He has 30 hits on the season with 18 RBI. He has a knack for getting on base with a .435 obp while walking a team high 16 times. He also has speed to kill with 10 stolen bases.

Catcher Grant Lashure has been active while being the primary catcher this season for EIU. He is hitting .349 this season with 22 hits and a team high seven doubles. Lashure has been consistent with reaching base with 11 walks and a obp of .447.

In OVC play, Nicholas Rucker has led an EIU team that has struggled to hit as of late. He leads the team in batting average with a .467 in five games played. He also has a team high seven hits in OVC play while also bring home three RBI. His four walks has also increased his OVC obp to a .571.

Rucker has appeared in 24 games while hitting .316 with 24 hits in 76 at-bats. He has scored the fourth most runs on the team wit h13 while also bringing in 10 RBI. Rucker has also been walked the third most on the team (14).

Eastern Illinois' primary midweek pitcher has been right-hander Nick Laxner. He has started four games this season with a 2-1 record and a 4.97 ERA. In 25.1 innings pitched, he has allowed 15 runs (14 of them earned) while giving up 25 hits with 22 strikeouts. He has allowed opponents to hit just .258.

In his last outing at Bradley, Laxner went all 8.0 innings in a 5-8 loss. He allowed all eight runs while giving up 11 hits and striking out a season high seven batters. It marked his first loss of the season.

CATEGORY LEADERS
Hits: Cole Gober (32), Lincoln Riley (30), Ryan Ignoffo (27)
RBI: Ignoffo (27), Gober (19), Riley (18)
Batting Average (min. 50 at-bats): Grant Lashure (.349), Nicholas Rucker (.316), Riley (.294)
Home runs: Cade Zalewski (6), Gober (5), Ignoffo (5)
Strikeouts: Tyler Conklin (29), Blake Malatestinic (26), Ky Matthews-Hampton (24)
ERA (min. 10 IP): Jackson Nicholas (0.00), Zane Robbins (2.38), Hampton (2.89)
 
SERIES HISTORY: The Panthers are currently winning the all-time series against Lindenwood 2-0. Both times these two teams played in the past was when Lindenwood was still a Division II opponent. This game will also not be an OVC game since they will play three more games later in the season.

EIU also leads the all-time series against the Leathernecks of Western Illinois 82-52-1. Eastern Illinois went 2-0 last season against WIU. The two will also play later on in the season with a midweek game in Macomb, Ill.

ON DECK: Eastern Illinois returns to Ohio Valley Conference play with three home games starting on Friday, April 14 at 3:00 p.m. when the Trojans of Little Rock come to town. EIU and LR will play a three game series at Coaches Stadium to continue conference play.

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.