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Eastern Illinois (21-15, 9-2 OVC) Softball Upcoming Schedule

April 14-15 at Tennessee Tech (3-34, 0-12 OVC)
April 14 at Tennessee Tech at 4 pm… Live Stats   |  Watch ESPN+
April 15 at Tennessee Tech at 1 pm… Live Stats   |  Watch ESPN+
April 15 at Tennessee Tech at 3:30 pm… Live Stats   |  Watch ESPN+
  
ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois returns to Ohio Valley Conference play this weekend as the Panthers will travel to Tennessee Tech.  The series has been adjusted up one day due to potential weather issues.  The Panthers are 21-15 overall following a Wednesday win over Saint Louis.   EIU is 9-2 in the OVC entering the weekend second in the conference standings.  The Panthers had a string of 11 straight regular season conference wins, dating back to last season, snapped last weekend with an extra inning loss to Southern Indiana.   TTU enters the weekend at 3-34 overall, 0-12 in the OVC race. 

QUICK HITTER NOTES: 
Aniya Holt has slowly returned to the Panthers line-up this season after missing most of last season with an injury.  She made starts in all three games over the weekend at second base hitting .500 with one double against Southern Indiana.   She continued that hot hitting on Wednesday night with a 2-for-4 day at the plate including the game winning double in the seventh.  Holt currently leads the Panthers with a .419 average but doesn't qualify among the OVC leaders based on number of at-bats.  She has played in 17 games with eight starts.  Holt has four doubles and two home runs this season.
 
Eastern Illinois picked up its second walk-off win of the season on Wednesday night as the Panthers scored two in the bottom of the seventh to pick up the 4-3 win over Saint Louis.   Aniya Holt had the game winning hit with a double to right field after Kendall Grover had tied the game with her RBI single.  Earlier this season at home Lindy Milkowski had a pinch hit single to left that gave the Panthers a walk-off win over SIUE.
 
Lindy Milkowski and Rachel Kaufman both added to their season home run totals last weekend against Southern Indiana with Milkowski hitting a solo home run in the opener and Kaufman delivering a three-run shot in the second game of the series.   Milkowski hit her 11th home run of the season, a total that ranks first in the OVC and sixth on the EIU single season list.   She now has 20 career home runs which moved her into ninth place by herself on the Panthers career list.  Milkowski is currently hitting .330 and with a league best 30 RBI.  Kaufman hit her sixth home run of the year increasing her RBI total to 23.  Kaufman is fifth in the OVC in home runs and sixth in RBI.   She is hitting .353 on the season.
 
Olivia Price tossed a gem in the series opener against Southern Indiana as the junior allowed just two-hits during the Panthers 2-0 win over the Screaming Eagles.  She would pitch briefly in relief in the second game and was the hard luck loser allowing one earned run in the series finale.  During the Panthers midweek game against Saint Louis Price closed out the game in relief allowing two hits as she picked up the win.  Price leads the Panthers with a 9-3 record and 2.19 ERA which ranks fourth in the OVC.    
 
Eastern Illinois players had their second long streak of having someone reach base in consecutive games come to an end last weekend against Southern Indiana.  Rachel Kaufman failed to reach base in Friday's game one 2-0 win over Southern Indiana snapping her streak of reaching base in 25 consecutive games.   It was the longest streak by an EIU player this season. Jaylen Prichard had her streak of 21 straight games snapped a couple of weeks ago and has since built a current active streak of nine games which is the longest on the Panthers team at this time.   Lindy Milkowski follows with an active streak of eight games.
 
Jaylen Prichard was 3-for-3 in Wednesday's win over Saint Louis reaching base all four times at the plate adding in a walk to open the game.  Prichard leads the Panthers in batting average with a .362 average which ranks fifth in the OVC entering the weekend.   She has four doubles, three triples and one home run this season.
 
Briana Gonzalez was hit by a pitch in Wednesday's game against Saint Louis.  Gonzalez has now been hit-by-pitch an OVC leading 12 times this season which accounts for half of EIU's team total for the year.  Gonzalez needs one more hit-by-pitch this season to tie the school single season record of 13 set by Rachel Karos in 2006.  Last season Gonzalez appeared in 39 games and did not record one hit-by-pitch.  She is currently 12th in the NCAA in hit-by-pitch totals for the season.
 
Rachel Kaufman worked four innings in the circle on Wednesday for the Panthers allowing two hits with four strikeouts.  Kaufman did not allow a walk in her four innings in the circle and now has pitched 67 innings this season allowing just six total walks.  That total ranks third in the NCAA in fewest walks allowed per seven innings.  


STREAKS & LEADERS
Multiple Hit Games: Jaylen Prichard (13), Kendall Grover (8), Lindy Milkowski (7), Rachel Kaufman (7)
Multiple RBI Games: Lindy Milkowski (7), Rachel Kaufman (7), Jaylen Prichard (4), Kendall Grover (4), Briana Gonzalez (3)
Active Hitting Streaks:   Jaylen Prichard (9), Aniya Holt (4), Kendall Grover (3)
Active Reached Base Streak: Jaylen Prichard (9), Lindy Milkowski (8), Aniya Holt (4)
 
SEASON LONG NOTES
Olivia Price tossed just the eighth no-hitter in program history with her win over Alabama State on Feb. 17.  Price faced the minimum 21 batters with the lone ASU runner reaching on a walk and out on the next play.  The last no-hitter was thrown last season by current teammate Tieghan Morio during a 4-0 win over Alabama A&M.  EIU's other no-hitters have been tossed by Jessica Wireman, Coli Turley (2), Stephanie Maday (2) and Hanna Mennega. 
 
Olivia Price and Lindy Milkowski were named the Ohio Valley Conference Pitcher and Player of the Week (Feb 20) following the Panthers 5-0 performance at the Mardi Gras Classic.  Price tossed a no-hitter and worked 10 innings in the circle with a 1.35 ERA.  She added 11 strikeouts.  Milkowski hit .462 during that tournament with four home runs and eight RBI.  She had 17 total plate appearances drawing three walks without being struck out.
 
Lindy Milkowski was named the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week for the second time this season after her weekend performance at the Bellarmine Tournament (March 6).  In four games played, Milkowski hit .500 with three doubles, three home runs and ten RBI.   She had a slugging percentage of 1.250 for the weekend.  EIU closed out the tournament with a Monday morning run-rule win over Valparaiso where Milkowski added one hit to finish the weekend hitting .474. 
 
Senior Morgan Lewis was named the EIU Player to Watch for the upcoming OVC season in the preseason poll.  Lewis has battled injuries during parts of the previous two seasons but was an All-OVC Newcomer selection in 2021 leading the OVC in stolen bases.  This season Lewis has appeared in 17 games hitting .241 going 7-for-8 in stolen base attempts.   EIU does return first team All-OVC performer Lindy Milkowski and All-OVC Newcomer team member Alexa Rehmeier from last year's team. 

 
SERIES HISTORY: Eastern Illinois and Tennessee Tech will be meeting for a weekend Ohio Valley Conference series.  Tennessee Tech holds the all-time series lead 40-26 with the Golden Eagles beating EIU in the opening round of the OVC Tournament in 2022. The Panthers had won two straight to win the regular season series against TTU in Charleston. 

NEXT UP:  Eastern Illinois travels to Purdue Fort Wayne next Wednesday for a non-conference doubleheader before hosting Morehead State at Williams Field on April 22-23.

HEAD COACH: Tara Archibald is her fourth 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.   In 2021 she posted her second straight winning record as EIU finished at 25-19 overall, 16-14 in the OVC.  Last season EIU was 25-30 overall, 10-17.  The Panthers did qualify for the OVC Tournament marking their first appearance since the 2018 season.  Archibald has a career record of 82-74 with an OVC record of 35-33.  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 Huggins and Toby Ring.