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Eastern Illinois (23-11, 9-3 OVC) Softball Upcoming Schedule

April 6-7 vs. Tennessee State (16-16, 7-5 OVC)
Saturday, April 6 - 1 pm … Live Stats   |  ESPN+
Saturday, April 6 – 3:30 pm … Live Stats   |  ESPN+
Sunday, April 7 – 1 pm … Live Stats   |  ESPN+


ON-TAP: Eastern Illinois returns home to Williams Field to host Tennessee State this weekend for an Ohio Valley Conference series.  The Panthers suffered their first OVC series loss of the season last weekend losing two of three on the road at SIUE.  EIU does continue to lead the overall OVC race standing at 23-11 overall, 9-3 in the OVC.  The Panthers are 6-0 at home this season at Williams Field with OVC series sweeps against UT Martin and Western Illinois.  Tennessee State comes into the weekend tied for third in the OVC race as the Tigers are 16-16 overall, 7-5 in the OVC.

QUICK HITTER NOTES: 
Kendall Grover continues to swing one of the hot bats in the OVC after hitting .600 in the weekend series at SIUE.  For the season Grover's name dots the OVC top five in a number of statistical categories as she leads the OVC in home runs (7) and RBI (32). She is second in the OVC in doubles (13) and runs scored (31) while ranking third in the league in hits (42) and fourth in stolen bases (15).  Grover now has the longest active streak on the roster of reaching base at ten straight games.
 
Jadin Justman has been a welcome addition to the Panthers offensive line-up this season as the transfer currently leads the Panthers in hitting with a .385 average which ranks fifth in the OVC.  Justman is the conference leader in OPS at 1.129 ranking as one of just three players in the conference with an OPS over 1.000.  Justman is tied for second on the team with six home runs while ranking third at EIU in both doubles and RBI.
 
Karson Davey currently has the longest active hitting streak on the Panthers team at four games.  Earlier this season Davey had a nine game hit streak which ranks as the best on the team this season.  The freshman outfielder is currently hitting .342, one of four Panthers hitting over .300 for the season.  As a team EIU leads the OVC with a team batting average of .307.
 
Eastern Illinois has been able to put on an offensive display this season as the Panthers currently lead the conference with a team batting average of .307.  In addition to leading the league in average, the Panthers have also posted the league's top power numbers ranking first in runs scored (178), doubles (55), home runs (25) and RBI (161).  EIU batters have drawn a league best 102 walks this season at the plate. 

McKenzie Oslanzi picked up win No. 14 on the season as she continues to have a solid debut year.  The freshman pitcher is 14-2 on the season with a league best 1.22 ERA.  She ranks second in the OVC in strike outs with 113 while only issuing 15 walks in 114.1 innings (one walk every 7.2 innings).  In addition Oslanzi has hit for herself and as the DP a good portion of the year posting a .266 average with six doubles and 15 RBI.
 
As a pitching staff Eastern Illinois enters the fifth weekend of the OVC season leading the conference in overall wins and team ERA.  As a staff EIU has a 2.80 ERA which includes six shutouts.  The pitching staff ranks second in the OVC with 193 strike outs and has issued a league low 53 walks for a nearly 4-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio.

STREAKS & LEADERS
Multiple Hit Games:  Rachel Kaufman (15), Kendall Grover (15),  Jadin Justman (10)
Multiple RBI Games:  Rachel Kaufman (8), Jadin Justman (8),  Kendall Grover (8), Briana Gonzalez (6)
Active Hitting Streaks:  Karson Davey (4), Kendall Grover (2)
Active Reached Base Streak:   Kendall Grover (10), Karson Davey (5)
 
SEASON LONG NOTES
Graduate student Rachel Kaufman was named the preseason Player to Watch for EIU in the Ohio Valley Conference this season as part of the league's preseason information release.  Kaufman was a second team All-OVC selection at Utility last season playing both the DH role while also starting in the circle.   At the plate she hit .323 with seven home runs and 26 RBI.   In the circle she had some of the best control ranking among the NCAA leaders in fewest number of walks issued allowing just 15 free passes in 106.2 innings in the circle.   Kaufman was 9-6 overall with a 2.17 ERA and 59 strikeouts.
 
Eastern Illinois was selected second in the OVC preseason poll. The Panthers finished behind defending regular season league champion Southeast Missouri in the preseason voting.  The Panthers were the OVC Tournament Champion last season winning three straight games in Oxford, Alabama to punch their first ticket to the NCAA Tournament.  Olivia Price was named the OVC Tournament MVP after three straight complete games in the OVC Tournament allowing just one run in 21 innings of work.

Rachel Kaufman was named the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week after the graduate student had hits in all five games to help power the Panthers to a 5-0 start to the season. Kaufman hit .500 (9-of-18) at the plate with two doubles and a home run.  She had multiple hits in three of the five games and extended her current hitting streak to six games dating back to last season.  She drove in five of EIU's 25 runs for the weekend drawing one walk to finish with a .526 on-base percentage.   Kaufman did not strike out in 19 plate appearances.
 
Freshman pitcher McKenzie Oslanzi was named the Ohio Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week in week one after helping the Panthers secure a 5-0 start to the season.  She appeared in three of the five games for the weekend factoring in the decision in each game she appeared.  She made her first collegiate start picking up a win over Green Bay with ten strikeouts in her debut. She would pick up a win in relief against Montana and then a save in relief in the victory over Providence.  For the weekend Oslanzi had an ERA of 1.14 with 16 strikeouts in 12.1 innings of work. 
 
Freshman pitcher McKenzie Oslanzi won her second straight OVC Pitcher of the Week honor as she pitched well at the San Diego Classic.  Oslanzi had a complete game shutout win over Long Island University.  She followed that up with a no-decision in the start against San Diego and pitched in relief against Southern Utah.   For the weekend she had 22 strikeouts in 16.1 innings of work.  She leads the OVC in innings pitched, wins and strikeouts while ranking third in the league in ERA.
 
Freshman pitcher McKenzie Oslanzi added a third straight Ohio Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week honor in week three as she posted a 3-0 record at the WKU Hilltopper Classic.  She pitched 15 innings with 15 strike outs allowing just one run and issuing just one walk. For the weekend she had an ERA of 0.47.  
 
Kendall Grover powered the EIU offense at the Alabama State Black & Gold Tournament earning OVC Player of the Week honors. Grover had multiple hits in all four games giving her eight multi-hit games this season.  Grover hit .563 for the weekend going 9-of-16 at the plate with six of her nine hits for extra bases. Grover had four doubles and two home runs while driving home nine.   She also set the table for the Panthers offense in the lead-off spot scoring seven runs and going 3-of-3 on stolen bases. 
 
Briana Gonzalez was named the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week after helping guide the Panthers to a 5-1 record in games at IUPUI, Purdue and against Western Illinois.  Gonzalez hit .500 for the week with two home runs and six RBI. 
 
SERIES HISTORY: Eastern Illinois holds a 53-14 all-time series lead over Tennessee State as the two schools prepare to play this weekend in Charleston.  EIU swept all three games played last year in Nashville.  The Panthers have won four in a row overall in the series with the last two season series both played in Nashville.  TSU's last visit to Charleston was early May 2021 with EIU taking two of three in the weekend series at Williams Field.

ON DECK:  Eastern Illinois returns to the road next weekend as the Panthers will play at Southern Indiana on April 13-14. 

HEAD COACH: Tara Archibald is her fifth season as the head coach at Eastern Illinois.   Last season she led EIU to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance as the Panthers posted a 34-21 record winning the OVC Tournament.  Archibald has a career record of 118-91 with an OVC record of 51-40.  She won her 100th career game against Providence on Feb. 11, 2024.  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 Lisaira Daniels, Toby Ring and Macey McElravy.