Eastern Illinois (15-28, 9-12 OVC) at Northwestern (13-30, 2-16 Big 10)
Tuesday, May 7th at 3:30 p.m. | Evanston, Ill.
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Eastern Illinois at Butler (17-30, 3-12 Big East)
Wednesday, May 8th at 3 :00 p.m. EST | Indianapolis, Ind.
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ON TAP: The Eastern Illinois baseball team is set for a pair of non-conference road games against Northwestern and Butler this week. The Panthers have not played an away non-conference game since their series at Arkansas State in early March.Â
SERIES HISTORY: Tuesday's game will be just the second all-time meeting between Eastern and Northwestern. The first was a 1-0 Wildcat win at Coaches Stadium in 2012.
The Panthers and Bulldogs are much more familiar with each other. Eastern is 19-12 all-time against Butler in a series that dates back to 1989. The teams last met two weeks ago, with Butler taking a 10-6 win in Charleston.
SCOUTING REPORT:
- Northwestern: The Wildcats enter this week with an overall record of 13-30 and 2-16 mark in Big 10 play. They are batting .239 as a team with a 7.17 ERA. Bennett Markinson leads the team in batting average (.329), hits (56), and RBI (31). Northwestern is led by first-year skipper Ben Greenspan.
- Butler: The Bulldogs enter this week with a record of 17-30, including a 3-12 mark in the Big East, with a game against Ball State on Tuesday afternoon. They are batting .270 as a team with a 9.46 ERA. They have three players batting north of .300, including RBI leader Carter Dorighi (46). Butler is led by second-year head coach Blake Beemer.
WEEKEND RECAP: The Panthers took one of three against Tennessee Tech in Cookeville over the weekend. EIU won the series opener 12-5 behind a pair of big offensive innings and a fantastic outing from starting pitcher
Casey Perrenoud. The Golden Eagles won a wild game two in walk-off fashion before clinching the series in a 16-14 slugfest on Sunday.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Lucas Loos was named this week's OVC Player of the Week after his stellar slugging performance at Tennessee Tech. In game one, he went 2-5 with a double and homer while driving in four runs. Loos recorded a base hit to extend his on-base streak to 37 games on Saturday before exploding for three home runs and five RBI on Sunday. He recorded five total hits in the game and reached base in all six of his plate appearances while becoming the first Panther to homer three times in a game since the 2014 season. Loos has now reached base in 38 consecutive games.
NEXT UP: EIU will close out their home schedule with an OVC series against Morehead State this weekend, with thirteen Panthers set to be recognized as part of Senior Weekend. Game one is scheduled for Friday at 3 p.m.
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