Baseball Hosts Morehead State For Final Home Series

13 Panthers set to be recognized as part of Senior Weekend

5/9/2024 12:15:00 PM

ON TAP: After a non-conference detour during the midweek, the Eastern Illinois baseball team continues OVC play this weekend with a series against Morehead State. The three-game set will be the Panthers' final home games of the season and serve as a Senior Weekend celebration, with 13 Panthers set to be recognized. Game one was originally scheduled for 3 p.m. on Friday, but has been moved up to a 2 p.m. first pitch.

SERIES HISTORY: EIU holds a 59-24 all-time recorded against Morehead, but the Eagles have had the upper hand as of late, winning each of the last five regular season series between the teams. The series dates back to 1997, which was the Panthers' first season of Ohio Valley Conference competition. The last time these teams saw each other was in last year's OVC Tournament Championship game, where the Panthers punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament with a 6-5 victory.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES:

MSU enters this weekend with an overall mark of 28-20 with an OVC record of 12-9, which has them tied for second place in the conference.
The Eagles possess the most high-powered offense in the OVC, leading the conference in batting average (.326), hits (559), runs (467), doubles (112), home runs (108), RBI (438), slugging percentage (.584), and on-base percentage (.423). They are top five nationally in batting average, hits, runs, home runs, and slugging percentage.
The offense is led by Ryley Preece, who is top five in the OVC in multiple statistical categories, including first in runs scored (77) and on-base percentage (.514). He is second in hits (54) and home runs (18), and third in batting average (.381) and slugging percentage (.722)
Meanwhile, Roman Kuntz leads the league in slugging percentage (.841), RBI (76), and home runs (26).
The Eagles are led by first-year head coach Brady Ward. Ward was hired after spending three seasons as MSU's pitching coach.

OVC STANDINGS: Entering the final two weeks of regular season play, Little Rock and SEMO are tied atop the conference standings with OVC records of 13-8. They are followed by Morehead and Tennessee Tech at 12-9, with Southern Indiana and UT Martin closely following with records of 11-10. SIUE is in seventh with a 10-11 mark, while the Panthers occupy eighth place with a 9-12 conference record. Lindenwood and Western are tied at the bottom with 7-14 records.

WEEK IN REVIEW: The Panthers dropped a pair of hard-fought non-conference games on the road this week. On Tuesday, Eastern lost 9-7 at Northwestern before dropping a wild 12-11 contest at Butler on Wednesday that featured a combined 12 unearned runs and four lead changes.

SENIOR WEEKEND: A total of 13 Panthers will be recognized as part of this year's Senior Weekend. Those being recognized include Grant Lashure, Robby Taul, Trenton Pallas, Jonathon Hanscom, Chaney Trout, Andrew Schroeder, Kolten Poorman, Casey Perrenoud, Cole Gober, Lucas Loos, Colton Coca, Collin Kalinowski, and Zane Robbins.

QUICK HITTERS:

Lucas Loos has reached base in 40 consecutive games, which ties Trey Sweeney for the longest such streak by an EIU player in the last 10 seasons.
Loos is fourth nationally in doubles (22) and fifth in doubles per game (0.49). He has the 15th best slugging percentage in the country (.820) and is ranked as the 14th toughest batter to strike out. In the OVC, he is fourth in batting average (.376), sixth in on-base percentage (.445), sixth in RBI (48), eighth in hits (64), and third in home runs (17).
Dylan Drumke has the fourth best slugging percentage in the OVC (.667), along with the fourth most home runs (15) and eighth most RBI (47).
Quade Peters is tied for the sixth most sacrifice bunts in the conference with six.
In his last four starts, Casey Perrenoud is 3-0 with a 1.97 ERA, allowing just five earned runs with 17 strikeouts through 23.0 innings pitched.
In those same four games, Jonathon Hanscom is 1-0 with three saves and a 3.00 ERA. His four total saves are tied for the fourth most in the OVC this season.
The Panthers have won five consecutive series openers dating back to their sweep of Western Illinois in early April. However, they have not been able to win a series since taking two of three against SIUE the following weekend. Four of their last six OVC losses have been by two runs or less.

CATEGORY LEADERS:
Hits: Lucas Loos (68), Cole Gober (58), Dylan Drumke (50)
Multi-Hit Games: Lucas Loos (20), Cole Gober (19), Dylan Drumke (16)
Home Runs: Lucas Loos (18), Dylan Drumke (15), Cole Gober (8)
RBI: Lucas Loos (52), Dylan Drumke (50), Michael O'Conor (35)
Strikeouts: Colton Coca (47), Bryce Riggs (44), Jonathon Hanscom (36)

ON DECK: Eastern will travel to Illinois State on Tuesday for their final non-conference game before closing out the regular season with a trip to Lindenwood next weekend. Game one against the Lions is set for Thursday, May 16th at 5 p.m.

HEAD COACH: Jason Anderson is completing his ninth 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. The following season, Anderson coached Trey Sweeney who was drafted 20th overall by the New York Yankees in the 2021 MLB Draft. Sweeney was the third highest drafted Panther of all-time. In 2022, Anderson would reach a new high mark for wins in a season after going 33-20 and securing the number four seed in the OVC Tournament. It was the most wins by an EIU team since 2001. In 2023, Anderson coached EIU to a school record 38 wins, OVC Tournament Championship, and NCAA Regional berth. It was the Panthers' first Regional appearance since the 2008 season. 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 Mike Pugliese. J.D. Pulfer, and Brad Merritt.

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