Eastern Illinois (9-12, 2-1 OVC) vs. Northern Illinois (7-13, 1-8 MAC)
Tuesday, March 25th | 3 p.m. | Coaches Stadium
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LEADING OFF: The Eastern Illinois baseball team closes out their first homestand of the season with a midweek contest against Northern Illinois on Tuesday afternoon. It represents the first half of a home-and-home series versus the Huskies this season.

SERIES HISTORY: The Panthers are 23-12 against their counterparts from Dekalb since transitioning to Division-I, but have lost the last four installments of the series. EIU fell 14-12 in Charleston last season in what was the first meeting between the two programs since 2007.

NORTHERN ILLINOIS:

• The Huskies enters this week's game with an overall record of 7-13 with a 1-8 mark in conference play, and are currently in the midst of an eight-game losing streak.
• Northern is batting .238 as a team this season. Gavin Baldwin leads the team in batting average (.333) and RBIs (24), and currently leads the MAC in slugging percentage (.786) and OPS (1.286).
• NIU pitchers have a cumulative ERA of 6.65, which is third best in the MAC, with a .298 batting average against. They have surrendered 151 runs on 202 hits.
• The Huskies are led by second-year head coach Ryan Copeland.

WEEKEND RECAP: EIU opened up their home schedule by taking two of three against Lindenwood over the weekend to win their first OVC series of the season.

Some late game heroics lifted Eastern to a dramatic extra-innings win on Friday, as they were down to their last strike in the ninth before a Jake Ferguson two-run homer saved the day, taking the game to extras where the Panthers would ultimately prevail in 11.

Tyler Conklin put in another strong day on the mound, allowing just one earned run on three hits with four strikeouts through eight complete innings.

On Saturday, the Panthers and Lions split a doubleheader, with strong performances on the mound from Anthony Solis and Bryce Riggs lifting the Panthers to a 4-3 victory in game one. Solis picked up the win after allowing three runs with seven strikeouts through 6.0 innings.

Meanwhile, Riggs was awarded the save after allowing just one hit and zero runs with three strikeouts to protect EIU's one-run lead through the final three innings.

AT THE PLATE: The Panthers are batting .236 with eight homers and 33 doubles on the season.

Four Panthers are batting over .300 on the season, led by Sam Wiese with an average of .343. He is followed by Chris Worcester with a batting average of .329.

Worcester leads the Panthers in multi-hit games with nine and is tied with Tyler Castro for the second most RBIs (12).

Jake Ferguson leads the team in RBIs (13) and slugging percentage (.500).

Quade Peters has posted a hit in four consecutive games, which is the longest active streak on the team.

ON THE MOUND: EIU pitchers have a combined ERA of 5.33, which is third best in the OVC. The Panthers have 137 strikeouts with 79 free passes for a 1.73 strikeout-to-walk ratio, which is also third best in the OVC.

Tyler Conklin leads the squad in strikeouts with 29 K's through a team-high 38.2 innings pitched. He holds a 2-1 record with a 3.49 ERA and .209 batting average against.

Anthony Solis leads the team in wins with a 3-1 record. He has a 5.64 ERA with 13 strikeouts through 22.1 innings.

Nate Marshall picked up his first win on Friday and has given up just three hits and zero runs with five strikeouts in 8.0 innings this season.

Bryce Riggs has allowed zero earned runs with 15 strikeouts in seven appearances totaling 18.0 innings.

CATEGORY LEADERS:
Hits – Chris Worcester (24), Pierce Bauerle (16), Zak Goodwin/Brett Stanley (14)
RBI – Jake Ferguson (13), Tyler Castro Chris Worcester (12), Zak Goodwin/Brett Stanley (11)
Strikeouts – Tyler Conklin (29), Tyler Kapraun (19), Dalton Boruff (18)

ON DECK: Eastern will travel to Morehead State this weekend for a three-game OVC set against the Eagles. Game one is slated for Friday, March 28th at 6 p.m. ET.