Baseball Hits The Road For OVC Series At Morehead State

The Panthers opened conference play with a series win over Lindenwood last week

3/27/2025 1:49:00 PM

Eastern Illinois (9-13, 2-1 OVC) at Morehead State (8-14, 0-3 OVC)
March 28-30 | Morehead, Ky. | Allen Field

Game 1: Friday at 4 p.m. ET | Watch | Live Stats
Game 2: Saturday at 12 p.m. ET | Watch | Live Stats
Game 3: Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET | Watch | Live Stats

ON DECK: The Eastern Illinois baseball team heads to Morehead State for their first OVC road series of the season this weekend. Game one is set for Friday, March 28th at 6 p.m. ET.

SERIES HISTORY: EIU is 60-26 all-time against Morehead, but the Eagles have had the upper hand as of late, winning each of the last six regular season series against the Panthers. The series dates back to 1997, which was the Panthers' first season of Ohio Valley Conference competition.

MOREHEAD STATE:

Morehead State enters this weekend with an overall record of 8-14 with an 0-3 record in the OVC after being swept by SIUE in their conference opening series last week.
The Eagles are top half of the OVC in multiple offensive categories, including second in on-base percentage (.397), runs scored (152), and RBIs (140), third in slugging percentage (.436) and hits (190), and fourth in batting average (.281).
Hunter Thomas leads the team with a batting average of .330. He leads the OVC in home runs (9) and RBIs (28), and is third in slugging percentage (.679).
MSU has a team ERA of 8.08, which is tenth in the OVC. They've allowed the most total runs (180) and earned runs (147) in the conference.
Bradley Poynter leads the team with six starts and has a 2-1 record with a 5.46 ERA. Will Grimmett leads the OVC in saves (4) and total appearances (10).
The Eagles are led by first-year head coach Chris Rose, who spent the last three seasons in Morehead as an assistant.

LAST TIME OUT: There was no shortage of offense at Coaches Stadium on Tuesday, as EIU dropped a 15-14 barn burner against in-state foe Northern Illinois to close out a four-game homestand.
13 of EIU's runs were earned as the Panthers racked up a total of 14 hits. Chris Worcester led the team with a season-high four knocks, including a pair of doubles, for his tenth multi-hit performance of the season.

Meanwhile, Eli Hill went 2-5 at the plate with a first-inning grand slam and five total RBIs, while Mike O'Conor went 2-6 with go-ahead three-run homer in the eighth and four total RBIs. It was the Panthers' first multi-home run game of the season.

Six Eastern pitchers saw action, with Dalton Boruff allowing zero runs with a pair of strikeouts through two innings of relief work.

AT THE PLATE: The Panthers are batting .242 with 10 homers and 37 doubles on the season.

Three Panthers are batting over .300 on the season, led by Chris Worcester with an average of .354. Worcester also leads the Panthers in RBIs (14), multi-hit games (10), and slugging percentage (.506).

Jake Ferguson trails just behind Worcester with a .333 batting average, 13 RBIs, and .500 slugging percentage. He has reached base in seven consecutive game and his team-best .490 on-base percentage is third best in the OVC.

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

ON THE MOUND: EIU pitchers have a combined ERA of 5.70. The Panthers have 148 strikeouts with 83 free passes for a 1.78 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

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.

CATEGORY LEADERS:
Hits – Chris Worcester (28), Pierce Bauerle (16), Zak Goodwin/Brett Stanley (14)
RBI – Chris Worcester (14), Jake Ferguson (13), Tyler Castro/Brett Stanley (12)
Strikeouts – Tyler Conklin (29), Dalton Boruff (20), Tyler Kapraun (19)

ON DECK: The Panthers return to Charleston for a five-game homestand next week. EIU will take on Butler on Tuesday, April 1st a 3 p.m. before hosting IU Southeast at 3 p.m. on Wednesday. Eastern will welcome UT Martin to Coaches Stadium for a three-game set beginning on Friday, March 4th at 3 p.m.

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