Eastern Illinois (19-17, 9-5 OVC) at Butler (14-25, 3-6 Big East)
Tue., April 22 | 4 p.m. ET | Indianapolis, Ind.
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Eastern Illinois vs. Illinois Wesleyan (19-12, 11-4 CCIW)
Wed., April 23 | 3 p.m. | Charleston, Ill.
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LEADING OFF: After an OVC sweep against Tennessee Tech last week, the Eastern Illinois baseball team turns their attention to a pair of midweek matchups against Butler and Illinois Wesleyan. The Panthers travel to Indianapolis to take on the Bulldogs on Tuesday before hosting the Titans on Wednesday.

SERIES HISTORY:

EIU is 20-13 all-time against Butler, including a 10-8 record in Indianapolis. The Panthers defeated the Bulldogs 14-8 in Charleston earlier this season.

Since 1960, Eastern is 7-15 against Wesleyan, but hold a 3-1 record against the Titans since making the transition to Division I. The two teams have played two of the last three seasons after not meeting between 1984 and 2021. The Panthers run-ruled IWU 24-7 in their previous matchup in 2023.

SCOUTING REPORT:

Butler enters this week with an overall record of 14-25 with a 3-6 mark in Big East play. Three Bulldogs are batting north of .300, led by Jack Moroknek with a .406 average, which is second best in the Big East. He leads BU in hits (63), runs (47), home runs (15), and RBIs (47). Butler has a team ERA of 10.68 and has allowed double-digit runs in 20 of their 25 losses.

Illinois Wesleyan is 19-12 overall with an 11-4 conference record. The Titans are batting .341 as a team, which is tops in the CCIW and ninth in Division-III. Two players are batting over .400, including Cade Tomhave (.421) and Justin Gadomski (.410), who are first and second in the CCIW. Gadomski leads all of Division-III with 23 doubles. IWU has a team ERA of 5.73.

WEEKEND RECAP: EIU swept Tennessee Tech at Coaches Stadium last week to move their OVC record to 9-5. It was the Panthers' first series sweep of the season.

Eastern took the series opener 8-6 as Chris Worcester went 3-5 with an RBI. Zak Goodwin and Joey Hagen also posted multiple hits with two knocks apiece, while Hagen recorded a team-leading two RBIs.

Anthony Solis picked up his fourth win of the season after allowing three runs on five hits with a strikeout through 5.1 innings. Dalton Boruff earned his third save of the season after giving up one run on two hits with a strikeout to close the game.

The Panthers pulled out a 7-6 win in game two, with Jake Ferguson going 3-4 with a double and an RBI. Meanwhile, Ethan Rossi went 2-2 with a triple and two RBIs.

Four EIU pitchers saw action in the game, combining to allow just one earned run. Christian Carew had the longest outing, allowing no runs on three hits with a pair of strikeouts through 4.1 innings of relief. Kole Bradley picked up his first win of the season after giving up no runs on just one hit through the game's final inning and a third.

Pitching led the way in the series finale as EIU completed the sweep with a 6-1 victory. It was a masterful performance from starter Tyler Kapraun, who picked up his third win of the season after allowing just one run on three hits with five strikeouts through six complete innings.

Chris Worcester and Jake Ferguson led the Eastern offense with two hits apiece, with Ferguson also posting a team-leading two RBIs.

QUICK HITTERS:

The Panthers are batting .278 as a team this season with a conference best .395 on-base percentage. Eastern leads the league in runs scored (280), batters hit by pitch (68), and sacrifice bunts (52).

Six players are batting over .300, led by Jake Ferguson, who is seventh in the OVC with a batting average of .358. He also leads the team in on-base percentage (.488) and RBIs (26).

Chris Worcester leads the team in hits (48) for an average of 1.41 hits per game, which is the fifth best mark in the OVC. He also leads the Panthers with nine doubles and 16 multi-hit games.

Mike O'Conor has reached base in a team-high 20 consecutive appearances. He is batting .319 on the season and leads the team in home runs (8) and slugging percentage (.628). O'Conor is tied with Worcester and Ferguson for most multi-RBI games (7).

Brett Stanley possesses the longest active hitting streak on the team, which stands at nine games. He also leads the Panthers in stolen bases with 17 on 19 attempts, which is tied for second most in the OVC.

EIU has a 5.03 ERA with a .267 opposing batting average, which are both second best in the OVC. They have allowed the fewest earned runs (180) and second fewest walks (136).

Bryce Riggs has the lowest ERA on the team with a mark of 2.28. He has surrendered just seven earned runs with 25 strikeouts through 27.2 innings.

CATEGORY LEADERS:
Hits – Chris Worcester (48), Brett Stanley (36), Jake Ferguson (34)
Home Runs – Mike O'Conor (8), Ethan Rossi (5), Eli Hill (3)
RBI – Jake Ferguson (26), Mike O'Conor/Brett Stanley (25), Tyler Castro (24)
Strikeouts – Tyler Kapraun (40), Tyler Conklin (36), Dalton Boruff (29)
Wins – Christian Carew (4), Tyler Conklin/Tyler Kapraun/Anthony Solis (3), Eli Cartwright/Nate Marshall (2)

ON DECK: The Panthers resume OVC play this weekend with a trip to Evansville for a three-game set against Southern Indiana. Game on gets underway at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 25th.