Eastern Illinois (23-18, 11-6 OVC) vs. Little Rock (18-26, 7-10 OVC)
May 2-4 | Charleston, Ill. | Coaches Stadium
 
Game 1: Friday, May 2nd at 3 p.m. | Watch | Live Stats
Game 2: Saturday, May 3rd at 1 p.m. | Watch | Live Stats
Game 3: Sunday, May 4th at 1 p.m. | Watch | Live Stats
 
LEADING OFF: The Eastern Illinois baseball team leads off the final three weeks of the regular season with a home OVC series against Little Rock. Game one is set for Friday, May 2nd at 3 p.m.

SERIES HISTORY: The Panthers are 8-9 all-time against the Trojans with a 2-1 record in Charleston. The series dates back to 1979, but the two programs did not become regular opponents until Little Rock joined the OVC in 2021. Eastern is 7-6 in conference games against the Trojans but dropped two of three in Little Rock last season, including a 5-4 loss in 14 innings to close the series.

LITTLE ROCK:

WEEKEND RECAP: The Panthers took two of three at Southern Indiana last weekend to pick up their fifth conference series win of the season.

The Panthers led through the first three and a half innings of game one, but were unable to keep up with a hot USI order in the second half of the contest, as they fell 13-6.

Brett Stanley led the EIU offense, going 4-6 with a home run, double, and two RBIs. Zak Goodwin and James Love also posted multiple hits with 2-3 outings. Goodwin matched Stanley with two RBIs while Love recorded the only other extra base hit of the evening with an RBI double.

In game two, the Panthers evened the series behind another strong outing on the mound from Tyler Kapraun to go along with some opportunistic offense.

Three EIU pitchers saw action in the game, combining for 15 strikeouts and stranding a total of 13 USI batters on base. Tyler Kapraun picked up his fourth win of the season after going five and two third innings to start the game. He scattered 11 hits while allowing just two runs with a season-high 10 strikeouts.

In the series finale, Eastern had to hold off a furious rally from the Screaming Eagles to escape Evansville with the 9-8 win.

Joey Hagen and Zak Goodwin led the Panthers offensively with three hits apiece, with Hagen also driving in a team-high three RBIs. Ethan Rossi also recorded a multi-hit and multi-RBI performance, going 2-3 with a double and two RBIs.

Bryce Riggs entered the contest with one out in the first and threw the next five innings while allowing just one run on two hits with six strikeouts.

CONFERENCE STANDINGS: As the OVC Tournament draws closer, EIU sits in third place in the league standings with a record of 11-6. They trail SEMO and SIUE, who are tied for first with records of 13-5. Trailing Eastern is Tennessee Tech with a record of 10-7, with Lindenwood following in fifth place at 9-8. Southern Indiana is in sixth place with a 9-9 record, with Little Rock and UT Martin following at 7-10. Western Illinois (6-12) and Morehead State (2-16) round out the standings.

QUICK HITTERS:

The Panthers are batting .284 as a team this season with a conference best .404 on-base percentage. Eastern leads the league in runs scored (330), RBIs (297), batters hit by pitch (74), and sacrifice bunts (59), which is also the most nationally.

Seven EIU players are batting over .300 on the season, led by Joey Hagen with an average of .345. In four appearances last week, Hagen went 5-10 with a double, home run, and team-leading eight RBIs.

Mike O'Conor is batting .325 and has reached base in a team-high 25 consecutive games. He leads the team in home runs (9) and RBIs (33). O'Conor leads EIU with nine multi-RBI games and his .640 slugging percentage is third best in the OVC.

Zak Goodwin leads Eastern with a .504 on-base percentage and has reached base in 19 consecutive games.

Chris Worcester leads the team in hits (51) and doubles (10) with a team-high 16 multi-hit performances.

Ethan Rossi is batting .290 overall with a team-best .373 average in conference play, which is seventh in the OVC. He leads the conference in sacrifice bunts (12) and is second on the team with five home runs.

Brett Stanley leads EIU with 21 stolen bases on 23 attempts, which is second most in the OVC. He has reached base in 14 consecutive games.

EIU has a 5.08 ERA, which is second best in the OVC. They have allowed the fewest earned runs (205) and second fewest hits (390) in the league.

Bryce Riggs has a team-best 2.04 ERA. In two appearances last week, he went 2-0 with just one run allowed on three hits with seven strikeouts through 7.2 innings pitched.

Tyler Kapraun is 4-4 with an ERA of 4.53, which is ninth best in the OVC. His team-leading 50 strikeouts is tied for sixth most in the conference, and he leads the league with 34 strikeouts in conference play.

CATEGORY LEADERS:
Hits – Chris Worcester (51), Brett Stanley (42), Ethan Rossi (38)
Home Runs – Mike O'Conor (9), Ethan Rossi (5), Eli Hill (3)
RBI – Mike O'Conor (33), Tyler Castro (28), Jake Ferguson/Brett Stanley (27)
Strikeouts – Tyler Kapraun (50), Tyler Conklin (36), Dalton Boruff/Bryce Riggs (32)
Wins – Christian Carew/Tyler Kapraun/Anthony Solis (4), Eli Cartwright/Tyler Conklin (3), Nate Marshall/Bryce Riggs (2)

ON DECK: Next up for the Panthers is their final road OVC series of the season at SIUE. Game one is scheduled for Friday, May 9th at 6 p.m.