Eastern Illinois (13-15, 5-3 OVC) at Northern Illinois (12-18, 3-9 MAC)
Tue., April 8th | 3 p.m. | DeKalb, Ill.
Watch |
Live Stats
Â
LEADING OFF: The Eastern Illinois baseball team makes another excursion into nonconference play this week with a road matchup against Northern Illinois on Tuesday afternoon. It will complete a two-game home-and-home series against NIU.
SERIES HISTORY: The Panthers are 23-13 all-time against the Huskies since 1991, but have lost five-straight in the series. NIU defeated EIU in a 15-14 barnburner at Coaches Stadium two weeks ago. This will be the two teams' first meeting in DeKalb since 2004.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS:
- NIU enters this week with an overall record of 12-18, including a 3-9 mark in conference play. However, the Huskies have won three of their last four, including a 2-1 victory over Purdue and a series win against Ohio.
- Northern is batting .259 as a team this season. JP Gauthier leads the team in batting average (.353), slugging percentage (.721), and on-base percentage (.443).
- Logan Gregorio is the only Husky to start all 30 games this season and is batting .346 with a .717 slugging percentage, leading the team in doubles (11) and home runs (12).
- NIU pitchers have a cumulative ERA of 7.32 with a .306 batting average against. They have given up the second most runs and third most hits in the MAC this season.
- The Huskies are led by second-year head coach Ryan Copeland.
LAST TIME OUT: EIU split a rain-shortened two-game series against UT Martin last week, bringing their OVC record to 5-3.
The Skyhawks erased an early five-run deficit to steal the series opener 8-5.
Chris Worcester and
Ethan Rossi led the team with two hits apiece, while
Tyler Castro stayed hot with runners in scoring position with a team best two RBIs.
Eastern took game two 9-4 in a contest that ended after six innings due to heavy rain.
Brett Stanley and
Ethan Rossi led the Panthers with two hits apiece, while
Joey Hagen's three RBIs were most on the team.
Luke Melton also posted a multi-RBI performance, driving in two runs.
Tyler Kapraun (2-3) picked up his second win of the season after allowing two earned runs on four hits with three strikeouts through five innings.
QUICK HITTERS:
Five Panthers are batting over .300 on the season, led by
Jake Ferguson with an average of .393. Ferguson also leads the club in slugging percentage (.541) and on-base percentage (.525)
Tyler Castro leads the team with 22 RBIs. He is batting .406 with runners in scoring position and has a team-high five sacrifice bunts.
Chris Worcester is batting .353 and leads the squad in hits (37), doubles (8), and multi-hit games (12).
Brett Stanley is second in hits (25) wile leading the team in runs scored (26) and stolen bases (13-14).
Mike O'Conor has reached base in a team-high 12 consecutive games. In those 12 appearances, he is batting .426 with four home runs and 18 RBIs.
The EIU pitching staff has a combined ERA of 5.92. They have struck out 193 batters while walking 100 for a K/BB ratio of 1.93.
CATEGORY LEADERS:
Hits –
Chris Worcester (37),
Brett Stanley (25),
Jake Ferguson (24)
Home Runs –
Mike O'Conor (5),
Ethan Rossi (4),
Eli Hill (3)
RBI –
Tyler Castro (22),
Jake Ferguson (21),
Mike O'Conor/
Brett Stanley (18)
Strikeouts –
Tyler Conklin (36),
Tyler Kapraun (30),
Dalton Boruff (24)
Wins –
Tyler Conklin/
Anthony Solis (3),
Christian Carew/
Eli Cartwright/
Tyler Kapraun (2),
Nate Marshall (1)
ON DECK: The Panthers travel to Cape Girardeau this weekend for a conference clash with SEMO. The three-game set is scheduled to get underway on Friday, Aprill 11th at 6 p.m.Â
