Eastern Illinois (29-20, 17-7 OVC) at 2025 OVC Tournament
May 22 | 11 a.m. | Marion, Ill. | Mtn. Dew Park
Watch | Live Stats
 
LEADING OFF: After securing the OVC regular season title on Saturday, the Eastern Illinois baseball team now heads to Marion to compete at the 2025 OVC Tournament presented by SERVPRO. The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals. As the No. 1 seed, EIU received a double bye and will play their first game on Thursday at 11 a.m. Their opponent will be either Southeast Missouri, or the winner of Southern Indiana vs. Little Rock.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS: Eastern Illinois is the OVC regular season champion for this first time since 2009, and fifth time overall (1998, 1999, 2001, 2009, 2025). It is the Panthers' first regular season conference title under the leadership of head coach Jason Anderson. After being picked to finish fifth in the OVC preseason poll, Eastern went 17-7 (.708) in conference play, including a 10-2 record at home, while losing just one OVC series to claim the crown.

PANTHERS IN THE POSTSEASON: Eastern will make their third consecutive and 20th overall OVC Tournament appearance this week. The Panthers have won the tournament title three times, including in 1999, 2008, and 2023. The last time EIU won the tournament as the No. 1 seed was 1999. They are 6-6 all-time as the No. 1 seed in OVC Tournament play. In 2023, the fifth seeded Panthers went 5-1 over four days to win the tournament championship. Eastern went one and done in Marion last season as they suffered a 12-4 loss against SIUE as the No. 6 seed.

WEEKEND RECAP: Entering last weekend, the Panthers controlled their own destiny in the conference title race, needing three wins over in-state rival Western Illinois to guarantee the OVC regular season championship.

EIU took their first step toward history with a 13-8 victory on Thursday afternoon. The Panthers outhit Western 17 to 5 and led by as many as 10 runs before a big eighth inning from the Leathernecks tightened things up late. Against his former club, Tyler Kapraun allowed just two hits with three strikeouts through seven scoreless innings to pick up his team-high sixth win of the season.

EIU cruised to a 10-2 win on Friday, with some early offense and strong pitching leading the Panthers to the series clinching victory. Tyler Conklin was outstanding on the mound, moving his record to 4-1 after allowing just one run on three hits with a pair of strikeouts through five innings.  Offensively, the Panthers were paced by Mike O'Conor with a 4-5 performance.

On Senior Day, Eastern prevailed 9-7 to secure the title. The game was tight throughout, with the Panthers out hitting the Leathernecks 12 to 11. The EIU offense was headlined by Jake Ottensmeier, who went 3-4 with four RBIs and a pair of triples. Dalton Boruff picked up the win after eating up three innings in middle relief, while Christian Carew earned the save after giving up no runs on just one hit through the final inning and a third.

AT THE PLATE:

Entering the postseason, the Panthers are batting .292 as a team this season with a conference best .405 on-base percentage. Eastern leads the league in batters hit by pitch (79), and sacrifice bunts (68), which is also the most nationally. They are second in the conference in runs scored (387) and RBIs (346).

Eight EIU players are batting over .300 on the season, led by Zak Goodwin with an average of .353. Goodwin also leads the team in on-base percentage (.503) and has reached base in a team-high 25 consecutive games.

Mike O'Conor is batting .336 while leading the team in home runs (10) and RBIs (38). O'Conor also leads EIU with 10 multi-RBI games and his .617 slugging percentage is sixth best in the OVC.

Chris Worcester leads the team in hits (63) and doubles (13) with a team-high 20 multi-hit performances.

Brett Stanley leads EIU with 28 stolen bases on 30 attempts, which is second most in the OVC. He has reached base in 19 consecutive games.

ON THE MOUND:

EIU has a 4.88 ERA, which is second best in the OVC. They have allowed the fewest earned runs (236) and fewest hits (456) in the league.

Tyler Conklin's 3.72 ERA is fourth best in the OVC. He is 4-1 on the season with 40 strikeouts and a .221 batting average against.

Tyler Kapraun has an ERA of 3.86, which is fifth in the conference. He leads the team in wins with a record of 6-4 and has a team-leading 60 strikeouts, which is seventh most in the OVC.

Dalton Boruff's five saves are tied fourth most in the OVC. He has a 5.29 ERA with 39 strikeouts.

CATEGORY LEADERS:
Hits – Chris Worcester (63), Brett Stanley (56), Mike O'Conor (50)
Home Runs – Mike O'Conor (10), Ethan Rossi (5), Eli Hill/Brett Stanley (3)
RBI – Mike O'Conor (38), Tyler Castro (36), Brett Stanley (31)
Strikeouts – Tyler Kapraun (60), Tyler Conklin (40), Dalton Boruff (39)
Wins – Tyler Kapraun (6), Christian Carew/Anthony Solis (5), Tyler Conklin (4)