BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – The Ohio Valley Conference announced the 2025 All-OVC Baseball Team on Tuesday morning, with Jason Anderson being named Coach of the Year. In addition, five Panthers received all-conference recognition.

Jason Anderson was named OVC Coach of the Year for the first time in his career after guiding Eastern to their first conference regular season title since 2009. The Panthers finished the season with an overall record of 29-20 with a 17-7 mark in the OVC, and have won 14 of their last 17 contests. They are second in the conference in both batting average (.292) and ERA (4.88), making them one of just two teams to be top-five in both categories. Anderson is the second EIU coach to win the award, joining three-time winner Jim Schmitz. 

Mike O'Conor was one of two players named first-team All-OVC. This season, O'Conor is batting .336 with 50 hits and 36 RBIs. He has eight doubles and a team-leading 10 home runs with a .617 slugging percentage, which is sixth highest in the conference. He is the only EIU player to win an OVC Player of the Week award this season after batting .571 with three home runs and 13 RBIs during the last week of March. He leads the team in multi-RBI games with 10.

Joining O'Conor on the first team is pitcher Tyler Kapraun. The lefty leads the Panthers in wins this season with a record of 6-4, including a 5-2 record in conference play. Through 72.1 innings pitched, Kapraun has an OVC fifth-best 3.86 ERA with a team-high 60 strikeouts, which is seventh most in the conference. He recorded a single-game high of 10 strikeouts against Southern Indiana on April 26th. In his last four starts, Kapraun is 4-0 while allowing a combined four earned runs.

Tyler Conklin was named second-team All-OVC. He is 4-1 this season with a 3.72 ERA. Despite missing a few weeks in the middle of conference play, Conklin is second on the team with 40 strikeouts through 58.0 innings pitched while limiting opponents to a .221 batting average.

Two Panthers were named to the OVC All-Freshman team, including Jake Ottensmeier and James Love.

Ottensmeier is batting .359 on the season with 14 runs scored and 17 RBIs. He has 23 hits, including three doubles and three triples, with a .500 slugging percentage. Ottensmeier has come on especially strong in conference play, batting a team-best .410 through 13 total appearances. He recorded a pair of two-RBI triples in Eastern's title clinching 9-7 win over Western Illinois in Saturday's regular season finale.

Meanwhile, Love is batting .303 with 15 runs scored and 14 RBIs. He has 23 hits with seven doubles and a pair of triples. He is slugging .487 with a .396 on-base percentage and has three multi-RBI performances on the season, including two three-RBI outings.

The Panthers play in the OVC Tournament this week at Mtn. Dew Park in Marion, Ill. EIU enters as the No. 1 seed and will play at 11 a.m. on Thursday after receiving the double bye. They will face either SEMO or the winner of Southern Indiana versus Little Rock.