Eastern Illinois (11-20, 6-6 OVC) vs. Bradley (10-22, 4-8 MVC)
Tuesday, April 16 from 15:00 | Charleston, Illinois
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Eastern Illinois vs. St. Xavier (24-19, 17-9 CCAC)
Wednesday, April 17 from 15:00 | Charleston, Illinois
Live stats
ON TAP: The Eastern Illinois baseball team will close out its current home stand with two non-conference games in the middle of the week. They will first face Bradley on Tuesday before taking on St. Xavier on Wednesday. Both matches are scheduled for 3 p.m
SERIES HISTORY: EIU is 44-36 all-time against Bradley. The streak dates back more than a century, as the teams first met in 1922 (6-4 Bradley). Their last meeting was a 4-3 Panthers win in 2012.
Eastern is 4-2 all-time against St. Xavier. Their first meeting was a 6-5 EIU win in 1991. The Panthers beat the Cougars 5-0 last season.
SCOUTING REPORT:
- Bradley: The Braves enter this week with a 10-22 overall record and a 4-8 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference. They suffered a loss to Indiana State last weekend. They are batting .275 as a team with a cumulative ERA of 7.82. Beau Durbin’s .364 batting average is fourth-best in the MVC, while pitcher Noah Edders’ 48 strikeouts are third-most in the conference. They are led by head coach Elvis Dominguez.
- Saint Xavier: The Cougars own a 24-19 overall record with a 17-9 mark in the Chicago Collegiate Athletic Conference (NAIA). They are batting the conference’s second-best .313 with a 5.81 ERA that tops the CCAC. Four Cougars with at least 25 plate appearances are hitting .344 or better. Starting pitcher Julian Vargas is 4-2 with a 1.86 ERA and 33 strikeouts. They are led by head coach Addison Rouse.
QUICK HITS:
- With the pair of wins on Saturday, head coach Jason Anderson reached 200 career wins. He joins Bill McCabe (201), Tom McDevitt (299) and Jim Schmitz (533) as the only East baseball coaches to record at least 200 wins with the program.
- After starting 0-5 in conference play, the Panthers have won six of their last seven OVC games. In those contests, they are batting .332 with an ERA of 4.43.
- For the season, EIU’s .287 batting average is third best in the OVC.
- Lucas Loos reached base in 26 consecutive games. His .366 batting average is sixth best in the conference. He is third in slugging percentage (.723) and fourth in OPS (1.168). His 14 doubles are tied for most in the OVC.
- Dylan Drumke is fifth in OVC in slugging percentage (.677) and OPS (1.131). He is seventh in the conference with 33 RBI.
- Trenton Palace The .365 batting average is seventh best in the Ohio Valley Conference.
- Jonathan Hanscom remains among the top five in the OVC in multiple categories, including ERA (3.82), opponent batting average (.238) and earned runs allowed (13), among others. He leads EIU with three saves on the season.
- Bryce Riggs is 10th in the OVC in strikeouts with 39 total.
Hits: Cole Gober (43), Lucas Loos (42), Michael O’Connor (34)
Multi shot games: Cole Gober (13), Lucas Loos (12) Dylan Drumke (11)
Home runs: Dylan Drumke (9), Lucas Loos (8), Cole Gober (7)
RBI: Dylan Drumke (32), Lucas Loos (25), Michael O’Connor (19)
Crossed out: Bryce Riggs (39), Colton Coca (36), Jonathan Hanscom (29)
ON DECK: Eastern will hit the road this weekend for an OVC series in Little Rock. The first match is scheduled for 18:00 on Friday, April 19.
