OVC Tournament Awaits Racers In Alabama

Dates & Time: May 10-13 (Game 1 – May 10 – 3 p.m. – vs. #4 Eastern Ill.)
Sites (Venues): Oxford, Ala. (Choccolocco Park)
Audio: None
TV/Web Stream: OVCDigitalNetwork.com
Live Stats: GoRacers.com
MSU Record (Streak): 35-16 (Lost 1)
EIU Record (Streak): 27-19 (Won 1)
All-Time Series vs. EIU (Streak): EIU leads 16-10 (Won 1)
MSU Next Home Games: 2018 Season

Wednesday's Game
Fifth-seeded Murray State will open play in the 2017 OVC Softball Championship Wednesday against the fourth-seeded Panthers of Eastern Illinois at 3 p.m. at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Alabama.

Last Time Out
The Racers ended their 2017 regular season with a split against Austin Peay Saturday. The Racers took the opener, 9-1, in five innings, but fell in game two, 8-2. The Racers pounded out 13 hits in game one, led by three from Mallory Young and home runs from Taylor Odom and Jenny Homann. In game two, however, it was the Govs the came up big offensively, pounding out eight runs in the first four innings. The Racers were finally able to score two in the sixth, but it was not enough, as Austin Peay held on for the win.

The Eastern Illinois Series
After Mason Robinson tossed a no-hitter against the Panthers late last month, Eastern Illinois now leads the all-time series, 16-10. The 8-0 win by the Racers on April 28 in Charleston, was the largest of the series by either team. The two teams have met each other in the OVC tournament on four previous occasions with each team winning two meetings. Murray State and Eastern Illinois met in last year's event when the Panthers eliminated the Racers with a 10-5 victory.

Scouting The Panthers
Eastern Illinois earned the four seed in this week's tournament by finishing the 2017 regular season with a 27-19 overall record and a 10-5 mark in league play. Currently batting .365, Haley Mitchell leads a Panther offense that is batting .276 as a team, in addition to her team-high 32 RBIs. Taylor Monahan and Mia Davis closely follow Mitchell with averages of .364 and .361, respectively. In the circle, Jessica Wireman has served as EIU's ace with record of 15-11, a 2.30 ERA, 156 strikeouts, 59 walks and three saves. As a staff, Eastern Illinois allows opponents to score 2.47 earned runs per game and gives up a .241 batting average.

Weather Forecast
Temps will be in the mid-80's for Wednesday and Thursday, however showers are expected on Friday. The rain will bring with it cooler temps, dropping to the mid-70's for Friday and Saturday.

Tournament History
Murray State is 9-13 in seven appearances in the OVC tournament. They have finished as high as second, in 2015, and won at least one game in each appearance with the exception of their first two.

A New Queen Is Crowned
With her first hit against Austin Peay Saturday, Jessica Twaddle is now Murray State's all-time career leader in hits with 230, passing Shelbey Miller. This marks the third time in as many season that a new Racers has taken over the record with Miller in 2016 and Mo Ramsey in 2015.

Chasing The Crowns
Senior Jessica Twaddle is on pace to become the MSU career leader in multiple categories this season. Below is a chart showing Twaddle's current rank and what she needs to attain each record.
Career Cur.     Record-            Needed
Cat.     #          Rank.   Holder For Rec.
RBIs     137      1          ----                   ---
Hits      230      1          ---                    ---
3B        7          4          8-3 Players      1
2B        49        2          51-Miller         2
Walks 85        3          90-Troup         5
HR       28        4          36-Becker        8
Runs    140      3          153-Becker      13

A Career Day
Senior Mallory Young went 3-for-3 in game against Austin Peay Saturday, setting a new career-high. She had previously tallied two hits in one game on seven different occasions. Young's performance marked the 22nd time this season a Racers tallied at least three hits in a single contest.

Join The Party
Freshman Jenny Homann made the first hit of her collegiate career count when she went yard against Austin Peay. Of the 19 players on this year's roster, 10 have now hit a home run.

RPI Report
In the eighth RPI of 2017, the Racers came in ranked 73rd. The Racers began the year ranked 67th in the first RPI of the season, the highest-ranking ever by a Racer squad. The previous best was 87th in the first ranking of 2012.

Date     Rank    Movement
Mar. 20   67   ---
Mar. 27   78   -11
Apr. 3   78   ---
Apr. 10   77   +1
Apr. 17   80   -3
Apr. 23   74   +6
May 1   72   +2
May 8   73   -1

Free For All
Currently, all games of this weekend's OVC tournament are scheduled to be broadcast on OVCDigitalNetwork.com. As always, all games broadcast on the OVCDN are free of charge. Please note that coverage is subject to change without notice due to weather conditions.

Murray State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Jenny Homann

Shelbey Miller

Taylor Odom

Mason Robinson

Jessica Twaddle

Mallory Young

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