Baseball Heads To Eastern Illinois To Open OVC Play

Murray State (5-7) at Eastern Illinois (8-5)

GAME 13-15
Dates: March 12-13, 2021
First Pitch: Friday: 2 p.m. ; Saturday Game 1: 10:30 a.m. ; Saturday Game 2: ~2:00 p.m.
Location: Charleston, Ill.
Stadium: Coaches Stadium at Morner Field (500)
Dimensions: 340 (LL), 360 (LC), 380 (CF), 360 (RC), 340 (RL)
Series History: Eastern Illinois leads 49-43
Last Meeting: Mar. 17, 2019 (Murray State Won 14-6)

Follow The Racers:
Live Video: Game 1 Game 2 Game 3
Live Stats: Game 1 Game 2 Game 3
Twitter In-Game: @RacersBaseball
Murray State Baseball Notes (PDF)

Probable Starters
Friday – Shane Burns (LHP) (0-1, 6.94 ERA) vs Trevor Nicholson (LHP) (2-0, 2.70 ERA)
Saturday Game 1 – Sam Gardner (RHP) (0-2, 14.21 ERA) vs Ky Hampton (RHP) (2-1, 6.35 ERA)
Saturday Game 2 – Jack Wenninger (RHP) (1-1, 3.24 ERA) vs Hayden Birdsong (RHP) (0-2, 7.90 ERA)

First Pitch
The Racers travel to Charleston, Illinois to face Eastern Illinois to open up conference play. The Racers and Panthers will play the new OVC format of a single game on Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday. The Panthers are on a three-game win streak and have won all four of their series to start the 2021 season.

Inside the Matchup
The Racers and the Panthers have met 89 time on the diamond with EIU holding a slight 49-43 advantage. In Charleston, the series is even at 15-15 against Eastern Illinois. The Racers are 13-3 against the Panthers since 2015. Murray State won two of three matchups with Eastern Illinois in 2019 in Murray, Ky.

Weekend Recap
The Racers gave #1 Arkansas all they could handle the first two games of the series, taking a one-run lead into the eighth inning on Friday night and jumping out to a 4-0 lead early on Saturday, but ultimately fell 7-6 and 11-6. Murray State outhit the Razorbacks in series finale, 6-5, but they were unable to push any runs across. In the midweek matchup with #10 Louisville, Murray State fell 8-3.

A Look at the Racers
The Racers look to end their four-game skid, opening OVC play on the road at Eastern Illinois.

Despite some struggles at the plate over the weekend, Jordan Cozart continues to lead the Racers offense in batting average (.292), hits (14), doubles (4), home runs (3), total bases (27), runs scored (11), RBIs (8) and slugging percentage (.563).

Trey Woosley was the Racers best hitter last week, batting .357 (5-12), with a double, a pair of homeruns, five RBIs and five runs scored.

On the mound, the Racers will hand the ball to redshirt sophomore Shane Burns, graduate Sam Gardner, and freshman Jack Wenninger.

Wenninger has had a great start to his collegiate career. He is 1-1 with a 3.24 ERA with nine strikeouts over 8.1 innings. In his collegiate debut, Wenninger threw 5.0 innings, allowed no earned runs, walked nobody and struck out seven to earn his first win.

Scouting Eastern Illinois
The Eastern Illinois Panthers have won all four of their series to start the 2021 season. The Panthers have taken two-of-three from Nicholls State, Arkansas Little Rock, Bellarmine and Kansas State.

Trey Sweeney is the reigning OVC Player of the Week after hitting .400 (8-for-20) with five runs scored, a double, two triples, a home run, eight RBI, a walk, two stolen bases, a .800 slugging percentage and .478 on-base percentage. Sweeney leads the Panthers in every offense category expect stolen bases, averaging .429 with 21 hits and has scored 18 runs.

Friday starter Trevor Nicholson began the year with a 2-0 and a 2.70 ERA. He's thrown 16.2 innings over three starts, striking out 21 batters. Hitters are batting .133 against Nicholson.

As a team, the Panthers are hitting .278 through the first thirteen games with 125 hits, 26 doubles, 3 triples, 8 home runs, 88 RBI, scored 99 runs and tallied 181 total bases with a .402 slugging % and . 363 on-base %.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Shane Burns

Sam Gardner

Jack Wenninger

Trey Woosley

Murray State University Athletics