Baseball Hosts Austin Peay In Pivotal OVC Weekend Series/이스턴일리노이대학교[미국주립대 장학생,미국대학편입]

Baseball Hosts Austin Peay In Pivotal OVC Weekend Series/이스턴일리노이대학교[미국주립대 장학생,미국대학편입]

Eastern Illinois baseball will look to keep their OVC tournament hopes alive as the Panthers host Austin Peay in their final conference series of the regular season. Austin Peay currently holds a half-game lead over the Panthers in the conference standings. Entering the weekend, Austin Peay holds the seventh-place spot in the standings, while Eastern Illinois stands at a three-way tie with UT Martin and SIUE for the eighth and final spot.

• Due to the IHSA State Track Meet being held on the Eastern Illinois campus this weekend, fans are asked to park in the "W" lot, which is located just south of the EIU Rugby Field on 4th street for the baseball contests.

• Eastern Illinois baseball will honor five seniors -- Brendon Allen, Alex Cain, Matt Dunavant, Michael McCormick and Chase Thurston -- with a "Senior Day" celebration prior to Friday's contest.

• Dougie Parks blasted his team-high 17th home run of the season in Tuesday's win at Butler. The 17 home runs moves Parks into a tie for third all-time in single-season history at EIU. The 17 home runs places Parks tenth in the NCAA and third in the OVC this season. Parks also leads the team with 56 RBIs this season and is tied for eighth in EIU single-season history. His 56 RBIs ranks thirtieth in the NCAA and fifth in the OVC. 

• Chase Thurston had arguably his best outing of his career on Tuesday at Butler as the senior tossed 6 1/3 scoreless frames while allowing just four hits to pick up his second win of the season.

• Joseph Duncan collected four hits in Tuesday's win at Butler and now has 77 hits this season. The 77 hits places Duncan in a tie with Tim Pyznarski (1998) for eighth all-time in EIU single-season history. Duncan, who currently holds the single-season at-bat record, is just four runs, one stolen base and five total bases shy of reaching the top-10 charts in other single-season categories.

• As a team, the Panthers rank in the top 10 nationally this season in multiple categories. The Panthers have turned 57 double plays this season which is the fourth-most in the NCAA this season. Eastern Illinois has hit the fourth-most home runs (79) and average the fifth-most home runs per game (1.49) in the country. 

• In OVC rankings, Eastern Illinois has turned the most double plays and average the most double plays per game (1.08).The Panthers have hit the second-most home runs and average the second-most home runs per game. Eastern Illinois leads the league with 16 triples hit this season. EIU leads the OVC in sacrifice bunts with 37 on the year.

• Brendon Allen will get the start for the Panthers in the first game of Thursday's doubleheader to open up the series. Allen will be making his 17th appearance and 12th start of the season. Michael McCormick will get the nod in the nightcap of Thursday's twin bill. McCormick will be making his 15th appearance and 12th start of the season. At this time, Eastern Illinois has not named a starter for the series finale on Friday.

• The Austin Peay series marks the end of the regular season for both teams. The OVC Tournament will be held on May 24-28 at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Alabama should the Panthers clinch a spot in the conference tournament.

• Eastern Illinois is playing its 111th season of intercollegiate baseball. EIU has an all-time record of 1,751 wins and 1,548 losses.  Head Coach Jason Anderson is in his 2nd season as the Panthers skipper after being hired to take on the role in the summer of 2015. Anderson picked up the first win of his coaching career with a 10-8 victory over No. 12 Arkansas in 12 innings on March 5, 2016.

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