Senior shortstop Jordan Kreke was named Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year Tuesday at the annual league banquet in Paducah, Ky.

Kreke becomes only the third Panther to be named OVC Player of the Year since Eastern joined the conference in 1997. The last Eastern recipient of the award was Pete Pirman in 2002.

He led the OVC this season in three categories: batting average (.507), extra-base hits (18) and RBIs (40). For the season overall, he batted .398 with 13 home runs and 58 RBIs.

Kreke won OVC Player of the Week honors three times this season, the first time a player has won the award more than twice in the same season.

In addition to his OVC awards, Kreke was also named among 15 players in contention for this year’s Brooks Wallace Award, given annually to the top shortstop in the nation.

Eastern also had four other players named First-Team All-OVC, the most to receive that honor since 1998. They include Jordan Tokarz, Richie Derback, Mike Recchia, and Zach Borenstein.

Tokarz leads the team with 54 runs scored. He also hit 13 home runs this season, tying him for the team lead with Kreke.

Derbak leads the team in an interesting mix of categories: hits (75) and saves (seven).

On the mound, the Panthers have been led all year by Recchia, whose eight victories and 3.02 ERA are both team-bests.

Borenstein assumed the leadoff spot after OVC Preseason Player of the Year Brett Nommensen left the lineup on April 10 with a wrist injury. Borenstein reached base in all 19 of his games as the leadoff hitter. He drew a team-best 27 walks while batting .392 on the season.