Baseball season is under way and getting to a point where wins in conference matter.

For the Eastern baseball team, they sit at the bottom of the Ohio Valley Conference standings with a 3-9 record. Sitting atop is Tennessee Tech with a 13-2 record. The Panthers saw the Golden Eagles earlier in the season and were swept in three games, losing 5-3, 11-4; and 13-9.

Tennessee Tech

In their last three games, Tennessee Tech is 7-3, with two losses coming from OVC opponent Jacksonville State. Their overall record is 25-9. The Golden Eagles have the second best batting average in the OVC, sporting a .319 average just six points behind Morehead State. The Golden Eagles lead the conference in runs with 300, the next closest is Morehead State with 259. Leading the team is Ryan Flick who is having a wonderful season as he leads the team in nearly every hitting category. Flick has 53 hits with 18 doubles. He also leads the team in slugging and on-base percentage. Flick is tied with teammate Chase Chambers with 10 home
runs on the year.

On the pitching side of things, the team ranks second behind Southeast Missouri with a 5.02 ERA. They have the most saves with 12 and in innings pitched with 303 and strikeouts with 310. Leading the way Devin Lancaster who boasts a 4.46 ERA. Michael Wood leads the team with six wins and strikeouts with 47.

Eastern Kentucky

With a record of 5-7 in conference, Eastern Kentucky is in eighth. Overall, the Colonels a 19-14 record. Leading the way for Eastern Kentucky in batting is Ben Fisher. He is just short of leading in every category for a Triple Crown in the OVC. He is only 8 points behind Southeast Missouri’s Dan Holst in batting average sitting at .412. He has 17 home runs and 50 RBIs while adding 54 hits and 47 runs scored and has an OVC leading 116 total bases. He boasts the highest on base percentage of .885 and has an on base percentage of .490. As a team, the Colonels are batting .305 which is third in the OVC.

For pitching, the Colonels are on the opposite side of the stick. They are second to last in ERA, right above the Panthers, with a 7.39. Eastern Kentucky has given up the most hits with 374. Alex Hamilton has the most win with four, despite never starting a game. He has made 12 appearances and has an ERA of 6.26. He has 27 1/3 innings under his belt and has given up 21 runs on 31 hits.

Tyler McCluskey can be reached at trmccluskey@eiu.edu or at 581-2812