Eastern softball and baseball both had their Ohio Valley Conference series this past weekend scheduled around the inclement weather, with softball shifting its series up a day, and baseball playing two morning games before being unable to play the third game of the series.

Here’s a recap of how both series went.

Softball

Eastern softball scored 27 runs in its three-game series sweep over Tennessee Tech this past weekend, winning both games of Friday’s doubleheader as well as Saturday’s finale.

The Panthers (19-16, 11-3) improved to 10-1 against Tennessee Tech (11-26, 4-11) since 2022, and have won every regular season series against the Golden Eagles during that span.

Eastern won the first game 3-2 in 10 innings after taking a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning before Tennessee Tech tied it in the bottom of the sixth.

With one out in the top of the tenth inning, sophomore catcher Sophia Olman reached first base on a four pitch walk. After Olman was pinch ran for by sophomore utility Emily Konkel, sophomore outfielder Karson Davey hit a ball over the glove of a diving left fielder.

The ball rolled to the wall, allowing Konkel to score from first, and Davey was tagged out trying to stretch it into a triple.

Junior pitcher Karlie McKenzie struck out nine in five innings of relief and got credit for the win.

Games two and three were less close, with both ending by run rule in the sixth and fifth innings respectively.

Game two was scoreless through four innings, but in the fifth inning, senior infielder Briana Gonzalez hit her first home run of the season, a grand slam to right center field to open the scoring. Tennessee Tech countered with two runs in the bottom of the inning.

In the sixth, the Panthers scored six runs, including a two-run home run by junior infielder Kendall Grover.

Junior pitcher Bryana French got credit for the win in relief of McKenzie, who started and pitched two innings. Sophomore pitcher McKenzie Oslanzi picked up her second save of the season, as she pitched the final out of the fifth inning and the sixth.

In the series finale, Eastern was up 11 runs before the Golden Eagles were able to answer. The Panthers scored two runs in the first inning and opened the game up by scoring 12 runs in innings four, five and six. Freshman outfielder Morgan Hance drove in four runs.

Eastern travels to play its second Big Ten opponent of the season, Purdue, on Thursday. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.

Baseball

Due to the weather forecast for the week, the games were pushed up to Thursday and Friday with starts set for the morning.

Initially, a doubleheader was set for Friday, and then it was moved to Thursday. However, after the first game of the series on Thursday, the second game of the doubleheader was pushed to Friday.

Both team’s head coaches, Eastern’s Jason Anderson and UT Martin’s Ryan Jenkins, met at home plate after the game Thursday and agreed to not play game two until the next day.

Anderson said that he and Jenkins wanted to make sure they at least got two games in, which they did.

In the first game on Thursday, the Panthers (13-15, 5-3) got out to a 5-0 lead after scoring two runs in the first inning and three in the second. Eastern’s starting pitcher, senior right hander Tyler Conklin, only allowed one runner through those two innings.

The Panthers were unable to hold onto the lead though. Junior right-hander Dalton Boruff gave up a go-ahead three-run home run in the top of the ninth inning to seal his fifth loss of the season and an 8-5 loss for Eastern.

In game two, which was on Friday, the Panthers erased an early one run deficit by scoring five runs in the bottom of the first inning. Redshirt junior outfielder Joey Hagen hit his first collegiate career home run with a three-run shot to centerfield.

Eastern answered UT Martin’s two runs scored in the fifth inning with three runs in the bottom of the inning, and the game was suspended after the sixth inning. The original plan was to resume the game after the rain had passed, but an opportunity to play never materialized.

Eastern’s next OVC series is at Southeast Missouri. Game one of the series is set for Friday at 6 p.m.