Select Morehead State baseball games (home and road) are scheduled to be broadcast live on MSUEagles.com and the Eagle Empire App. Michael Gustin is in his third season serving as the play-by-play voice. He will joined for select games by MSU assistant director of athletic media relations Matt Schabert and MSU student Jerrod Wesley.
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| LAST WEEK: |
| The Eagles were 3-0 last week. |
| Tues. | Mar. 31 | at East Tennessee State | W, 16-9 | Recap | | |
| Sat. | Apr. 4 | La Salle | W, 15-10 | Recap | | |
| Sat. | Apr. 4 | La Salle | W, 17-14 | Recap | | |
MOREHEAD STATE LINKS:Â SCHEDULE (HTML)Â |Â SCHEDULE (PDF)Â |Â ROSTER & BIOS (HTML)Â |Â ROSTER (PDF)Â |Â STATISTICS (HTML)Â |Â STATISTICS (PDF)OPPONENT AND CONFERENCE LINKS:ALABAMA A&MÂ |Â UTÂ MARTINÂ |Â OHIO VALLEY CONFERENCENOTES ON THE EAGLES:Â SKYHAWK STREAKMorehead State has a nine-game winning streak against its conference foe for this weekend, UT Martin.
OFFENSIVE EXPLOSIONMSU is riding a five-game winning streak into the week, and a big part of that success has been an offensive explosion. The Eagles are averaging 19.6 hits and 15.8 runs per outing during the success streak and are batting .460 as a unit. Five players have batted above .500 in that span, and the Eagles have 22 extra-base hits. That adds up to a .756 slugging percentage and a .528 on-base efficiency.
20-20-20 CLUBMSU had a season-high 23 hits last week against Eastern Kentucky, then totaled 20 at East Tennessee State Tuesday and 20 in the first game vs. La Salle last Saturday. It's the first back-to-back-to-back 20-hit days for the Eagles since April 13-17, 2010.
FIRST FOURThe Eagles' top four hitters in the lineup,
Ryan Kent, senior first baseman
Kane Sweeney, senior rightfielder
Brandon Rawe and senior utility player
Chris Robinson, combined to hit 34-of-66 (.515) in the series with Eastern Kentucky. The quartet produced 14 extra-base hits and drove in 21 runs.
HITTING IS CONTAGIOUS
Ryan Kent, Brandon Rawe and
Chris Robinson all have multiple-hit games in each of the last six outings.
CAN'T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWNAfter managing just a .186 batting average in his first 10 games,
Brandon Rawe appears to be getting in the same gear he was in 2014. Rawe shattered Morehead State's single-season hits record with 98 last year. He ranked among all Division I players in hits (4th), total bases (8th), doubles (16th) and slugging percentage (28th). In the last 20 games, Rawe has only been held hitless once, and he has his average up to .362 overall. In just the last five games, Rawe batted .667 with a team-high three home runs, 10 RBI and a 1.467 slugging percentage.
RAWE TALENTBrandon Rawe earned Preseason All-America recognition from three national media organizations. He was listed on the first team by Collegiate Baseball and Louisville Slugger, second team by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and third team by College Sports Madness.
MR ROBINSON
Chris Robinson batted .556 (15-of-27) in the last five games and now leads the Eagle hitters with a .402 average. He is one of just five conference players with a .400-or-better batting average.
SWEET HOME ALABAMAFreshman second baseman
Braxton Morris, from Albertville, Ala., has raised his batting average from .190 to .281 in the last six games. He was 10-for-22 (.454) at the plate in that span, incuding a four-hit game in the opener vs. La Salle when he was a home run short of the cycle.
OVER THE HUMPSophomore pitcher
Luke Humphreys improved to 3-1 with an eight-strikeout, six-inning effort against La Salle. He held the Atlantic 10's top offensive team to just three hits and one run Saturday afternoon.
ROBBY'S RBIsSenior shortstop
Robby Spencer leads Morehead State with 35 RBI, and that ranks tied for the third in the OVC. Spencer is tied with
Chris Robinson and
Kane Sweeney for the team lead in home runs with five.Â
NATIONAL AND REGIONAL RECOGNITIONFollowing opening weekend, senior outfielder
Nick Newell was named the official Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week and was also tabbed the league's top performer by College Sports Madness. He clubbed his first career grand slam in the season opener. Junior pitcherÂ
Aaron Goe earned a spot on the CollegeBaseball360.com Primetime Performers Honor Roll after opening weekend. Morehead State was also named the National Team of the Week by CollegeBaseballInsider.com.Â
Luke Humphreys, who set a career high with nine strikeouts against Dayton in Georgia, was named the official OVC Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 23.
WATCH THIS
Chris Robinson has been listed on the official Johnny Bench Award Watch List, honoring the nation's top Division I catcher. Robinson hit .600 in the EKU series with a single, double, triple and home run. He belted three doubles and legged out two triples. Robinson, who led all OVC catchers with 75 hits in 2014, leads the league backstoppers again this year with 45 hits and a .402 batting average.
MORE AWARDS
Brandon Rawe was also named the Preseason OVC Field Player of the Year by College Sports Madness, in addition to being on the publication's first team.
Rawe,
Kane Sweeney and
Chris Robinson have been named to the official Preseason All-OVC Team. In a poll of the league's coaches and media relations contacts, MSU was picked fifth.
COACHING STAFF INFORMATION
Mike McGuire, who guided Lander (S.C.) and Louisburg (N.C.) to school-record win totals, is in his third season as Morehead State's head coach. His MSU record is 61-81. McGuire nearly doubled overall, conference, home and road win totals last year compared to 2013. Â
Adam Brown is now in his third season on the staff and has added recruiting coordinator to his duties.Â
Graham Johnson is in his fourth season and mentors the Eagle pitching staff.Â
PJ McIntee, who helped guide Southeastern (Iowa) Community College to the National Junior College Athletic Association World Series in 2014, is in his first year on the staff.
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