This Week in Eagle Baseball -- May 11

THIS WEEK:
Morehead State (33-18, 18-9) finishes the regular season on the road at Auburn (32-20) and at home vs. Murray State (15-37, 10-17)
Tues.	May 12	at Auburn	Auburn, Ala.	7:00 p.m.	Live Stats	Live Audio	Live Video
Thurs.	May 14	Murray State	Morehead, Ky.	4:00 p.m.	Live Stats	Live Audio
Fri.	May 15	Murray State	Morehead, Ky.	4:00 p.m.	Live Stats	Live Audio
Sat.	May 16	Murray State	Morehead, Ky.	1:00 p.m.	Live Stats	Live Audio
All times are Eastern (ET)		Game dates and times are subject to change

All 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 road games by MSU assistant director of athletic media relations Matt Schabert. The Auburn contest will be shown live on SEC Network Plus/Watch ESPN.
 

LAST WEEK:
The Eagles swept Jacksonville State on the road
Fri.	May 8	at Jacksonville State	W, 4-2 (10 inn.)	Recap
Sat.	May 9	at Jacksonville State	W, 13-6	Recap
Sun.	May 10	at Jacksonville State	W, 6-5	Recap

MOREHEAD STATE LINKS: 

SCHEDULE (HTML) | SCHEDULE (PDF) | ROSTER & BIOS (HTML) | ROSTER (PDF) | STATISTICS (HTML) | STATISTICS (PDF)


OPPONENT AND CONFERENCE LINKS:

AUBURN | MURRAY STATE  | OHIO VALLEY CONFERENCE

NOTES ON THE EAGLES:

CRUNCH TIME
This week marks the close of the 2015 regular season, and Morehead State is currently all alone in second place in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Eagles (18-9) sit one game ahead of SIU Edwardsville (17-10), but Morehead State swept the Cougars and owns the tiebreaker. The top two teams earn a first-round bye in the league tournament. MSU still has a chance to be crowned either regular-season co-champions or champions as it trails Southeast Missouri by two games. SEMO defeated the Eagles twice in mid-March.

AGAINST THE BIG BOYS
Morehead State owns three wins against a nationally-ranked team this season. The Eagles went 3-1 on opening weekend at 34th-ranked San Diego. MSU is 1-1 against teams from the Southeastern Conference this season, claiming an 11-8 victory at Tennessee on March 11. 

THE NATION'S BEST OFFENSE
The Morehead State offense ranks first in the nation in seven different categories. The Eagles pace all 295 teams in batting average (.335), doubles (148), doubles per game (2.9), hits (634), runs (438), runs per game (8.6) and slugging percentage (.527). In addition the Eagles rank second in on-base percentage (.419).

RECORDS ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN
With the 13-6 victory at Jacksonville State on May 9, the 2015 team established the program record for victories in a season (32) and Ohio Valley Conference victories (17). MSU's only other 30-win team was the 31-19 team in 1993. Last season's club set the OVC wins mark at 16-14. Morehead State has also broken single-season program marks for doubles (148), hits (634) and saves (17).

THE HIT PARADE CONTINUES
Morehead State is the only team in the Ohio Valley Conference boasting six players with 70 or more hits. Two players, senior catcher Chris Robinson and senior leftfielder Nick Newell, are above the 80-hit mark. Senior right fielder Brandon Rawe set the single-season MSU record as a junior last year with 98 base knocks.

DOUBLE THE FUN
Morehead State has a chance to finish the season with four or potentially five guys above the 20-double plateau. Nick Newell leads the team and conference and ranks second in the nation with an MSU-record 26 two-baggers. Chris Robinson has legged out 21 doubles, while Brandon Rawe has 20. Senior shortstop Robby Spencer is close behind with 19, and sophomore Ryan Kent is nearing the 20-mark with 17.

FORGET ABOUT THE PAST
Morehead State finished off its first-ever sweep of Jacksonville State last weekend. The last time the Eagles had won a series at JSU was 2007. MSU also put the kibosh on a 20-game road losing streak to Austin Peay earlier this season and ended a 15-game home losing skid to Eastern Illinois.

LUKE WARM
Sophomore pitcher Luke Humphreys, MSU's Friday starter for weekend series, has won four of his last six outings. Humphreys leads the Eagle starters with a 4.99 ERA and is now 6-2 on the season. He tossed a career-best eight innings and only allowed two runs versus Eastern Illinois on  May 1.

GOTTA CALL THE CABLE GUY
Sophomore pitcher Cable Wright made history Sunday when he made his 30th relief appearance of the season. That set the MSU record for single-season appearances. Morgan Cirbo (2012) ad Louie Andrew (1995) held the previous school standard of 29.

AWARDS INFO
Alex Stephens claimed his first-ever OVC Player of the Week honor Monday. Senior designated hitter Clayton Meyer was the OVC Player of the Week on May 4. Following opening weekend and on April 20, Nick Newell was named the official OVC Player of the Week. He was also tabbed the league's top performer by College Sports Madness on opening weekend. Junior right-hander 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. 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.

TWO TO WATCH
Chris Robinson has been listed on the official Johnny Bench Award Watch List, honoring the nation's top Division I catcher. Robby Spencer was also recently named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List, honoring the nation's best shortstop.

PRESEASON ACCOLADES
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 were named to the official Preseason All-OVC Team. In a poll of the league's coaches and media relations contacts, MSU was picked fifth but has assured itself of no worse than third place.

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 78-86. McGuire nearly doubled overall, conference, home and road win totals last year compared to 2013.  Adam Brown is now in his third season on the staff and has added recruiting coordinator to his duties. Graham Johnson is in his fourth season and mentors the Eagle pitching staff. 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.