This Week in Eagle Baseball -- May 6

THIS WEEK:
Morehead State (30-18, 15-9 OVC) travels to Jacksonville State (26-22, 13-11) this weekend.
Fri.	May 8	at Jacksonville State	Jacksonville, Ala.	7:00 p.m.	Live Stats	Live Audio
Sat.	May 9	at Jacksonville State	Jacksonville, Ala.	2:00 p.m.	Live Stats	Live Audio
Sun.	May 10	at Jacksonville State	Jacksonville, Ala.	2:00 p.m.	Live Stats	Live Audio
All times are Eastern (ET)		Game dates and times are subject to change

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 road games by MSU assistant director of athletic media relations Matt Schabert.
 

LAST WEEK:
The Eagles were 3-1 at home last week.
Wed.	Apr. 29	Northern Kentucky	W, 20-4	Recap
Fri.	May 1	Eastern Illinois	W, 15-2	Recap
Sat.	May 2	Eastern Illinois	L, 11-9	Recap
Sun.	May 3	Eastern Illinois	W, 20-14	Recap

MOREHEAD STATE LINKS: 

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


OPPONENT AND CONFERENCE LINKS:

JACKSONVILLE STATE  | OHIO VALLEY CONFERENCE

NOTES ON THE EAGLES:

LAST YEAR VERSUS JSU
Morehead State and Jacksonville State met on the final weekend of the regular season in Morehead, and the Eagles needed two wins to guarantee an Ohio Valley Conference Tournament berth. After winning 16-7 on Friday night, MSU fell 11-9 in the game two. On Sunday, The Eagles broke a 9-9 stalemate with three runs in the seventh and held on for a 12-10 victory. Jacksonville State leads the all-time series 29-9.

ON THE BRINK OF HISTORY
At 30-18, the 2015 Morehead State baseball team is just one win shy of the school record for victores. The 1993 team was 31-19. This year's team joins that 1993 squad as the only two teams to reach 30 wins in a season.

I FIND THAT HIGHLY OFFENSIVE
The Morehead State offense ranks first in the nation in seven different categories. The Eagles pace all 295 teams in batting average (.336), doubles (138), doubles per game (2.8), hits (596), on-base percentage (.421), runs per game (8.6) and slugging percentage (.527). In addition the Eagles rank second in total runs (415) and home runs (57) and third in home runs per game (1.1).

HIGH-RANKING GUYS
In addition to the team rankings, several Morehead State individuals rank among NCAA leaders. Senior leftfielder Nick Newell ranks second in doubles (24) and third in doubles per game (0.5). Senior catcher Chris Robinson comes in second in runs scored (63) runs scored per game (1.37), total bases (132) and RBI per game (1.26), fourth in RBI (58) and fifth in hits (80). Senior first baseman Kane Sweeney has taken the fifth-most walks in the nation (43). MSU boasts players who rank in the top-10 12 other times.

MEYER TAKES IT TO A HIGHER LEVEL
Senior designated hitter Clayton Meyer was named National Co-Hitter of the Week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. In four games last week, Meyer hit .600 (12-for-20) with eight runs scored, two doubles, two home runs, 11 RBI, a .619 on-base percentage and 1.000 slugging percentage. Having played in just 13 games this season mainly as a pinch hitter entering the week, Meyer raised his batting average from .143 to .412 during the four-game span.

DOUBLE TROUBLE
Nick Newell set the Morehead State single-season doubles record when he had a pair of two-baggers versus Northern Kentucky on April 29. He broke Brad Allison's school standard of 22, which had stood since 1996. Morehead State has also tied the program record for doubles in a game twice this year, on March 17 against East Tennessee State and April 29 against NKU. Two others, Chris Robinson (20) and senior right fielder Brandon Rawe (19) could also challenge for the record.

STRIVING FOR .400
Chris Robinson is hitting .406 entering the final two weeks of the regular-season schedule. The Ontario native is striving to become the first .400 hitter for the Eagles since catcher Taylor Davis batted .414 in 2011. Davis is currently with the Chicago Cubs' Triple-A team, the Iowa Cubs.

YOU CAN COUNT ON THEM
Sophomore centerfielder Ryan Kent and senior first baseman Kane Sweeney extended their lengthy reached-base streaks last week. Kent now leads the team with a 27-game streak, while Sweeney is close behind at 25. Senior shortstop Robby Spencer owns the team's longest hitting streak this year at 21 games, which is also the longest in Head Coach Mike McGuire's three-year tenure. Eight players have put together double-digit reached- base streaks this season, while five have managed double-digit hitting sprees.

HIT PARADE
The Eagles generated at least 20 hits in three of the four games last week versus Northern Kentucky and Eastern Illinois. MSU has now reached the 20-hit plateau six times in 2015 and has double-digit hit totals in 30 of its 48 games.

GOOD LUKE CHARM
Sophomore right-hander Luke Humphreys has collected wins in four of his last starts. The game-one weekend rotation guy, Humphreys had his longest career outing last Friday when MSU beat Eastern Illinois 15-2. He tossed eight innings, allowed only four hits and surrendered just two runs. Humphreys was an OVC All-Newcomer Team selection last season.

THE WRIGHT STUFF
Sophomore left-handed reliever Cable Wright is one appearance away from tying the MSU single-season record of 29, held by Morgan Cirbo in 2012. In less than two full seasons, Wright already has 54 career appearances.

AWARDS INFO
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, horing 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 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 75-86. 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.