Baseball travels to Land of Lincoln for three-game set

GAME NOTES (PDF) | LIVE STATS | LIVE AUDIO (GM 1 | GM 2 | GM 3 ) | LIVE VIDEO (GM 1 | GM 2 | GM 3)

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- The Morehead State baseball team will venture to the Land of Lincoln this weekend to face Eastern Illinois for a three-game set. The opener is set for Friday at 4 p.m. ET with Saturday's and Sunday's games at 2 p.m.

While the Eagles sit in fourth place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings at 12-9, EIU is in 11th place at 2-19. The Panthers are led by first-year head Coach Jason Anderson.

All three games can be heard live on MSUEagles.com with Michael Gustin calling play-by-play. Each game will also be video streamed by EIU on the OVC Digital Network.

After dropping the series at Eastern Kentucky last month, the Eagles have won  three consecutive series against UT Martin, SIU Edwardsville and Austin Peay.

"We kind of regrouped after that EKU series, which we all knew we probably shouldn't have lost," said head coach Mike McGuire. "I told our team that we just need to keep winning series, and we'll be in a good position come tournament time. It continues this weekend. We cannot overlook EIU."

MSU will go with the one-two punch of RHP Matt Anderson in game one and LHP Aaron Leasher in game two with game three's starter to be named later. Anderson is already over 100 strikeouts this year, and with 95, Leasher could join Anderson as the only pitching duo in program history with more than 100 Ks each in the same season.

GAME NOTES HEADING INTO THE SERIES

• Eastern Illinois leads the series 49-10, but the Eagles have won three of the last five meetings played in Charleston. Last season, MSU won the series 2-1 in Morehead.

• MSU has won 15 of its last 17 Ohio Valley Conference series dating back to the early part of the 2015 season. Since a series sweep at the hands of Belmont early last year, MSU has only dropped series to SEMO and Eastern Kentucky this season.

• Two pitchers are chasing MSU records and could be attained this weekend. Senior pitcher Matt Anderson needs just eight strikeouts to eclipse Sean Hogan's single-season K record of 108 set in 199. Junior pitcher Cable Wright has 82 career appearances and needs only two more to tie the mark of 84 set by Troy Young (1992-95).

• Matt Anderson is on the watch list for National Pitcher of the Year, and freshman shortstop Reid Leonard is on the watch list for the Brooks Wallace Award (nation's best shortstop), presented by the College Baseball Hall of Fame.

• Two players carry double-digit hitting streaks into the series. Reid Leonard has a 13-game streak, while junior rightfielder Will Schneider is riding a 10-game streak. During his 13-game streak, Leonard is 24-for-60 (.400), while Schneider has batted 18-for-41 (.439) in the last 10.

• Sophomore pitcher Aaron Leasher has been named OVC Pitcher of the Week twice (March 28 and April 25). He has double digit strikeouts in three of his last four starts, including a career-high 15 at SIUE on April 23. Leasher has recorded two complete-game shutouts this season.

• The pitching staff has not allowed more than six runs in the past eight games. In five of those eight, the pitchers combined to hold opponents to three or fewer runs.

• Freshman catcher Hunter Fain's reached-base streak officially came to a halt in the first game of the APSU series. He had a pinch-hit appearance and flew out. He had reached base in 31 straight games prior to that. He has still reached base in 36 of the 37 games he has seen at least one plate appearance.

• Morehead State ranks second in the nation in hits (526) and doubles (108) after leading the country in those categories, plus three more, in 2015. In the last two years, the Eagles have legged out 280 doubles.

• Senior righthander Tyler Keele has six saves this season and 11 for his career. Opponents have only managed to hit .156 against him this season.

• The pitching staff has picked off 17 baserunners in 2016, and that's the most in the past 10 seasons.

• Morehead State is searching for its first back-to-back 30-win seasons in program history. The 93 victories in the last three seasons are the most in a three-year period. The 1993-95 Eagle teams put together 89 wins in that span.