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GAME NOTES

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Morehead State baseball is in the midst of the seven-game homestand with OVC rival Eastern Kentucky visiting this weekend. The Eagles and Colonels open up the battles on Friday at 4 p.m. ET, with Saturday's (2 p.m.) and Sunday's (1 p.m.) contests to follow.

Games one and three will be aired live on ESPN+. All three games will feature live audio on MSUEagles.com, while the third game will be aired live locally on the Eagle Sports Radio Network on WIVY-96.3 FM.

Both teams enter with identical 11-5 records. However, this will mark the Colonels' league opener as they had their bye week first. MSU is 1-2 in conference play.

Head coach Mike McGuire needs just one win to reach 200 victories in his time at MSU (2013-present).

PROBABLE PITCHERS

Game 1: LHP Dalton Stambaugh (MSU) vs. RHP Logan Teague (EKU)
Game 2: TBA (MSU) vs. RHP Kaven Brown (EKU)
Game 3: RHP Will Lozinak (MSU) vs. LHP Brennan Kelly (EKU)

GAME NOTES

THE SERIES WITH EASTERN KENTUCKY
Morehead State trails the all-time series 118-99-1 with in-state rival Eastern Kentucky. Last season, the Eagles and Colonels met five times with a three-game series played in Richmond, Ky. and two games at the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament in Oxford, Ala. The Colonels captured two-of-three in the regular season before Morehead State enacted revenge, taking both games in postseason play en route to an OVC Championship. Under head coach Mike McGuire, Morehead State owns an 11-9 edge in the series.

NOT BACKING DOWN
With Morehead State's 9-6 victory over West Virginia on Wednesday, the Eagles have now defeated a foe from a Power-Five Conference (ACC, BIG 10, Big 12, PAC-12, and SEC) in each of the past three seasons. The streak started with the Morehead State's victory over No. 27 Mississippi state during the 2017 season before the Eagles knocked off Kansas and Tennessee last season. Over the last three seasons, Morehead State owns a 4-11 record against Power-Five foes with four of the 11 loses coming by a margin of three or fewer runs.

SLASH LINE AMONGST THE TOP-FIVE
Through 16 games this season, senior catcher Hunter Fain's slash line (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) has ranked among the top-five best in each category. His line currently reads .500/.655/.950. Fain ranks tops in the nation in on-base percentage (.655), second in batting average (.500), and fifth in slugging percentage (.950). Amongst players in the top-five in each category, Fain is the only player in the NCAA to find his name in the top-five of all three lists with three players (Nick Gonzalez of New Mexico State, Joe Kinker of Florida Gulf Coast, and Patrick McColl of Harvard) finding themselves in the top-five in two categories.

BRUISES BOOSTING THE ON-BASE PERCENTAGE
Over the last two games, Fain has been hit by four total pitches in his nine plate appearances against West Virginia. He was plunked by two pitches in both games, giving him a team-leading seven bruises on the season. Being hit 22 times in his career, Fain ranks tied for ninth in program-history in the hit-by-pitch category.

FINDING A WAY TO REACH BASE
To go along with his NCAA-leading .655 on-base percentage, Fain carries an active 19-game reached base streak, a mark that ties for the second-longest active streak in the OVC entering the weekend. Fain's streak ranks behind Eastern Illinois' Hunter Morris' 31-game streak while tying with EIU's Jimmy Govern at 19 games. In addition to Fain, shortstop Reid Leonard also carries a double-digit reached-base streak, having reached in each of the last 13 games.

TOPPING THE LEAGUE IN HITS AND RUNS
Through 16 games on the season, Morehead State leads the OVC in both hits and runs, picking up 175 hits on the year and scoring 132 runs. The Eagles lead the league in both hits per game (10.9) and scoring (8.3 runs per game).  Both averages are helped by Morehead State reaching either double-digit hits and/or runs as the Eagles have recorded double-digit hits in eight games this season while reaching double-digit runs in six games. When reaching 10 or more hits this season, Morehead State is 6-2 while when reaching 10 or more runs, Morehead State is 5-1.

OPPONENTS TAKING AN EXTRA BAG?
In the last six games, opponents have swiped 23 bags in 26 attempts against Morehead State. During the past three midweek games, opponents (Louisville and West Virginia) have stolen 21 bases in 22 attempts with Louisville swiping nine-of-nine and West Virginia in two games stealing 12-of-13. On the season, opponents are just 29-of-39 in stolen base attempts with Eagle catchers throwing out six players attempting to steal and Eagle pitchers and catchers picking off three more runners.

KEEPING THEM SCORELESS
Through the first 8.2 innings of his freshman season, right-hander Landon Weins held the opponent off the scoreboard, posting back-to-back scoreless outings against Furman and Oakland before tossing another scoreless inning at Charlotte before surrendering a run. On the year, Weins has allowed just two runs, posting a 0.92 earned run average—a mark that ranks second in the OVC behind Noah Niznik of Southeast Missouri (0.78). Entering Morehead State's weekend series with Eastern Kentucky, Weins enters holding an active 5.1 inning scoreless streak.

HE'S NOT JOSHING AROUND
In just his ninth career appearance, redshirt senior righty Josh Baumgart picked up his first win as an Eagle. Baumgart pitched a career-high 2.2 innings against West Virginia on Wednesday, scattering just four hits and surrendering one run. He also struck out one as he tossed a career-high 36 pitches to help the Eagles to a 9-6 victory.

NO NEED TO PANIC
Morehead State had a rough go of things last weekend playing at Belmont, dropping two of three with the Bruins. The weekend marked the second-straight season the Eagles opened up Ohio Valley Conference play dropping two of three, doing so on the road last season at Southeast Missouri. Not to fret, Morehead State would go on to win 18 conference games, earning the three-seed for the OVC Tournament. The Eagles went on to win the OVC Tournament and punch a ticket to the NCAA Tournament, competing at the Clemson Regional.

PLAYING THE CLOSE ONE
Nine times this season, Morehead State has played a game decided by three or fewer runs, including all four games played last week. On the season, the Eagles are 6-3 in such games. Last season, Morehead State played in 25 games decided by three or fewer runs, owning a record of 15-10 in such games.

A SACRIFICIAL ACT
In playing four close games last week, Morehead State did something they had not done all season—in fact doing it three times over the course of the three-game set with Belmont. The Eagles laid down their first sacrifice bunts of the season last Wednesday at Louisville. The Eagles followed the two sacrifices at Louisville with a crucial sacrifice in the seventh inning of Sunday's doubleheader finale at Belmont. Senior Reid Leonard laid down just his second sacrifice bunt of his career to put the go-ahead run in scoring position as the Eagles captured the finale in Nashville.

ANOTHER TYPE OF SACRIFICE
In addition to picking up three sacrifice bunts last week, Morehead State also picked up a pair of sacrifice flies to up their season total to eight for the season. The Eagles rank second in the OVC in the category while junior outfielder Ryan Layne ties for the league lead with three sac flies this season. A year ago, Morehead State led the country with 45 total sacrifice flies.