GAME NOTES | LIVE STATS (GAME ONE | GAME TWO | GAME THREE) | ESPN+ (GAME ONE) | EAGLE SPORTS NETWORK (GAME TWO)

MOREHEAD, Ky. – For the first time in over a year, Morehead State baseball is set for an Ohio Valley Conference series, welcoming in its oldest rival and in-state foe Eastern Kentucky to Allen Field for a three-game set Friday and Saturday.

The Eagles enter the weekend off a 12-9 midweek victory over Ohio Tuesday at Allen Field where Morehead State's Jackson Feltner collected the team's first four-hit game of the year while Arthur Sells drove home four runs.

Eastern Kentucky was victorious in its mid-week Tuesday, defeating Marshall 2-1 at home.

The weekend's series features a single game Friday before concluding with a Saturday doubleheader. Friday afternoon's game airs on ESPN+ with Saturday's first game airing on the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety Eagle Sports Network.

Limited seating is available at Allen Field in socially distanced pods.

INSIDE THE SERIES
Records: Morehead State (5-6; 0-0 OVC) | Eastern Kentucky (4-7; 0-0 OVC)
Series: Eastern Kentucky leads 136-129-2 (six results unknown)
Last Five Meetings: May 24, 2019 (MOR 11, EKU 3) | May 22, 2019 (EKU 4, MOR 1) | March 17, 2019 (MOR 15, EKU 4) | March 16, 2019 (MOR 7, EKU 5) | March 15, 2019 (MOR 7, EKU 2)

NOTABLE

• Facing an Ohio Valley Conference series for the first time in over a year, Morehead State opens conference play with one of its longest rivals. The series with in-state foe Eastern Kentucky dates back to 1925—the first season of play for both programs—with Eastern Kentucky holding a narrow advantage in the series 136-129-2 with six results being unknown.
• Due to Covid-19, the two teams did not meet in 2020 but faced one another five times in 2019. Morehead State swept the regular-season series at Allen Field while the two teams split games in the OVC Tournament.
• Morehead State enters the weekend series leading the OVC and ranked 52^nd in the NCAA in strikeouts per nine innings, averaging 10.65 K/9. The Eagle pitching staff has collected 110 strikeouts over 93.0 innings this season, also leading the league in total strikeouts.
• The Eagles have struck out six or more batters in each of the team's 11 games this season and each of the past 14 games dating back to last season. Over the past two seasons, only twice has Morehead State recorded six or fewer strikeouts as a pitching staff.
• Redshirt junior left-hander John Bakke ranks seventh in the OVC in strikeouts per nine innings, punching out 15 hitters over 12.0 innings. He averages 11.25 strikeouts per nine innings and is the only primary reliever—pitchers who have not started a game this season—ranked in the top-10 in the conference in K/9.
• Relievers—right-hander Grant Herron and left-hander Cory Conway—also post high K/9 totals this season, averaging 15.12 and 13.50 strikeouts per nine innings. Herron has struck out 14 batters over 8.1 innings of work with Conway striking out 16 in 10.2 innings.
• The relief trio of Bakke, Conway, and Herron each rank highly in the OVC in an additional category each as Bakke is tied for the league lead in total appearances (seven), Conway is tied for the league lead in victories (two), and Herron is tied for second in the league in saves (two).
• Freshman first baseman Jackson Feltner enters the weekend series leading Morehead State in batting average, hitting .360 on the season. Since entering the starting lineup six games ago, the Eagles are 5-1 while Feltner has gone 8-for-23 at the plate, driving in six runs with a pair of extra-base hits, including his first career home run versus Marshall on March 5.
• Over the past six games, four Eagles have players who have driven in six or more runs as Feltner (six), senior catcher Jack Gardner (six), redshirt junior second baseman Bryce Hensor (seven), and fifth-year designated hitter Arthur Sells (eight) have combined to plate 27 of the team's 40 runs over the past six games.
• In Tuesday's midweek matchup with Ohio, Feltner delivered Morehead State's first four-hit game of the season, going 4-for-5 in the game. Sells also delivered a big game for the Eagles, racking up four RBI to lead the Eagles to a 12-9 victory.
• Drawing nine walks this season and six in the last six games, Gardner ranks third in the OVC in base on balls. His three homers this season tie him for the league lead in the category while his .343 batting average ranks eighth in the conference.
• Starting each of the past three games in center and batting out of the two-hole, freshman Ryley Preece leads Morehead State in average over the team's 5-1 stretch. In his three starts—all Eagle victories—he's hit .357 (5-for-14) with a double, a pair of RBI, and a run scored.