GAME NOTES | ESPN+ (GAME ONE) | AUDIO (GAME ONE) | LIVE STATS (GAME ONE)

MOREHEAD, Ky. – For the seventh consecutive season—no event held in shortened 2020 season—Morehead State baseball competes for an Ohio Valley Conference title, taking aim at the 2021 OVC Baseball Championship in Jackson, Tenn.

Sporting the longest active qualifying streak in the OVC, the Eagles extended its program-record consecutive OVC Tournament appearance streak as the event returns to the Ballpark at Jackson for the first time since 2016. Morehead State enters the four-team tournament as the team with the most recent success in the event, entering the event as the lone club with multiple tournament titles (2015, 2018) over the previous five OVC Tournaments.

Morehead State enters the 2021 iteration of the OVC Tournament as the event's three seed—its seeding for its most recent tournament title—after taking the season finale to lock in the team's seeding. The Eagles face No. 2 overall seed Murray State in the opening round of the double-elimination tournament, setting up a rematch of Morehead State's 2019 walk-off victory of Murray State in Marion, Ill.

For the first time in program history, the Eagles enter postseason play featuring the OVC's Freshman of the Year as first baseman Jackson Feltner claimed the award after finishing top-five in the OVC in all three slash line categories (batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage). The Louisa, Ky. native enters the OVC Tournament ranked second in the conference in batting average (.397) while also sporting the league's longest active hitting (26) and reached base streak (35) streaks.

Feltner, also a First Team All-OVC honoree, highlighted a group of three Eagles to earn All-Freshman Team honors as centerfielder Ryley Preece and starting pitcher Luke Helton garnered selection. The 2021 season marks the first time since 2016 that Morehead State has had three or more players selected to the All-Freshman Team.

Thursday's game airs on both ESPN+ and the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety Eagle Sports Network (MSUEagles.com) as all games during the 2021 OVC Tournament will also air on both platforms.

AGAINST THE FIELD
No. 1 Southeast Missouri
All-Time Series: Southeast Missouri leads 49-43
Postseason Series: Morehead State leads 5-4
2021 Series: Series not contested

No. 2 Murray State
All-Time Series: Murray State leads 67-62-1
Postseason Series: Murray State leads 12-8
2021 Series: Morehead State won 3-1

No. 4 Austin Peay
All-Time Series: Austin Peay leads 61-39
Postseason Series: Morehead State leads 4-3
2021 Series: Morehead State won 2-1

NOTABLE

• Entering the 2021 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, Morehead State owns a 5-2 record against the other three teams in the field, taking series from No. 2 Murray State three games to one and No. 4 Austin Peay two games to one. Morehead State and No. 1 Southeast Missouri did not meet this season due to a Covid-19 cancellation.
• Morehead State's 2021 OVC Tournament appearance marks the 34^th OVC postseason appearance in program history and the 25^th time that appearance has come in the OVC Tournament (1979-pres.). Overall, the Eagles are making their seventh consecutive OVC Tournament appearance—the longest stretch in program history—(no OVC Tournament held in 2020 due to the Covid-19 public health threat). Morehead State owns a 46-53 OVC postseason record (35-42 in the OVC Tournament).
• After hitting .397 during the regular season with 11 home runs and 42 runs batted in, first baseman Jackson Feltner earned the program's first-ever Freshman of the Year honor (2000-pres.). Earning the honor, he was one of two players in the OVC to rank top five in all three slash line categories, joined by 2021 OVC Player of the Year Trey Sweeney.
• In addition to his Freshman of the Year honor, Feltner garnered a spot on the OVC's All-Freshman Team while centerfielder Ryley Preece and right-handed pitcher Luke Helton also garnered a spot on the 14-player team. Morehead State's three honorees were the most of any OVC program and the program's most since garnering four selections following the 2016 season.
• Hitting .397 on the year, Feltner ranks 22^nd in the NCAA in batting average and second in the OVC in the category. He sits just three points shy of the conference's leader in batting average, Southeast Missouri's Tyler Wilber (.400), while also ranking second among NCAA true freshman behind just Air Force's Paul Skenes (.418).
• After hitting a pair of home runs in Morehead State's series at Tennessee Tech, Feltner became the fifth freshman in program history to hit double-digit homers in a season. He's the first to hit 10-plus homers as a freshman since Taylor Davis in 2009 and currently ranks tied for fourth in program history in freshman season homers.
• Picking up a hit in each game of last weekend's series at Belmont, Feltner improved his conference-leading hitting and reached base streaks to 26 and 35 games respectively. At 26 games, his hitting streak marks the second-longest hitting streak in program history (records limited), behind only Glenn Jones 31 game hitting streak spanning the 1980 and 1981 seasons. Feltner's 35 game reached base streak ranks seventh-longest in program history (records limited).
• Scoring three times last weekend at Belmont, second baseman Bryce Hensor improved his team-leading runs scored total to 52, ranking second in the OVC and 36^th in the NCAA in the category. Averaging 1.16 runs scored per game, he leads the OVC in runs scored per game to rank 23^rd in the NCAA. On the season, Hensor has scored a run in 33 games, including a streak of 11 straight games from April 2 to April 18.
• With 16 doubles this season, third baseman Stephen Hill ranks fifth in the OVC in the category while his average of .37 doubles per contest leads the OVC. On the year, he's collected four of his five career two-double games, including three two-double games over his last nine games.
• Collecting his ninth sacrifice of the season in Morehead State's season finale at Belmont, Preece tied for the sixth most sacrifice bunts in a single season in program history with his nine sacrifices the most in a season since Duran Elmore's program record 16 sacrifice hits in 2012. Preece's nine sacrifices rank 15^th in the NCAA while his .24 sacrifices per game rank ninth in the country, leading the OVC in both categories.
• Over 25.1 innings during its three-game series at Belmont, Morehead State's pitching staff struck out 34 batters, averaging 12.08 strikeouts per nine inning in the series. On the season, the Eagles rank second in the OVC in strikeouts per nine innings, averaging 9.07 strikeouts per nine innings. Starting pitchers Jason Goe and Luke Helton tie for eighth in the OVC in K/9 at 9.00 apiece while relievers Cory Conway (10.97), John Bakke (10.42), and Grant Herron (13.14) each are over 10.0 K/9 from the bullpen.
• Speaking of strikeouts, from April 16 to May 21, encompassing five starts, Goe strung together 30 strikeouts between walks. In starts versus Jacksonville State, Murray State, and Tennessee Tech—his three starts in the middle of the streak—he struck out 24 batters without issuing a walk.
• Over his last two starts, Helton has struck out 17 batters over 10.2 innings, striking out eight in 4.2 innings at Tennessee Tech and nine in 6.0 innings at Belmont. In those two starts, he owns a 14.34 strikeouts per nine inning clip, tying a career-high with nine strikeouts versus the Bruins.
• Making 26 appearances out of the bullpen on the season, Bakke ranks 25^th in the country and third in the OVC in pitching appearances on the year. With his next appearance, he will tie for ninth in program history in single-season pitching appearances. Bakke also owns seven saves on the year to tie for the fifth-most single-season saves in program history with the total the most in a single season for an Eagle southpaw.
• Picking up eight victories out of the bullpen this season, Conway ties for first in the OVC and 26^th in the NCAA in victories. Entering postseason play, he ranks third in the NCAA in relief victories behind Arkansas's Kevin Kopps (10; SEC Pitcher of the Year) and VCU's Tyler Davis (9).
• Conway's eight victories in 2021 tie for the fifth-most victories in a single season in program history. The 2021 season marks Conway's second eight-win season (2018) while his 18 career victories also tie for fifth-most in program history. Conway's eight relief wins in 2018 and 2021 and his 17 career relief victories both mark the most relief victories in program history.