MOREHEAD, Ky. – With its first win now behind it, the Morehead State softball team will look to continue its good fortune as it opens Ohio Valley Conference play with a three-game road series at Eastern Illinois on Williams Field in Charleston, Ill. Game one will be Saturday at 5 p.m. ET, with Sunday's action concluding the weekend with a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m. ET.

The games will be broadcast on ESPN+ at the following links: Game one: https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=faf5a955-0bfa-4bfe-8a5e-7432cf79164f, Game 2: https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=bb276980-3aa5-4973-8dac-96f3a5093a8b, Game 3: https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=838979a7-b5a5-49fa-b46f-5ecba9aa2ef5. Live stats will also be available at: https://eiupanthers.com/sidearmstats/softball/summary.

The Eagles hope to build off the boost they received from beating arch rival eastern Kentucky 3-1 at home on Wednesday. The Blue and Gold out-hit the Colonels 8-5, had outstanding pitching from sophomore Lennon Spicer and played flawless defense. Spicer picked up the win after recording a career-best 10 strikeouts in the complete-game effort. Six different Eagles registered at least one hit, with junior right fielder Madeline Gailor and senior first baseman Alexis Strother both finishing the contest 2-for-3. Gailor also drove in all three runs and has six total in the last three games. In addition, all nine MSU batters who stepped to the plate reached base at least once in the contest.

Morehead State (1-15) has not won away from home since defeating Tennessee-Martin 3-1 in the first game of the Apr. 17, 2021, doubleheader, a stretch of 20 straight contests. In true road outings this season, the Eagles are 0-4 and 0-9 dating back to last year.

Despite the lack of overall success, MSU head coach Samantha Jones thinks the positive mindset the group gained with Wednesday's win over eastern Kentucky should bolster the club as it prepares to face EIU.

"I'm really excited how this great confidence will help them going into our first conference weekend as we head to Eastern Illinois," Jones said after the eKU victory. "I want to take this momentum … and building on top of that having lights-out defense, more timely hits, more base runners and doing a great job with our pitching staff keeping batters off balance."

Senior catcher Peyton Slater and freshman left fielder Ieesha Christian continue to top the MSU batters. Slater paces the club with a .311 average and sits tied for the lead in RBI with six. Christian is not far behind at .306 and is 4-for-5 in stolen-base attempts this spring. Strother also has had some success and owns a .347 on-base percentage and is the co-leader in walks, with Christian, at six. In addition, sophomore center fielder Trinity Spear has been perfect in her base-swiping efforts at 5-for-5 and is one of two everyday players who own a 1.000 fielding percentage.

In the win over eKU, Spicer (1-8) dropped her ERA by just over three-quarters of a point and now sits at 5.43. She has 45 strikeouts to 28 walks this season and is averaging 6.67 K's per seven innings of work. Freshman Madi Ogden is 0-6 this spring with a 6.85 ERA, but has fanned five batters in her last 6.1 innings in the circle. At the plate, she boasts a .417 overall batting average as well as a four-game hitting streak in which she is 5-for-8.

Eastern Illinois (13-12) enters on a six-game win streak after toppling IUPUI in a pair of road games (8-0 in five innings and 5-3 in nine innings) on Wednesday. The Panthers also beat Northern Illinois 3-1 and 5-4, as well as Southern Illinois 13-9, in three contests on Sunday and Monday at the SIU Saluki Invitational. Ironically, EIU's last loss came against the same eastern Kentucky team the Eagles just defeated (13-11 on Mar. 5). Eastern Illinois was picked to finish in a tie for fourth in the OVC preseason poll of coaches and sports information personnel.

Through 23 games, the Panthers are batting .288 and have homered 23 times. Leading the way is junior second baseman Hannah Cravens, who is hitting .378 with eight four-baggers, along with seven doubles and 20 RBI. Junior outfielder Morgan Lewis is second on the team in batting at .364, while 2021 OVC Player of the Year senior shortstop Megan Burton adds a .317 average and four home runs. Sophomore catcher Lindy Milkowski owns a team-best 22 RBI, along with five home runs. As a team, EIU is 16-for-24 in stolen-base attempts this season.

Four Panthers are sharing duties in the circle, with each pitching between 25.2 and 40.1 innings. Freshman Alexa Rehmeier is 4-2 with a 3.18 ERA, along with 38 strikeouts and 27 walks. Sophomore Rachel Kaufman is 2-4 with a 3.64 ERA, 26 strikeouts and 22 walks; with sophomore Olivia Price sitting 2-3 and a 3.86 ERA, 15 strikeouts and 10 walks.

"They have a great pitching staff who works the count well, does a great job of north and south pitches," coach Jones said. "So, we will be practicing having good discipline at the plate, as well as sticking to our game plan of hitting our zone.

"From a defensive standpoint, they do a good job of making the easy plays and also the big plays," she added.

Morehead State and Eastern Illinois first met in 1997. The Panthers own a 44-24 edge in the series, including winning the last 11 and 21 of the past 22. EIU has won the last seven home contests and is 19-11 in Charleston versus the Eagles.

MSU''s last victory over Eastern Illinois came in 2015, a 4-3 home decision on Mar. 23. The squad's most recent road win was the third game of a series sweep on April 18-19, 2009, with a 4-2 score in the final contest. The Eagles have faced the Panthers five times under coach Jones and are in search of their first win.

The two teams met three times in Morehead last spring, with EIU claiming a 5-2 win on Mar. 6, and 13-8 and 8-0 (in five innings) victories the next day. The Panthers won twice on May 4, 2018, 2-0 and 3-2 in eight innings, the last time the teams met in Charleston.

"It should be a very competitive matchup for all three games," Jones said. "It will be a great test of our student-athletes to work on continuing competing, being resilient and hopefully come out with a couple of W's."

After the EIU series, Morehead State will face Dayton in a home doubleheader on Wednesday. First pitch for the opening game is 1 p.m. MSU has its first home OVC series next weekend when it entertains Austin Peay that Saturday and Sunday.