MOREHEAD, Ky. – The Morehead State softball team is traveling to Murray, Ky., for a Saturday-Sunday series with Murray State. It will be the last chance for MSU to attempt to qualify for its first Ohio Valley Conference Tournament since 2018.

It has come down to one simple scenario. The Eagles need to sweep the Racers and hope that either Eastern Illinois (23-29/8-17) or SIU-Edwardsville (18-30/9-16) goes winless and Tennessee State drops at least one game. Like Morehead State (7-34/6-18), all three teams have three games remaining on their slate.  EIU hosts Tennessee Tech, SIUE travels to Austin Peay and TSU entertains UT Martin.

The Blue and Gold have had a week off since playing last weekend when it split a three-game home series with Tennessee State. MSU won the first contest 3-1, but then fell by identical 4-2 scores in the final two outings, the last of which went to eight innings. The Eagles were scheduled to play two mid-week home doubleheaders against Rio Grande (Ohio) and Butler, but both were rained out. Those cancellations brought the season total to 19 games, the most in the team's recorded history.

"We are excited to finish our regular-season weekend out with Murray State. They are always a great competitor with them being in the top-three of our conference. We know it will be a great battle against them. They have a stellar pitcher (Hannah James), which we have been preparing for all week. I'm excited to see how well the girls compete and take on this challenge."

The two MSU's will face off on Saturday with a single contest that starts at 5 p.m. ET and then square off on Sunday with a 1 p.m. ET doubleheader. All games will be played at Racer Field. The hosts will honor their Seniors before Saturday's outing.

The games will be broadcast and streamed with live stats.

The tv link for game one: https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/988e27ed-a053-4261-925a-62a39cd131f9?om-navmethod=espn%3Aglobalsearch%3Aresults, game two: https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/e824b085-1646-436c-83d9-f75243efcca7?om-navmethod=espn%3Aglobalsearch%3Aresults and game three: https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/6df10e37-5c66-498e-a64a-14c3fcf87646?om-navmethod=espn%3Aglobalsearch%3Aresults. The stats link for game one: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=388960, game two: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=388961 and game three: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=388963.

The Eagles enter the weekend with a 1-26 road record, but that lone win came on the team's most recent trip – Wednesday, April 27 – at Tennessee Tech. The Blue and Gold captured a 5-2 victory in the opening contest of a doubleheader, snapping a string of 30 consecutive defeats away from home.

Junior outfielder Madeline Gailor sits atop the list of Eagle batting averages with a .280. She also posts team highs of 18 RBI and 11 stolen bases. The Louisville, Ky., native adds five doubles, second most on the team. Senior first baseman Alexis Strother's late-season surge has moved her into the number two spot in batting average at .255. She paces the team in walks with 13, is tied for the lead in doubles with seven and is third in RBI with 10. She also boasts a .357 slugging percentage and a .353 on-base percentage. Senior shortstop/catcher Peyton Slater raised her batting average eight points after the Tennessee State series last weekend. She is now hitting .243, with seven doubles, two homers, 12 RBI, a .360 slugging percentage and a .333 on-base percentage. Although injuries in the lineup have moved her to shortstop, Slater continues to rank among the Division I leaders in stopping attempted stolen bases tying for 14th with 14.

In just over a month, the Eagles have raised their team batting average 12 points and it now sits at .220. In that same period, they dropped 1.21 earned runs per game off their ERA. It is 5.77 entering the weekend. Over that same 33-day stretch, the squad's fielding also has improved by nine percentage points to .938.

Senior third baseman Peyton Rose remains among the tops in the nation in being hit by a pitch. With 16, she ranks fourth in per-game average at 0.41.

Sophomore pitcher Lennon Spicer is the reigning OVC Pitcher of the Week, the first Eagle to win that accolade in over four years. In three games of action against Tennessee Tech and Tennessee State, Spicer posted a 2-1 record, with a 1.40 ERA, three walks and 16 strikeouts in 20 innings. On the season, she owns a 6-17 record, a 4.56 ERA, with 89 strikeouts and 46 walks in 127 and one-third innings. Freshman Madi Ogden is 1-11, with a 5.36 ERA, 47 strikeouts and 46 walks in 82 and one-third innings.

Murray State (35-14-1/19-4) is contending for its first-ever OVC title. The Racers, which are 16-2-1 at home this season, need to win at least one more contest than Belmont this weekend to achieve the feat. The Bruins currently hold a one-game lead, but also lost two of the three outings against the Racers. So, Murray would win a tiebreaker.

The hosts will honor four seniors prior to Saturday's matchup. Included in that group are center fielder Logan Braundmeier, shortstop Sierra Gilmore, outfielder Jensen Striegel and pitcher Emma Olejniczak, along with third-year sophomore Chloe Jacque.

Murray won its last three outings with a sweep over Tennessee Tech (7-3, 10-1 in five innings and 7-3) last weekend, but dropped the three previous contests against Austin Peay (4-3 in eight innings and 2-1 on April 27) and Southeast Missouri (5-2 on April 24). The meeting with SEMO was its last at home and ended a 17-game unbeaten streak.

Braundmeier tops the club in batting average at .398, runs scored with 49, doubles with 23, home runs with nine, slugging percentage at .711 and stolen bases with eight. She is tied with junior third baseman Graci Osbron for the lead in RBI with 38. Osborn owns a .392 batting average, with 16 doubles, eight home runs and a .699 slugging percentage, while sitting atop the Racers with a .470 on-base percentage. Sophomore first baseman Lily Fischer is hitting .317, with eight doubles, four homers, 25 RBI, a .508 slugging percentage and a .439 on-base percentage. She also has been hit by a pitch 20 times this season, which places her fifth nationally with 0.40 per game. Gilmore is the final team member hitting above .300 with a .315 average. She adds 15 doubles, five homers, 35 RBI, a .521 slugging percentage and a .393 on-base percentage. As a squad, Murray is batting .293, while holding its opponents to a .203 average.

James is among the OVC's top pitchers, the junior boasts an 18-4 record, with eight solo shutouts and one save, a 1.37 ERA, plus 192 strikeouts and 20 walks in 153 and two-thirds innings of work. Sophomore Jenna Veber follows with a 14-7 record, a save, a 1.52 ERA, 70 strikeouts and 12 walks in 124 and one-third innings. Sophomore Kamryn Carcich is 3-2 with one save, a 1.98 ERA, 29 strikeouts and 13 walks in 35 and one-third innings. As a team, the Racers own a 1.65 ERA and a .966 fielding percentage.

The two teams have met 24 times in the 11-year series history. The Racers started their program in 2010 but first faced the Eagles in 2011. Murray leads the all-time meetings 17-7, including winning the last five, all of which it played at home.

This year marks the third straight series where the two teams will meet in Murray. The Racers won all three matchups last spring, including 14-4 in five innings on May 7, 5-1 and 1-0 in eight innings on May 8. On April 28, 2019, the Racers won twice in five innings, 15-0 and 9-1.

Morehead State's last victory came in the second game of the May 1, 2018, doubleheader at home. The Eagles came out on top 4-3. It also was the last time the two squads played at MSU's University Field.

The OVC Tournament will run from Wednesday to Saturday of next week (May 11-14) in Oxford, Ala.