MOREHEAD, Ky. – Buoyed by its recent series wins over Southern Indiana and Tennessee State, the Morehead State softball team will head to archrival Eastern Kentucky to face the Colonels in a non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday at the Gertrude Hood Field in Richmond. First pitch for game one is at 3 p.m. The second contest is slated for 3 p.m. It will be the first two games of a six-game road swing.
"We're looking forward to squaring off against EKU to help us prepare for UT Martin this weekend," said MSU head coach
Megan Griffith. "We're looking for strong contributions from our full pitching staff, strong defense behind them and offensive execution at the plate."
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The matchup will be the Eagles' second midweek, non-conference game of the season. Morehead State (6-27) traveled to Kentucky for a Wednesday contest last week. The Blue and Gold dropped that outing 7-0. In between, it won two of three games against both Southern Indiana and Tennessee State, marking just the third time MSU has won back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference series since 2010.
Two weekend ago in Evansville, the Eagles beat Southern Indiana 2-1 and 10-6, before falling in the finale 6-2. This past weekend at home, MSU toppled Tennessee State 4-1 and 6-3, but fell in the middle contest 7-3. Morehead State is 4-20 on the road and 3-9 in true away games.
Morehead State is well on its way to posting its most runs (149), hits (264), doubles (46), home runs (17), RBI (132), slugging percentage (.382), on-base percentage (.340) and batting average (.276) in years. The team hit .300 in its three-game series against the Tigers. However, the most impressive statistic for this year's team is strikeouts. With just 124, it is on pace to have the fewest in more than three decades. MSU has struck out two or fewer times in eight of the last 11 contests.
This season, MSU has recorded at least seven hits in 23 games to date, including 13 times in the last 14 games. Sunday's game-three win over TSU marked the first time this spring the Eagles won a game in which they were out-hit. The team had been out-hit 26 times this season.
MSU continues to lead the nation in fewest hit batsmen allowed. The Eagles have plunked just three batters this year.
Individually, junior infielder
Sela Pickford's 12-game hit streak came to an end in game two on Saturday, but she still has recorded at least one in 29 of the team's 33 games this season. Junior outfielder
Maddy Christopher has an even more impressive statistic. She has reached base (by any possible means) in 32 of 33 games, including a stretch of 28 straight that ended on Apr. 3.
As a team, MSU is batting .276, with 4.52 runs per game, 17 home runs, 11 stolen bases, a 6.66 ERA and a .946 fielding percentage. Its opponents are batting .354, averaging 7.36 rpg, hit 18 home runs, stolen 50 bases, and own a 3.58 ERA and a .950 fielding percentage.
Junior outfielder
Maddy Christopher tops the team with a .381 batting average, 26 runs, a .397 slugging percentage and a .406 on-base percentage. Junior infielder
Noemye Letendre has been on a tear of late and is batting .351, with three doubles, five home runs, 24 RBI, a .584 slugging percentage and a.398 on-base percentage, Pickford is batting .305, with 21 runs, seven doubles, two homers, 20 RBI, three stolen bases, a .432 slugging percentage and a .339 on-base percentage. Junior catcher/third baseman
Sydney Farmer contributes a .302 batting average, 24 runs, 12 doubles, three homers, 18 RBI, three stolen bases, a .519 slugging percentage and a .361 on-base percentage. She also has struck out just four times this season and has thrown out six base runners from her catcher position. Junior second baseman
Sage VanDemark adds a .294 batting average, 16 runs, seven doubles, three homers, 19 RBI, 15 walks, a .440 slugging percentage and a .384 on-base percentage.
In the circle, junior
Ainsley Stubbs has put together a strong second half to the season. She has a 6-9 record, a 5.45 ERA, with 68 strikeouts and 52 walks in 95 innings. Freshman
Allicen Harris is 0-12, with a 5.17 ERA, 29 strikeouts and 14 walks in 65 innings. Senior
Rylie Burney is 0-6, with a 9.78 ERA, 24 strikeouts and 45 walks in 53 and two-third innings.
Eastern Kentucky (21-19) is 14-5 at home this year. The Colonels swept North Alabama in a three-game home series this past weekend, toppling the Lions 7-6, 5-0 and 6-5 in nine innings. Prior to that, EKU dropped a road game at Kentucky 5-2. It also dropped a pair of games at Central Arkansas 5-3 and 2-3. Prior to its series with UNA, the Colonels fell at home to Louisville 12-4 in six innings.
In addition to Kentucky, the two teams have had two similar opponents. Eastern Kentucky defeated SIU Edwardsville at home 3-0, but fell to Tennessee Tech 9-0 in Statesboro, Ga. MSU fell to SIUE and TTU three times each.
As a team, EKU is batting .276, with 4.45 rpg, 15 home runs, 33 stolen bases, a 4.30 ERA and a .954 fielding percentage. Its opponents sport a .259 batting average, 4.5 rpg, 28 home runs, 56 stolen bases, a 4.16 ERA and a .952 fielding percentage.
Senior outfielder Jaelin Haynes leads the Colonels with a .347 batting average, while adding 28 runs, nine doubles, five stolen bases, a .438 slugging percentage and a .394 on-base percentage. Sophomore infielder Jada McLeod chips in a .346 batting average, 19 runs, seven doubles, 22 RBI, a .469 slugging percentage and a .449 on-base percentage. Junior utility player Kennedy Drafton is hitting .322, with 27 runs, nine doubles, six homers, 28 RBI, a 568 slugging percentage and a .411 on-base percentage. Junior outfielder Reese Knox contributes a .318 batting average, 26 runs, three doubles, 30 walks, 12 stolen bases, a .375 slugging percentage and a .500 on-base percentage.
Freshman Bayle Hunnicutt tops EKU's pitchers with a .362 ERA, a 7-6 record, 94 strikeouts and 65 walks in 98 and two-third innings. Junior Victoria Byrum owns a 3.68 ERA, a 7-10 record, one save, 84 strikeouts and 51 walks in 93 and one-third innings. Redshirt junior Tayteum Vigansky is 7-2 with a 4.98 ERA, 28 strikeouts and 46 walks in 57 and two-thirds innings.
Jane Worthington is the only coach in the history of the program. She owns a 967-812 record in 34 seasons.
The series between the two teams began in 1993 and they faced each other every year except 2020 and 2024.
EKU has won 67 of the 93 all-time meetings (67-26), including boasting a 26-3 advantage since 2012. The Colonels won 15-9 and 15-1 in five innings in Morehead last spring. Prior to that, Eastern Kentucky won 5-4 and 8-0 in five innings when the teams met in Richmond in 2023. EKU has a 36-11 edge at home.
MSU's last victory was at the University Field in 2022 (3-1). From 2016 to 2021, EKU won all 12 meetings. The Eagles' most recent win in Richmond was in 2015 (7-4 and 6-5). In-season meetings have favored the Colonels, but the Eagles had the edge six times (1995, 1999, 2005, 2008, 2010 and 2011), with the Blue and Gold going 5-1 against its rivals in 1999.
Live stats will be available at the links:
https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=637991 (game one) and
https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=637992 (game two).
ESPN+ will broadcast both contests. The link for game one is:
https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/ddad7291-aad2-4422-b210-dcb0bb792068?om-navmethod=espn%3Aglobalsearch%3Aresults and game two is:
https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/e3370677-e37f-4d58-9ed2-c3c9e301aa31?om-navmethod=espn%3Aglobalsearch%3Aresults.
This weekend, Morehead State will travel to UT Martin for a three-game series that begins with a doubleheader on Saturday. First pitch will be at 1 p.m. ET. On Sunday there will be a single contest at 1 p.m. MSU concludes the road swing with a single outing at Northern Kentucky on Wednesday, Apr. 22. The Eagles are back at home for their final series at the University Field from April 25-26 against Southeast Missouri.
