Game 1:
Josh Mueller (Jr, RHP) vs. Jordan Beistline (Jr, RHP)
Game 3: TBA for EIU vs. Austin Lucas (Sr, RHP)
Weekend Weather Forecast for Jacksonville, Ala.
Saturday: 78 degrees, clear skies
Sunday: 69 degrees, clear skies
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois baseball's final weekend road trip of Ohio Valley Conference play doubles as the longest trek, as the Panthers head to the state of Alabama for their first three-game series at Jacksonville State since 2007.
Saturday's doubleheader and the series finale Sunday are both slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch at Rudy Abbott Field.
The Panthers (13-29, 8-9 OVC) enter the weekend in sixth place in the OVC standings after winning four of their last five conference games. Jacksonville State (21-20, 8-6 OVC) is in third place after being idle last weekend.
It's a big weekend for the conference tournament chase. While league-leading Southeast Missouri travels to Nebraska for a nonconference weekend, the rest of league squares off. Elsewhere around the OVC, Murray State (8-5, 2nd place) hosts Eastern Kentucky (8-7, 5th place), Austin Peay (4-8, T-8th place) travels to Tennessee Tech (6-5, 4th place), and Morehead State (5-6, 7th place) hosts UT Martin (5-10, T-8th place). The top six teams in the final standings qualify for the OVC Tournament.
The conference standings were already tight before all three games of two series – Tech at EKU and Morehead at APSU – were rained out last weekend. Eastern Kentucky and Austin Peay both lost out on an opportunity to help their OVC Tournament chances at home.
Meanwhile, a season after playing an OVC-low 18 conference games in 2009, EIU's 17 league games are currently the most in the conference. Eastern plays a nonconference series next weekend and only has six league games remaining.
Jacksonville State has played an OVC-high 26 home games this season. However, the Gamecocks are on the road for their final two conference weekends, traveling to Eastern Kentucky (May 15-16) and Morehead State (May 21-22). Jax State has already won two-of-three at UT Martin and Austin Peay earlier this season and is the only OVC with a winning record (7-6) in true road games.
Yet, JSU has lost its last two home OVC series. Murray responded after losing the series opener on a walk-off grand slam by Jake Sharrock to take two-of-three in the April 10-11 series. Two weeks ago, SEMO won both ends of an April 25 doubleheader to take sole possession of first place.
The Gamecocks joined the OVC in 2004. Eastern won the first three series against JSU from 2004-06. Jax State has won the last three series even though EIU won the series opener all three years. Last season, JSU handed the Panthers three of their 14 losses. The Gamecocks were the only team to win a weekend series against EIU in 2009 and also upset the Panthers in the second round of the OVC Tournament.
“Sometimes we go over JSU too much as a coaching staff,” EIU head coach
Jim Schmitz said. “They have really good team speed and they put pressure on you with [Bert] Smith and [Todd] Cunningham at the top of the lineup. They're similar to EKU and Austin Peay in some respects.
“We're not downplaying them with all the veterans they have back. But at the same time we're trying to approach it as just another OVC weekend. We don't want to put too much into it, which we have done at times in the past. They've got some good players but they don't seem to be pitching as well as they have in the past.”
Due to a scheduling quirk related to Samford leaving the conference after the 2008 season, Jax State traveled to Charleston for weekend series in 2008 and 2009.
Richie Derbak is the only current Panther that has played at JSU's Rudy Abbott Field.
Eastern has faced the Gamecocks' probable game one starter Jordan Beistline four times in the last two seasons. In 2008, he started JSU's rubber game win in Charleston and EIU's OVC Tournament win in the final of the winner's bracket. He made a pair of relief appearances against the Panthers last season.
Jax State's probable starter for game three, Austin Lucas, beat EIU in nightcap of last season's doubleheader in Charleston with seven innings of three-run ball.
For the Panthers,
Josh Mueller and
Mike Recchia have both started three games against JSU during their careers. Neither righthander has recorded a win versus the Gamecocks. Mueller was robbed of a potential victory by a rain delay in a blowout EIU win at home in 2008. Recchia helped set the stage for the big OVC Tournament win that same year with 4 1/3 innings of three-run ball.
Recchia is expected to continue to be used in a flex role for the remainder of the season. He'll pitch in relief if needed to close out a conference win. Should he not pitch in relief during an OVC doubleheader, we would likely start the series finale as he did Sunday in the rubber game win against UT Martin.
Jacksonville State welcomed back two key players from injury this season. Smith, a three-time All-OVC honoree, has served primarily as the designated hitter and has established a new conference record for career hits. Closer Alex Jones is also back and has struck out 47 in 36 1/3 innings pitched. He has surrendered only one extra-base hit but issued 32 walks and has an equal number of losses and saves (four).
“We do not do a good job when we're behind,” Schmitz said of his team, which is 0-16 when trailing after seven innings. “The key to our team is, offensively, we've got to put numbers on the board. We seem to be scoring in a lot of different innings lately. So our goal will be again to avoid playing from behind because they've got a good bullpen.”
Eastern outfielder
Curt Restko will not be traveling with the team this weekend as he continues to recover after getting hit in the face by a pitch April 27 against Missouri. Schmitz said he was hopeful that Restko could still return before the end of the season.
Following this weekend's action, EIU is slated to play six of its final eight regular-season games at home.
