• OVC Baseball Report – March 2 (PDF)
This Week’s Schedule
Tuesday, March 3
Lindenwood at Indiana State, 2:00 p.m.
Morehead State at Louisville, 2:00 p.m. (ACC Network Extra)
Little Rock at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 3:00 p.m.
Evansville
at Southeast Missouri, 3:00 p.m.
Bradley
at SIUE, 3:00 p.m.
Western Illinois at Saint Louis, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Eastern Illinois at Illinois, 3:30 p.m. (B1G+)
Illinois State
at Southern Indiana, 4:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Friday, March 6
Eastern Illinois at Bellarmine, 12:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Western Illinois at VMI, 2:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Morehead State at Butler, 3:00 p.m.
Milwaukee
at Southeast Missouri, 3:00 p.m.
SIUE at Kansas State, 4:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Youngstown State
at Southern Indiana, 4:00 p.m.(ESPN+)
Lindenwood at Iowa, 4:05 p.m. (B1G+)
Mississippi Valley State
at UT Martin, 5:00 p.m.
Tennessee Tech at Georgia Southern, 5:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
Little Rock at Central Arkansas, 6:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 7
Tennessee Tech at Georgia Southern, 11:00 a.m. (ESPN+)
Eastern Illinois at Bellarmine, 12:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Western Illinois at VMI (2), 12:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Mississippi Valley State
at UT Martin, 1:00 p.m.
Central Arkansas at
Little Rock, 2:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Morehead State at Butler, 2:00 p.m.
Milwaukee
at Southeast Missouri, 2:00 p.m.
Lindenwood at Iowa, 2:05 p.m. (B1G+)
SIUE at Kansas State, 4:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Youngstown State
at Southern Indiana, 4:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Sunday, March 8
Western Illinois at VMI, 10:00 a.m. (ESPN+)
Tennessee Tech at Georgia Southern, 12:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Eastern Illinois at Bellarmine, 12:00 p.m.
Morehead State at Butler, 12:00 p.m.
Milwaukee
at Southeast Missouri, 1:00 p.m.
SIUE at Kansas State, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Mississippi Valley State
at UT Martin, 1:00 p.m.
Youngstown State
at Southern Indiana, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Lindenwood at Iowa, 1:05 p.m. (B1G+)
Little Rock at Central Arkansas, 2:00 p.m.
OVC Players of the Week
PLAYER
Ryan Niedzwiedz, 1B • 6-2, 195, Jr. • North Aurora, Ill. • SIUE
Niedzwiedz hit .421 (8-for-19) with seven runs scored, a double, three home runs, nine RBI, a .500 on-base percentage and .947 slugging percentage in five games last week. He opened the week with a double against Saint Louis before going 7-for-14 in a four-game series with Eastern Michigan. In Friday's opener with Eagles, the junior was 3-for-4 with a pair of home runs and six RBI. He homered in game two of Saturday's doubleheader before finishing the weekend with a 2-for-4 day and two runs scored.
Others Nominated: Peyton Wilson, Eastern Illinois; Charlie Isom-McCall, Lindenwood; Kade Smith, Little Rock; Joe Hall, Southeast Missouri; Clayton Slack, Southern Indiana; Eddie Garza, Tennessee Tech; Colten Payton, UT Martin; Joe Connolly, Western Illinois.
PITCHER
Jacob Sitton, RHP • 6-0, 220, Sr. • Bradford, Tenn. • UT Martin
Sitton tied a career-high with seven scoreless innings while striking out eight on Friday as UT Martin opened a three-game series against Bradley with a 17-2 victory. The senior scattered three hits (two singles) including having four hitless innings. His eight punchouts tied a career-high.
Others Nominated: Tyler Conklin, Eastern Illinois; Seth Benes, Lindenwood; Brannon Westmoreland, Little Rock; Nathan Mertens, Southeast Missouri; Ryan Weller, Southern Indiana; Jaxson Pease, Tennessee Tech.
Other Notable Performances
Below are other notable performances from the past week.
•
Clayton Slack (SS, Sr..), Southern Indiana. In four games hit .600 (9-for-15) with six runs scored, three doubles, a home run and six RBI.
•
Kade Smith (OF, R-So.), Little Rock. Hit .571 (8-for-14) with three runs, a double, home run and three RBI in four games.
•
Colten Payton (1B, Jr), UT Martin. In four games hit .444 (8-for-18) with three runs, a double and seven RBI.
•
Charlie Isom-McCall (INF, So.), Lindenwood. Hit .471 (8-for-17) with six runs, three doubles, a home run and six RBI in five games.
•
Seth Benes (RHP, Jr.), Lindenwood. Extended scoreless streak to 21 innings with seven innings of no run baseball against Northern Illinois.
•
Nathan Mertens (RHP, Sr.), Southeast Missouri. Made two appearances, picking up a victory in pitching final 6.2 innings against Miami (Ohio). Had eight strikeouts and no walks.
•
Ryan Weller (RHP, Jr.), Southern Indiana. Tossed five scoreless innings, combining with the bullpen for a shutout win over North Alabama. Had six strikeouts and allowed just two hits.
Notes From Around the League
Ranked Wins: Here is a look at OVC teams with wins over nationally-ranked teams this season. From 2018 to the present OVC teams have 31 wins over nationally-ranked non-conference opponents.
February 17 - Morehead State 8, #18 Kentucky 6
Recent Baseball Success: Highest NET Ranking in 25 Years/Wins Over No. 1 Ranked Teams: Last season the OVC ranked 15th in the final NCAA RPI, its highest finish in the rankings in the past 25 years. OVC teams also have four victories over the No. 1 ranked team since 2019, including Austin Peay over Vanderbilt (2-27-19), Morehead State over Louisville (3-2-21), Tennessee Tech over Tennessee (4-12-22) and Little Rock over LSU (6-1-25).
Six Named to Stopper of the Year Watch List: Six OVC baseball players were among 104 players nationally named to the initial 2026 Watch List for the 21st Annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Stopper of the Year Award, given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I Baseball. The selections included Little Rock graduate
Hunter Royal, senior
Preston Davis and junior
Gage Haley, Eastern Illinois senior
Nate Marshall, Lindenwood senior
Easton Rakers and Tennessee Tech senior
Reece McDuffie.
2026 OVC Baseball Championship: For the fourth year in a row the OVC Baseball Championship will be held at Mtn Dew Park in Marion, Illinois (May 19-23). The event was also held at the venue (which was previously known as Rent One Park) in 2019. It was announced in May 2025 that the event will be held at the venue through 2029. This year the bracket has been slightly adjusted with the first two games (now played on Tuesday) being single-elimination (previously the first four games of the event were single-elimination and played on Wednesday). The winners of Tuesday's games will advance to the double elimination portion of the bracket. The Championship will now have 12 games (with the if necessary game being a 13th). The venue, home to the Thrillville Thrillbillies of the Prospect League (the team completed its first season in 2023), opened in 2007 and has a Sportexe Turf synthetic surface and features 3,400 chairback seats and lawn seating for over 2,000. It also has a new high-definition LED video board, 14 suites, a banquet facility, an entertainment plaza and kids’ play area. The stadium is located directly off Interstate 57. This year marks the 47th OVC Baseball Championship. The first elimination style OVC Baseball Tournament was held in 1980, most usually being played at the site of the regular season championship. Beginning in 2001 the tournament switched to a neutral site for the first time.
SIUE Picked as 2026 OVC Preseason Favorite: SIUE was picked as the 2026 Ohio Valley Conference preseason baseball favorite in a vote of OVC head baseball coaches and communications directors. The Cougars picked up 10 first-place votes and 137 points in being picked first, one point ahead of Southeast Missouri, who received three first-place votes and 136 points. Eastern Illinois got four first-place votes and 132 points in being tabbed third while Little Rock picked up the other three first-place votes and 122 points in coming in fourth. The poll was rounded out by Tennessee Tech (98), Lindenwood (86), Southern Indiana (70), UT Martin (54), Morehead State (37) and Western Illinois (28).
OVC Professional Success: Former OVC baseball players have found professional success at the Major League level. To begin the 2025 MLB season, three former OVC players were on Opening Day rosters (
Hayden Birdsong, Trey Sweeney and
Tyler Rogers) while three others were on 40-man rosters. At the end of the 2025 season, former Eastern Illinois pitcher
Will Klein captured a World Series Championship as a member of the active playoff roster for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who topped the Toronto Blue Jays in extra innings in a thrilling Game 7. Klein appeared in both Game 1 and Game 3 of the World Series, including picking up the win in Game 3 when he pitched 4.0 innings of scoreless relief as L.A. won 6-5 in 18 innings. He allowed one hit and struck out five in that appearance. Klein pitched 1.0 innings in Game 1, allowing one hit. Klein is the first former OVC player to be on an active roster of a World Series Champion since 2020, when Belmont's
Matt Beaty won a title also with the Dodgers. Former UT Martin pitcher
Alec Mills tossed the 16th no-hitter in Chicago Cubs history (and 305th in MLB history) against the Milwaukee Brewers on September 13, 2020. In 2021 Eastern Illinois SS
Trey Sweeney was selected in the First Round by the New York Yankees (No. 20 overall), becoming just the third First Round pick in OVC history; Sweeney is now with the Detroit Tigers and made his MLB debut in 2024. Also in 2021, former SEMO pitcher
Dylan Dodd was selected in the Third Round by the Atlanta Braves, marking the first time in OVC history two players were selected in the Top 3 rounds of the same draft.
All Teams Eligible for Postseason Play: Lindenwood and Southern Indiana have completed their reclassification to Division I and are now eligible to earn to compete in NCAA sanctioned postseason play.
The 2026 Season: The 2026 season marks the 78th year of competition in the OVC. Over the previous 77 years, 14 different teams have claimed an OVC baseball regular season championship.
ESPN+/ESPN Unlimited: The OVC signed a new multi-year media rights agreement with ESPN ahead of the season that continues the long-standing partnership to air games on the Family of Networks. This season over 200 men’s and women’s basketball regular season Conference games and non-conference games will be streamed on ESPN+. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ for $11.99 a month (or $119.99 per year). For the first time ever, ESPN now offers its full suite of 12 networks and services directly to fans within an enhanced ESPN App that integrates game stats, ESPN Fantasy sports, commerce, multiview options, a synchronized two-screen experience, a vertical video feature called Verts and a personalized SportsCenter For You. Designed to give fans more choice, flexibility and access to all of ESPN, these new features and functionality are available to all fans who watch on the ESPN App on mobile and connected TV devices, whether they subscribe directly or through a traditional pay TV package. Bundling options available for fans include a special offer at launch for the ESPN DTC Unlimited plan with Disney+ and Hulu for $29.99/month for the first 12 months.