• OVC Baseball Report – March 9 (PDF)
This Week’s Schedule
Tuesday, March 10
Bradley
at Lindenwood, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Arkansas State
at Little Rock, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Morehead State at UNC Asheville, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Missouri State
at Southeast Missouri, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Southern Illinois
at SIUE, 4:00 p.m.
Tennessee Tech at #19 Tennessee, 5:00 p.m. (SEC Network+)
Union University
at UT Martin, 5:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Southern Indiana at Missouri, 6:00 p.m. (SEC Network+)
Western Illinois at Illinois, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Wednesday, March 11
Bradley
at Lindenwood, 1:00 p.m.
Illinois Wesleyan
at Eastern Illinois, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Belmont
at Tennessee Tech, 4:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Thursday, March 12
Illinois State
at Western Illinois, 2:00 p.m.
Morehead State at Western Carolina, 4:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Friday, March 13
Illinois State
at Western Illinois, 2:00 p.m.
Southeast Missouri at Wright State, 2:00 p.m.
Murray State
at Lindenwood, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Morehead State at Western Carolina, 4:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Valparaiso at SIUE, 4:00 p.m.
The Citadel
at UT Martin, 5:00 p.m.
Southern Indiana at Southern Illinois, 6:00 p.m.
Mercer
at Tennessee Tech, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Little Rock at Samford, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Eastern Illinois at Memphis, 6:05 p.m. (ESPN+)
Saturday, March 14
Murray State
at Lindenwood, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Morehead State at Western Carolina, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Valparaiso at SIUE, 1:00 p.m.
Southeast Missouri at Wright State, 1:00 p.m.
Little Rock at Samford, 2:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Southern Indiana at Southern Illinois, 2:00 p.m.
Mercer
at Tennessee Tech, 2:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Eastern Illinois at Memphis, 2:05 p.m. (ESPN+)
Western Illinois at Illinois State, 3:00 p.m.
The Citadel
at UT Martin, 3:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 15
Morehead State at Western Carolina, 12:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Southeast Missouri at Wright State, 12:00 p.m.
Murray State
at Lindenwood, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Little Rock at Samford, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Valparaiso at SIUE, 1:00 p.m.
Western Illinois at Illinois State, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Southern Indiana at Southern Illinois, 1:00 p.m.
Mercer
at Tennessee Tech, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
The Citadel
at UT Martin, 1:00 p.m.
Eastern Illinois at Memphis, 1:05 p.m. (ESPN+)
OVC Players of the Week
PLAYER
Jake Radosevich, INF • 6-0, 210, Sr. • Troy, Ill. • Lindenwood
In three games at Iowa, Radosevich hit .364 (4-for-11) with four runs scored, a double, three home runs, eight RBI and a 1.273 slugging percentage. He opened the series with a two-run home run on Friday. In Saturday's 4-3 Lindenwood victory, he doubled and came around to score what proved to be the game-winning run in the sixth inning. He capped the week with a pair of long balls and six RBI in Sunday's finale. His home run in the ninth inning forced extra innings.
Others Nominated: Kyree Alexander, Eastern Illinois; Aubrey Kearns, Morehead State; Caleb Klein, Southeast Missouri; Zion Stephens, Southern Indiana; Colten Payton, UT Martin; Wandel Campana, Western Illinois.
CO-PITCHER
Aaron Jungers, LHP • 6-0, 185, Sr. • Madison, Wis. • Lindenwood
Junger tossed five shutout innings, allowing only two hits and striking out a career-high seven without issuing a walk, helping Lindenwood to a 4-3 victory over Iowa on Saturday. He entered the game in the fifth inning and went the rest of the way in what proved to be a career-high (surpassing his previous high of 4.1 innings). He allowed only one runner to reach second base and had three 1-2-3 innings. Jungers has now allowed just one earned run with 17 strikeouts through five appearances (16.1 IP) out of the pen this season.
CO-PITCHER
Brannon Westmoreland, RHP • 6-6, 215, Jr. • Haskell, Okla. • Little Rock
Westmoreland tossed six scoreless innings, netting his fourth quality start of the season, in helping Little Rock to an 8-2 win at Central Arkansas on Friday. The junior scattered four hits (three singles) while striking out eight. Westmoreland now has a 1.52 ERA for the season, with 26 Ks to just 6 walks and 13 hits in 23.2 innings.
Others Nominated: Bryce Riggs, Eastern Illinois; Mason Pennington, Southeast Missouri; Abdriel Figueroa, Southern Indiana; Garrett Holpuch, Tennessee Tech; Jacob Sitton, UT Martin; Max Tripure, Western Illinois.
Other Notable Performances
Below are other notable performances from the past week.
•
Mason Pennington (RHP, Sr.), Southeast Missouri. Struck out 11 in six innings in earning the victory against Milwaukee.
•
Bryce Riggs (RHP, Jr.), Eastern Illinois. Allowed two hits over seven innings in picking up a victory over Bellarmine in Marion, Illinois.
•
Abdriel Figueroa (RHP, Jr.), Southern Indiana. Did not allow a run over six innings against Youngstown State. The junior struck out five while allowing only two hits.
•
Jacob Sitton (RHP, Sr.), UT Martin. Tossed a seven-inning complete game against Mississippi Valley State, allowing four hits and one run while striking out eight.
•
Caleb Klein (CF, Jr.), Southeast Missouri. Hit .400 (6-for-15) with two home runs and six RBI in helping Redhawks to 4-0 record during the week.
•
Wandel Campana (INF, Sr.), Western Illinois. Hit .476 (10-for-21) with three runs, four doubles and two RBI in five games.
•
Aubrey Kearns (INF, So.), Morehead State. Hit .381 (8-for-21) with three doubles, a home run and six RBI as Eagles compiled a 4-1 record.
•
Colten Payton (1B, Jr.), UT Martin. In four games, had eight RBI while adding three runs and two doubles.
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.