• OVC Baseball Report – March 20 (PDF)
This Week’s Schedule
Tuesday, March 21
Eastern Illinois at Bellarmine, 1:30 p.m.
Ohio
at Morehead State, 2:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Southeast Missouri at #3 Arkansas, 3:00 p.m. (SEC Network+)
Southern Indiana at Belmont, 4:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Alabama A&M
at UT Martin, 4:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Evansville
at SIUE, 5:00 p.m.
Middle Tennessee
at Tennessee Tech, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Little Rock at Memphis, 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday, March 22
Roosevelt University
at Eastern Illinois, 3:00 p.m.
Friday, March 24
*UT Martin at Eastern Illinois, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Tennessee Tech at Davidson, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Southeast Missouri at SIUE, 5:00 p.m.
*Morehead State at Southern Indiana, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Lindenwood at Little Rock, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Saturday, March 25
Tennessee Tech at Davidson, 1:00 p.m.
*UT Martin at Eastern Illinois, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Southeast Missouri at SIUE, 1:00 p.m.
*Morehead State at Southern Indiana, 2:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Lindenwood at Little Rock, 4:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Sunday, March 26
Tennessee Tech at Davidson, 12:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Morehead State at Southern Indiana, 12:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*UT Martin at Eastern Illinois, 1:00 p.m.
*Southeast Missouri at SIUE, 1:00 p.m.
*Lindenwood at Little Rock, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
OVC Players of the Week
PLAYER
Brady Bunten, DH • 6-0, 205, Sr. • Cedar Rapids, Iowa • SIUE
In four games (three of which were wins), Bunten hit .429 (6-for-14) with five doubles, seven RBI, a .467 on-base percentage and .786 slugging percentage. The senior drove in multiple runs in all three weekend games against UIC, including going 3-for-4 with three doubles and three RBI in Saturday's 9-6 win. He closed the week by going 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI as the Cougars closed out the week with a 8-1 victory in the neutral site series played in Millington, Tennessee. Bunten ranks first in the OVC in doubles (0.56/game), second in RBI (1.39/game), fourth in hits (1.22/game), seventh in total bases (2.11/game), eighth in batting (.319) and ninth in slugging (.551). Bunten ranks sixth nationally in total doubles (10).
Others Nominated: Cole Gober, Eastern Illinois; Skyler Trevino, Little Rock; Jevon Mason, Southeast Missouri; Nick Spardone, Tennessee Tech; Will Smith, UT Martin.
PITCHER
Payton Lawrence, RHP • 6-3, 180, Jr. • Dixon, Ill. • Southeast Missouri
Lawrence allowed no runs and only four hits over 8.1 innings on Saturday as Southeast Missouri shutout Western Illinois 4-0. He struck out seven and walked only two batters while throwing 104 pitches. Lawrence walked the leadoff batter then retired eight in a row and 17 of the next 19 batters he faced. After allowing a double in the fifth inning, the only baserunner he allowed until the final inning was a hit batter in the seventh inning. Lawrence also pitching a scoreless inning of relief against Missouri State on Wednesday, allowing one hit and striking out one. Lawrence ranks sixth in the OVC in E.R.A. (3.04), seventh in opponent batting average (.222) and eighth in strikeouts/game (8.75).
Others Nominated: Nick Laxner, Eastern Illinois; Austin Stubber, Little Rock; Tyler DeLong, SIUE; Reece McDuffie, Tennessee Tech; Eric Steensma, UT Martin.
Notes From Around the League
Highlights From Around the League: Conference play gets underway this week with four sets of league games; Tennessee Tech has a bye from OVC play this week ... Eastern Illinois has won six games in a row and for the second season in a row the team has 10-plus wins through its first 15 contests; the Panthers have played its first 14 games on the road and have a road contest scheduled for Tuesday before finally opening at home this Wednesday ... EIU's Lincoln Riley was hit by a pitch four times in the team's game at Arkansas State ... SIUE has 13 wins through 18 games and has won four of its first five weekend series ... USI's Lucas McNew moved into the program's all-time Top 10 for RBI; this season he has played catcher, first base and second base ... SIUE's
Brady Bunten is sixth nationally in doubles (10) while teammate
Zeus Ponder is fifth in saves (5) ... Little Rock's
Jackson Wells ranks fifth nationally in E.R.A. (0.73) while teammate
Nico Baumbach is 19th in home runs/game (0.47) and
Skyler Trevino is 29th in RBI (1.47/game) ... SEMO's
Noah Niznik ranks sixth nationally in walks per nine innings (0.64) and ninth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (14.00) while EIU's
Ryan Ignoffo ranks as the 16th toughest to strike out player nationally (one strikeout every 17.0 at-bats) ... As a team SEMO is fifth nationally in sacrifice bunts (19) while SIUE is 14th in fielding percentage (.982).
Ranked Wins: Here is a look at OVC teams with wins over nationally-ranked teams this season (in 2021 OVC teams had five such wins). From 2018 to the present OVC teams have 24 wins over nationally-ranked non-conference opponents.
Feb. 26 - Eastern Illinois 12, #3 Arkansas 3
Four OVC Players on Stopper of the Year Watch List: Four OVC baseball players were among the 81 players nationally named to the initial Watch List for the 18th Annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award, given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I Baseball. The OVC players included Morehead State's
John Bakke and
Jarrett Miller, Southeast Missouri's
Kyle Miller and Eastern Illinois'
Zane Robbins. Of the initial 81 members, 17 were featured on last year’s midseason watch list. In total, 21 conferences are represented on this list with at least two players coming from 15 different leagues.
2023 OVC Tournament: The 2023 OVC Baseball Championship will be held May 24-27 at Rent One Park in Marion, Illinois. It marks the second time the event has been held at the venue (2019 being the other). For the second year in a row, the bracket which will include four single elimination games on Wednesday, with the winners advancing to the double elimination portion of the bracket which will include the No. 1 and 2 seeds (who receive a bye until Thursday games). Saturday’s Championship Game will be a one-game “Winner Take All” matchup. Rent One Park opened in 2007 and has a Sportexe Turf synthetic surface and features 3,400 chairback seats and lawn seating for over 2,000. The venue includes a brand-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 44th 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.
Recent NCAA Success: OVC teams have won at least one game in the NCAA Tournament in eight of the past 16 tournaments. OVC teams have reached the Regional Final round in four of the last 10 events. In 2018, for the first time the OVC sent two teams to the NCAA Baseball Championship. In addition to Morehead State, who won the OVC Tournament and received the league's automatic bid, Tennessee Tech became the first OVC team to receive an at-large bid. After winning an OVC record 27 Conference games during the regular season, TTU had a RPI of 23 to secure the at-large bid and a No. 2 seed in the Oxford Regional. The Golden Eagles were the second OVC team to earn a No. 2 seed, joining the 2013 Austin Peay team. TTU would win back-to-back games against No. 4 national seed Ole Miss to become the first team to advance to a Super Regional (which began in 1999). Tennessee Tech beat Texas in game one of the Super Regional before falling in the final two games.
OVC Professional Success: Former OVC baseball players found professional success at the Major League. 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. Former Belmont standout
Matt Beaty was a member of the 28-man playoff roster for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who defeated the Tampa Bay Rays four games to two to win the World Series. Since the OVC was formed in 1948, he is the first former OVC player to be on the active roster of a World Series Champion (most recently former SIUE pitcher Spencer Patton was a member of the 2016 Chicago Cubs championship team, but was not active for the World Series). 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. SEMO pitcher
Dylan Dodd was then 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.
Southeast Missouri Picked as 2023 OVC Preseason Favorite: Two-time defending OVC Tournament Champion Southeast Missouri has been picked as the 2023 OVC preseason baseball favorite in a vote of OVC head baseball coaches and communications directors. The Redhawks picked up 16 of 18 first-place votes (schools could not vote for themselves) and 128 points to be a unanimous first-place pick. Morehead State received the other two first-place votes to tally 100 points and be picked second. Eastern Illinois was tabbed third (89 points) and followed by Little Rock (86), Tennessee Tech (78), SIUE (76), UT Martin (41), Southern Indiana (26) and Lindenwood (24).
Morehead State's Feltner and Bakke Earn Preseason OVC Player/Pitcher of the Year Honors: Morehead State junior first baseman
Jackson Feltner was named OVC Preseason Player of the Year while MSU graduate left-handed pitcher
John Bakke was tabbed OVC Preseason Pitcher of the Year. In all 16 players were selected to the Preseason All-OVC team, seven of who were All-OVC picks a season ago. The 16 players represented eight of the nine teams who will compete for the OVC championship this season. Morehead State, Southeast Missouri and SIUE led the way with three selections apiece.
New Teams: The OVC welcomes three new teams this year in Lindenwood, Little Rock and Southern Indiana. Little Rock moves over from the Sun Belt while Lindenwood and USI are reclassifying from Division II and the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). The trio marks just the 22nd, 23rd and 24th full-time members in the 75-year history of the OVC.
All Teams Eligible for OVC Tournament: Both reclassifying teams, Lindenwood and Southern Indiana, are eligible to compete and win the OVC Tournament Championship this season. Should a transitioning school win an OVC Tournament Championship, the AQ shall be awarded to the tournament runner-up. Should the tournament runner-up also be a transitioning school, the AQ representative shall be the third-place team (where the third-placed team cannot be determined, the AQ shall be the semifinal team that had the highest remaining seed going into the tournament).
ESPN+: This year marks the fifth of the OVC’s media rights deal with ESPN to air games on ESPN+, the multi-sport, direct-to-consumer video service from The Walt Disney Company Direct-to-Consumer & International segment. 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 $9.99 a month (or $99.99 per year) or as part of a bundle with Disney+ and ad-supported Hulu ($15.99/month). ESPN+ is an integrated part of the ESPN App (on mobile and connected devices). More information can be found at
www.OVCSports.com/ESPN.