• OVC Baseball Report – March 24 (PDF)
This Week’s Schedule
Tuesday, March 25
Southern Indiana at Ball State, 2:00 p.m.
Northern Illinois
at Eastern Illinois, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Middle Tennessee
at Southeast Missouri, 4:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Bradley
at Lindenwood, 5:00 p.m.
Southern Illinois
at UT Martin, 5:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Tennessee Tech at Austin Peay, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Wednesday, March 26
ULM
at Little Rock, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Illinois State
at SIUE, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
UT Martin at Southern Illinois, 6:00 p.m.
Friday, March 28
*UT Martin at Lindenwood, 3:00 p.m.
*Eastern Illinois at Morehead State, 5:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*SIUE at Tennessee Tech, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Little Rock at Southern Indiana, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Western Illinois at Southeast Missouri, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Saturday, March 29
*UT Martin at Lindenwood, 1:00 p.m.
*Eastern Illinois at Morehead State, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*SIUE at Tennessee Tech, 2:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Western Illinois at Southeast Missouri, 2:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Little Rock at Southern Indiana, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Sunday, March 30
*Eastern Illinois at Morehead State, 12:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*UT Martin at Lindenwood, 1:00 p.m.
*SIUE at Tennessee Tech, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Little Rock at Southern Indiana, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Western Illinois at Southeast Missouri, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
OVC Players of the Week
CO-PLAYER
Nicho Jordan, OF • 5-11, 210, Sr. • Decatur, Ga. • Tennessee Tech
Jordan helped Tennessee Tech to a three-game sweep of Little Rock to open OVC play by hitting .583 (7-for-12) with eight runs scored, a double, three home runs, six RBI, four walks, a .688 on-base percentage and 1.417 slugging percentage. In a midweek game with Austin Peay, the senior was 2-for-2 with a double, home run and run scored. After a lone hit to open the series with the Trojans, Jordan was 4-for-4 with five runs scored, two home runs (including an inside-the-parker), five RBI and a stolen base on Saturday. He wrapped the weekend by drawing two walks and scoring two runs in a 9-7 victory.
CO-PLAYER
Cameron Greene, SS • 6-2, 185, Fr. • Brentwood, Tenn. • UT Martin
Greene led UT Martin to a 4-1 record last week by hitting .533 (8-for-15) with 10 runs scored, two double, two home runs, eight RBI, a .579 on-base percentage and 1.067 slugging percentage. In a midweek doubleheader with Union University, the freshman had a pair of multi-RBI games, featuring a home run and two doubles. In UTM's weekend Conference opener with preseason favorite Southeast Missouri, Greene had a big Friday, going 3-for-4 with a home run, five scored and three RBI. In the weekend finale he had two more hits and scored a run. Greene had only scored five runs through his first 10 games of the season but doubled that last week.
Others Nominated: Jake Ferguson, Eastern Illinois; Evan Funkhouser, Lindenwood; Ryan Geck, Little Rock; Chase Bloomer, SIUE; Cole Kitchens, Southern Indiana.
PITCHER
Spencer Stearns, RHP • 6-2, 205, R-So. • Edwardsville, Ill. • SIUE
Stearns allowed a single hit over a career-high eight innings in SIUE's 4-1 win over Morehead State on Saturday. The redshirt sophomore struck out a career-high 12 batters and walked only one batter while throwing 118 pitches. He retired the first six batters of the game before allowing a solo home run and after that no runner reached second base. Stearns struck out the side in the fourth inning and retired the final 11 batters he faced (including six strikeouts) before making way to the bullpen in the ninth inning. It marked his second-straight victory, after not recording a win in his first 14 career appearances (seven starts).
Others Nominated: Tyler Conklin, Eastern Illinois; Michael Walsh, Lindenwood; Juan Vargas, Tennessee Tech; Jacob Sitton, UT Martin.
Other Notable Performances
Below are other notable performances from the past week.
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Ryan Geck (UTIL, Jr.), Little Rock. Geck smashed two home runs and drove in nine runs in four games. He had a .444 (8-for-18) batting average and scored eight runs.
•
Jake Ferguson (INF, R-Jr.), Eastern Illinois. Led his team in hits (6), runs (8) and RBI (8), recording at least one hit in four of EIU's five contests. Had a .714 slugging percentage.
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Tyler Conklin (RHP, Sr.), Eastern Illinois. Picked eight innings in EIU's extra inning victory over Lindenwood. Allowed three hits and one earned run while striking out four.
•
Juan Vargas (RHP, So.), Tennessee Tech. Had two saves in as many appearances during the week. Over 3.2 innings of work, allowed just one hit and did not walk a batter while striking out seven.
•
Michael Walsh (RHP, Jr.), Lindenwood. Pitched 4.1 innings of relief, not allowing a hit in picking up the win in the final game of the EIU series. He allowed just two base runners.
•
Chase Bloomer (SS, Jr.), SIUE. Hit .412 (7-for-17) with seven runs scored, two home runs and five RBI as SIUE swept Morehead State to open Conference play.
Notes From Around the League
Highlights From Around the League: Conference play got underway with SIUE and Tennessee Tech sweeping their opponents to sit atop the League standings after the first weekend ... TTU is 3-0 for the first time since 2017, a year they won the regular season and tournament championships ... The last time SIUE began Conference play was in 2020; the sweep over Morehead State was the first for the team in Conference play since April 2023 ... Dating back to last season, Western Illinois junior Liam Bushey has reached base safely in 44 games, the longest active streak in the OVC ... Entering the week USI's Cole Kitchens and Patrick McLellan share the longest hitting streak in the OVC at 12 games ... UT Martin's 12-run victory over Southeast Missouri on Friday was its largest margin of victory in the series history; the Skyhawks scored 21 runs, the most the team has scored since 2022 ... Entering the week, Southeast Missouri ranks third nationally in walks allowed per nine innings (2.92) and is fifth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.27), UT Martin is ninth in triples/game (0.48) and Tennessee Tech is 10th in double plays (23) ... SEMO's Haden Dow is third nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio (18.50) while teammate Nathan Mertens ranks fourth (16.0); Dow is also third in walks allowed per nine innings (0.49) and sixth in WHIP (0.76) ... Morehead State's Andy Cisneros is the fifth toughest batter to strikeout nationally (20.3).
Royal Named to Stopper of the Year Watch List: Little Rock senior relief pitcher
Hunter Royal has been named to the 2025 Watch List for the 20th Annual Stopper of the Year Award as announced by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA). Royal is one of 76 players chosen by the organization; the award goes to the top relief pitcher in college baseball.
2025 OVC Baseball Championship presented by SERVPRO: For the third year in a row the OVC Baseball Championship presented by SERVPRO was held at Mtn. Dew Park in Marion, Illinois. This year's event is May 21-24. The event was also held at the venue (which was previously known as Rent One Park) in 2019. For the fourth year in a row, the bracket includes 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). 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 46th 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.
Southeast Missouri Picked as 2025 OVC Preseason Favorite: Defending tournament champion Southeast Missouri was picked as the 2025 OVC preseason baseball favorite in a vote of OVC head baseball coaches and communications directors. The Redhawks picked up 13 of 20 first-place votes and 157 points in being picked first, just ahead of Little Rock who picked up five first-place votes and 144 points. Tennessee Tech was picked third (118), Morehead State fourth with one first-place vote (107), Eastern Illinois fifth (92) and SIUE got the final first-place vote while being picked sixth (89). The poll was rounded out by UT Martin (69), Southern Indiana (57), Lindenwood (45) and Western Illinois (22).
OVC Professional Success: Former OVC baseball players have 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 2020 World Series. Since the OVC was formed in 1948, he became the first former OVC player to be on the active roster of a World Series Champion. 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 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-place team cannot be determined, the AQ shall be the semifinal team that had the highest remaining seed going into the tournament).
Division I Council Adopts New Reclassification Criteria: On January 15 the NCAA Division I Council adopted a proposal that requires schools moving into Division I to meet objective measures that focus on the student-athlete experience and support a school’s successful transition to Division I. The change reduces the reclassification period from four to three years for Division II schools and four years for Division III schools. Members currently in the reclassification process (Lindenwood and Southern Indiana) can use the new timeline IF they meet all other criteria. Progression through the process is dependent upon meeting each year’s benchmarks. If the benchmarks are met, teams would be eligible for NCAA postseason events in the 2025-26 school year.
The 2025 Season: The 2025 season marks the 77th year of competition in the OVC. Over the previous 76 years, 14 different teams have claimed an OVC baseball regular season championship.
ESPN+: The OVC has a 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 $11.99 a month (or $119.99 per year) or as part of a bundle with Disney+ and ad-supported Hulu ($16.99/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.