• OVC Baseball Report – March 23 (PDF)
This Week’s Schedule
Tuesday, March 24
Bradley
at Western Illinois, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
SIUE at Saint Louis, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Northern Illinois
at Eastern Illinois, 4:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Morehead State at Eastern Kentucky, 5:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Ball State
at Southern Indiana, 5:00 p.m.
Southern Illinois
at UT Martin, 5:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Arkansas-Pine Bluff
at Little Rock, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Tennessee Tech at Vanderbilt, 6:00 p.m. (SEC Network+)
Wednesday, March 25
Missouri
at Lindenwood, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Friday, March 27
*Southeast Missouri at Western Illinois, 2:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Morehead State at Eastern Illinois, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Lindenwood at UT Martin, 5:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Southern Indiana at Little Rock, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Tennessee Tech at SIUE, 6:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Saturday, March 28
*Southeast Missouri at Western Illinois, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Morehead State at Eastern Illinois, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Tennessee Tech at SIUE, 2:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Lindenwood at UT Martin, 3:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Southern Indiana at Little Rock, 4:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
Sunday, March 29
*Southeast Missouri at Western Illinois, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Morehead State at Eastern Illinois, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Lindenwood at UT Martin, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Southern Indiana at Little Rock, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
*Tennessee Tech at SIUE, 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+)
OVC Players of the Week
CO-PLAYER
Terrick Thompson-Allen, OF • 6-3, 180 Grad. • Sioux City, Iowa • SIUE
Thompson-Allen had a monster week in hitting .650 (13-for-20) with nine runs scored, two doubles, a triple, four home runs, 11 RBI, a .682 on-base percentage and 1.450 slugging percentage. He capped his week by hitting for cycle at Morehead State, going 5-for-6 with five RBI, becoming the first SIUE player to achieve the milestone since 2010. He opened the MSU series by going 4-for-6 with two home runs and five RBI and then added another home run in the middle game. To open the week Thompson-Allen was 3-for-4 with a double against Illinois State. During the week he raised his season batting average from .205 to .301.
CO-PLAYER
Dakota Joggerst, INF • 6-2, 190, Jr. • Eureka, Mo. • Southeast Missouri
Joggerst had 11 hits in 17 at-bats (.647 batting average) during a week in which Southeast Missouri went 4-0 to increase its winning streak to 13 games, the second longest streak in the nation. In the four games he scored three runs, had two doubles, six RBI, a .667 on-base percentage and .765 slugging percentage. He had multiple hits in all four games, including going 5-for-5 with two doubles and three RBI in the middle game of the UT Martin series. During the week he raised his batting average from .298 to .391, which ranks third in the OVC.
Others Nominated: Chris Worcester, Eastern Illinois; Charlie Isom-McCall, Lindenwood; Nolan Freund, Little Rock; Parker Martin, Southern Indiana; Jorsixt Jimenez, Tennessee Tech.
PITCHER
Ean DiPasquale, RHP • 6-2, 215, Jr. • Belleville, Ill. • Southern Indiana
DiPasquale pitched a seven-inning complete game shutout in Sunday's 12-0 victory over Western Illinois. The junior scattered four hits and struck out three while allowing only one runner past second base for the game. It marked the second-straight game for the junior of seven-plus innings.
Others Nominated: Tyler Conklin, Eastern Illinois; Tag Andrew, Little Rock; John-Paul Sauer, Southeast Missouri; Spencer Stearns, SIUE; TJ Dunsford, UT Martin; Max Tripure, Western Illinois.
Other Notable Performances
Below are other notable performances from the past week.
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Jorsixt Jimenez (OF, Sr.), Tennessee Tech. Hit .375 (6-16) with six runs, four home runs and eight RBI in four games.
•
Nolan Freund (INF, Jr.), Little Rock. In five games, hit .500 (8-16) with seven runs scored, three home runs and seven RBI.
•
Chris Worcester (INF, Grad.), Eastern Illinois. Drove in six runs, scored four runs and had five doubles as Eastern Illinois swept Lindenwood to begin OVC play.
•
Charlie Isom-McCall (INF, So.), Lindenwood. In a three-game series versus EIU, hit .583 (7-12) with four runs scored and three doubles.
•
Tyler Conklin (RHP, Grad.), Eastern Illinois. Picked up a victory at Lindenwood, scattering four hits and allowing one unearned run over seven innings.
•
John Paul-Sauer (RHP, So.), Southeast Missouri. Won two games during the week, pitching 8.0 innings and allowing five hits and two runs while striking out nine.
•
Spencer Stearns (RHP, R-Jr.), SIUE. Pitching in a park that saw 91 combined runs scored over the weekend, Stearns went seven innings, allowing five hits and two runs in helping SIUE to a win in game two and eventually sweep of MSU.
•
Max Tripure (RHP, Sr.), Western Illinois. Pitched seven innings at USI, allowing six hits and two runs in picking up a no-decision.
Notes From Around the League
Highlights From Around the League: Conference play got underway this past weekend with four teams (Eastern Illinois, Little Rock, Southeast Missouri and SIUE) recording sweeps ... Southern Indiana is a game back after a 2-1 weekend ... SEMO enters this week with a 13-game winning streak, the second-longest in the country behind only UCLA (15); it is longest streak for the Redhawks under head coach Andy Sawyers and longest for the program since the 2003 season (also a 13-game streak) ... Southern Indiana is now 10-1 at home this season ... After playing its first 21 games of the season away from home, Eastern Illinois will open up its home schedule this week with a non-conference game and a weekend OVC series; the Panther have won seven games in a row and eight of its last 10 overall ... SIUE hit a school-record nine home runs in Friday's win at Morehead State and had 19 home runs in the three-game series; SIUE has 50 home runs on the season, a mark that ranks third nationally ... It marked the first SIUE sweep at MSU since 2009 (the first-ever series between the two teams) ... EIU ranks third nationally in triples (11) ... UTM's TJ Grines is first nationally in stolen bases (24).
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.
Six on National Pitcher of the Year Watch List: Six OVC players are among 141 players named to the College Baseball Foundations National Pitcher of the Year Watch List. The selections included three hurlers from Little Rock -
Zach Busick,
Brigden Parker and
Brannon Westmoreland, Lindenwood's
Seth Benes and
Josh Newell and Eastern Illinois'
Bryce Riggs.
Five on Brooks Wallace Player of the Year Award Watch List: Five OVC shortstops are among the players on the initial Brooks Wallace Award Watch List released by the College Baseball Foundation. The award honors the nation's top shortstop and will be presented by the College Baseball Foundation later this year. The picks were SIUE's
Chase Bloomer, Southeast Missouri's
Brooks Kettering, Little Rock's
Jerdy Lopez, Tennessee Tech's
Owen Lee and Southern Indiana's
Clayton Slack.
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.