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RICHMOND, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University baseball team will hit the road again this weekend to play UT Martin in a crucial three-game series at Skyhawk Field. The Colonels (19-18, 6-6 OVC) were swept at Morehead State last weekend but still sit in fifth place in the OVC. The top six teams in the league advance to the conference tournament at the end of the regular season.

UT Martin enters this weekend in seventh place with a record of 18-18 (3-6 OVC); however, the Skyhawks took two of three from first-place SEMO last weekend at home.

EKU’s rotation for this weekend will be junior right-hander Stephen Hefler (3-3, 7.09 ERA in 47.0 innings of work), junior left-hander Paul Duncan (3-2, 7.33 ERA in 27.0 innings of work) and sophomore left-hander Greg Terry (2-2, 5.53 ERA in 40.2 innings of work).

UT Martin will counter with right-hander Alex Boshers (2-4, 7.18 ERA in 31.1 innings of work) and right-hander Coty Green (6-2, 6.75 ERA in 57.1 innings of work). The Skyhawks’ third starter is still up in the air.

The Colonels have scored double-digit runs in five of their last seven outings and are hitting .317 as a team now because of it. They enter this weekend fourth in the OVC in hitting.

Junior All-American Jayson Langfels continues to lead the Colonels in most offensive categories. The third baseman from Lexington enters this weekend with a team-best .403 batting average, 12 home runs, 12 doubles and 49 runs scored. He is slugging .792 on the season.

From the lead-off spot in the lineup, sophomore Richie Rodriguez is batting .374 on the year with a team-best 11 stolen bases. Senior Anthony Ottrando, meanwhile, is fourth in the OVC with 52 RBI while junior Ryan Faidley has blasted 10 home runs this season after blasting exactly zero in his first two seasons as a Colonel.

UT Martin is batting .301 as a squad. The Skyhawks are led by Ty Nelson’s .420 batting average and the run production of Wes Patterson, who has hit a team-best 10 home runs and driven in a team-best 41.

The Colonels have taken two of three from the Skyhawks the past two seasons. EKU leads the all-time series between the two schools, 33-9.

Following this series, EKU returns to OVC action next weekend, May 1-2, when the Colonels host defending OVC Tournament champion Tennessee Tech in a three-game series at Turkey Hughes Field.