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RICHMOND, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University baseball team welcomes Ohio Valley Conference rival Murray State to town this weekend for a pivotal three-game series at Turkey Hughes Field. A doubleheader on Saturday will begin at 1:00 p.m. EST, while a single game on Sunday will also begin at 1:00 p.m. EST.

Both teams enter the weekend fighting for a spot in the OVC Tournament, to be held May 25-28 in Jackson, Tenn. MSU (16-26, 6-7 OVC) is currently in seventh place in the conference, while EKU (16-29, 7-11 OVC) is 1.5 games behind the Thoroughbreds in eighth place. The top six teams in the league advance to the tournament.

EKU has won two straight games, defeating Tennessee Tech, 7-3, in the finale of last weekend’s OVC series and then edging in-state rival Western Kentucky, 5-4, in an 11-inning thriller on Wednesday. Freshman Bryan Soloman continues to hit the ball at an incendiary rate for EKU. The reigning OVC Co-Player of the Week is batting .438 (35-for-80) with seven home runs and 27 RBI over the Colonels’ last 20 games.

This weekend’s series also features a matchup of two of the top shortstops in the conference. EKU Junior Richie Rodriguez leads the Colonels with a .375 batting average, 34 runs scored and 16 stolen bases, and he is tops in the OVC with 66 hits. MSU’s Brandon Elliott, meanwhile, leads the OVC with a .406 batting average, and he is tops on his team with 35 runs scored.

EKU will alter its pitching rotation this weekend as senior ace Stephen Hefler (5-4, 3.76 ERA), who usually starts game three for the Colonels, will start game one on Saturday. Starters for game two and three, meanwhile, have yet to be determined.

MSU dropped two of three to conference foe Southeast Missouri last weekend and split a two-game game series with Belmont over the week. The Breds, who come to Richmond batting .309 as a team, are paced offensively by Elliott and Zach Noonan, who leads the team with four home runs and 32 RBI.

MSU will send right-hander Tyler Beers (3-6, 5.95 ERA) to the mound in game one and southpaw Jake Donze (6-3, 4.26 ERA) to the mound in game two. The Breds’ game three pitcher has yet to be determined.

The all-time series between EKU and MSU has been incredibly balanced, with EKU holding a narrow 51-50 edge. The Colonels were swept in Murray last year, but defeated the Breds in the first game of 2010 OVC Tournament before being eliminated by them one day later.