Live Stats I Live Audio

RICHMOND, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University baseball team opens Ohio Valley Conference play this weekend when the Colonels host Jacksonville State in a three-game set at Turkey Hughes Field.

EKU (7-13) kicks off the conference schedule having lost three straight games. The Colonels recently dropped both ends of a midweek home-and-home series with Indiana.

EKU enters the weekend seventh in the OVC in batting with a .255 team batting average. Senior Richie Rodriguez leads the way with a .338 batting average, and he is second in the conference with eight home runs and third with 22 RBI. Senior #A.J. Jamison# (.324) and junior Austin Grisham (.321) have also been above .300 for most of the season, while senior Jacob Daniel, the Colonels’ lone preseason All-OVC selection, is emerging from an early-season slump by hitting .500 with a team-leading eight RBI over EKU’s last five games. That hot streak has raised his season batting average to just under .300.

EKU currently leads the OVC in home runs (29) and stolen bases (27), and the Colonels are second only to Southeast Missouri in slugging percentage (.443) and SIUE in fielding percentage (.967).

JSU (6-14) dropped 14 of its first 16 games to open the season, but arrives at Turkey Hughes Field having won four straight games. The Gamecocks are ninth in the OVC with a .252 team batting average. Brothers Scott (.412) and Erik (.310) Underwood lead the way in batting average, while Ben Waldrip is JSU’s most prolific run producer with seven home runs and 19 RBI.

EKU will run out its normal weekend rotation, as senior right-hander Matt Harris (2-2, 8.16 ERA) will start game one, senior left-hander Greg Terry (1-2, 6.86 ERA) will start game two and junior left-hander Shane Grimm (1-4, 4.81 ERA) will go in the series finale.

EKU’s late-reliever duo of senior right-hander Matt Fyffe (3-0, 1.42 ERA) and junior right-hander Anthony Bazzani (3.00 ERA, three saves) has been sharp early in the season.

JSU will counter with right-hander Aaron Elias (0-3, 5.13 ERA) in game one and left-hander Daniel Watts (1-3, 8.28 ERA) in game two. JSU’s game three starter has yet to be determined.

The Gamecocks arrive at Turkey Hughes Field fifth in the league with a 5.99 team ERA, and their bullpen features one of the most feared closers in the conference in Todd Hornsby (4.15 ERA, three saves).

JSU leads the all-time series between the two schools, 19-7, and EKU has not won a series over JSU since the Colonels took two-of-three from the Gamecocks in 2005.

JSU won two-of-three games over EKU last year in Jacksonville. Rodriguez batted .357 in that series, while Harris went seven strong innings and allowed just one earned run in his game two start.

EKU is 6-3 in OVC opening series games since head coach Jason Stein arrived in 2009.