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Baseball Hosts Massachusetts for Three-Game Set at Allen Field

MSU Athletics

One thing is certain - the Morehead State baseball team will be in either second place in the OVC or could even be in first place after this weekend's action. That's because MSU is on its league bye weekend, and at 8-1, its conference record will stay put as the Eagles host Atlantic 10 foe Massachusetts for a three-game set at Allen Field.

Game one is set for Friday at 5 p.m. ET, with Saturday's action at 2 p.m. and Sunday's series finale at 1 p.m. All three games can be viewed live on the OVC Digital Network.

The Eagles are riding high after winning 14 of their last 15 games and 11 straight home games.

"We have guys who genuinely care for each other and care about winning games," said head coach Mike McGuire. "I think we are an unselfish team this year. We have some guys whose stats are pretty lofty, but no one really is concerned with their stats. They are just concerned with winning as a team, and right now I like the way we are playing."

The Eagle offense leads the OVC in hitting at .329 as a unit, and on the mound, the pitching staff leads the conference in most saves too. Morehead State is batting nearly .400 as a club in the 12 home games.

Massachusetts enters the weekend at 6-10 overall but they started A-10 play by winning two of three last weekend against George Washington.

"As we learn a little more about them, they'll be throwing some very good arms at us. I know they haven't played as many games as us, but that is typically of some of the teams in the northeast. With the weather, they usually have a little bit harder time getting some of their mid-week games in."

MSU will counter the Minutemen offense with its standard weekend rotation of lefthanders Aaron Leasher (Friday), Dalton Stambaugh (Saturday) and Curtis Wilson (Sunday).

Morehead State is 14-3 in the month of March, and the Eagles have averaged 9.6 runs per game in the 17 contests. The Eagles are also hitting .355 as a team in March with 78 extra-base hits (45 doubles, 30 home runs, three triples).

Morehead State is 45-11 (.803) at Allen Field in the last three seasons, and the Eagles have won 14 straight weekend series (non-conference and OVC) in the "friendly" confines of Allen Field since 2015.

With the 12-2 win over Alabama A&M Wednesday, two records were established. The first is the best 25-game start in program history at 19-6. The second was the Allen Field attendance record as 1,053 fans attended the game.

Senior outfielder Ryan Kent has the opportunity to set the Morehead State record for doubles in a career, needing just 12 to accomplish the feat. He is also on the all-time singles list (T2nd - 170), as well as total plate appearances (2nd - 870), walks (4th - 107), runs scored (T4th - 165), at-bats (6th - 717), games played (T8th - 189), sac bunts (T8th - 13) and sac flies (T9th - 7).

Senior pitcher Luke Humphreys set the Morehead State career record for games started Tuesday against Alabama A&M with his 46th. Picking up win No. 19, he is now tied for third in career wins at MSU.

Sophomore outfielder Niko Hulsizer is on a home run tear as of late, and in fact his last four hits have left the ballpark. He has six home runs in the last three games and now ranks second in Division I with 11 homers.

Luke Humphreys and Aaron Leasher now rank among the top 10 best strikeout pitchers in program history. Humphreys is in fourth place with 204 punchouts and is just one of six pitchers in program history with 200 or more strikeouts. Leasher has 188 career Ks and is in eighth place.

Junior third baseman Eli Boggess is starting to swing a hot bat. In his last nine games, Boggess is 17-for-36 (.472) with nine RBI. Fourteen of the 17 hits have been singles.

The quartet of four-year seniors, RHP Luke Humphreys, OF Ryan Kent, C Jimmy Wright and LHP Cable Wright helped the Eagles to 99 wins in the past three seasons. That's the highest win total in three seasons for one class.

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