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RICHMOND, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University baseball team will host Tennessee Tech in a three-game series at Turkey Hughes Field this weekend. Both teams are in a virtual tie with Murray State for third place in the league standings. First pitch on Saturday has been pushed up to 11:00 a.m.

Sunday’s game is still scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m.

EKU (21-19, 8-7 OVC) dropped game one at UT Martin last weekend but then swept the Skyhawks in a Sunday doubleheader to stay above .500 in league play.

The Golden Eagles (20-21, 6-5 OVC), who won the OVC Tournament last year, swept a two-game set from Morehead State last weekend and have now won six straight conference games.

The Colonels will shake up their rotation this weekend as junior left-hander Paul Duncan (4-2, 6.62 ERA in 34 innings) will start game one, sophomore left-hander Greg Terry (3-2, 5.64 ERA in 44.2 innings) will start game two and junior right-hander Stephen Hefler (3-3, 7.71 ERA in 49 innings) will go in game three.

The Golden Eagles will counter with southpaw Adam Liberatore (4-4, 5.85 ERA in 47.2 innings) in game one, right-hander Lee Henry (3-3, 2.76 ERA in 49 innings) in game two and right-hander Tristan Archer (2-1, 6.92 ERA in 40.1 innings) in game three.

The Colonels enter this weekend fifth in the OVC with a .316 team batting average. Junior third baseman Jayson Langfels leads EKU and is seventh in the conference with a .409 batting average. He is also third in the league with 55 runs scored and sixth with 14 home runs. The Lexington, Ky. native recently became the OVC record-holder for career triples with 18.

Senior Anthony Ottrando has come on strong lately after batting above .500 last week, smashing four doubles and driving in eight. The clean-up hitter from Ocala, Fla. is now 10th in the league with a .374 batting average and third in the league with 58 RBI. He is slugging an impressive .735 on the season.

Sophomore Richie Rodriguez and junior Ryan Faidley have also delivered stellar seasons for the Colonels so far. Rodriguez is batting .368 on the year with a team-best 13 stolen bases. He is also the fifth toughest batter in the league to strike out with only 0.33 strikeouts per game. Faidley, meanwhile, is hitting .358 with 10 home runs after hitting exactly zero home runs in his first two seasons as a Colonel.

TTU is third in the conference with a .322 batting average. Chad Oberacker leads the Golden Eagles and is third in the OVC with a .437 batting average. A.J. Kirby-Jones leads the OVC with 19 home runs.

EKU will be seeking redemption after the Golden Eagles swept the Colonels in a three-game series in Cookeville last year. TTU has taken seven of nine from the Colonels over the last three years.