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St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Monday, May 11, 2009 11:04 AM CDT
Rained out Panthers clinch OVC baseball title

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — While having its entire three-game series at Austin Peay canceled by inclement weather, Eastern Illinois clinched the Ohio Valley Conference baseball regular-season championship Sunday.

The Panthers, 34-10 overall, are currently 12-3 in the OVC. Entering the past weekend, only Southeast Missouri, Murray State and Jacksonville State had a chance to catch EIU in the standings, which are based strictly on winning percentage. SEMO lost two-of-three at Eastern Kentucky, Murray won two-of-three at UT Martin and Jacksonville State was swept at Tennessee Tech.

Therefore, even if the Panthers were to lose each of their three remaining conference games SEMO, Murray or Jacksonville State would not be able to post a better winning percentage of .667 in OVC play.

SEMO is currently 12-8 with a best-case scenario of being 15-8 (.652). Murray is currently 11-7-1 with a best-case scenario of being 14-7-1 (.659). Jacksonville State is currently 10-10 with a best-case scenario of being 13-10 (.565).

The OVC regular-season title is EIU’s fourth and first since 2001. Eastern also won the league in 1998 and 1999.

Both Saturday and Sunday’s scheduled games at Austin Peay this weekend were canceled because of field conditions.

Heavy rains Friday — over six inches total — left a large pond of water on the field at Raymond C. Hand Park. Austin Peay maintenance was unable to remove the water before Sunday’s games had to be canceled.

“We wanted to play so we’re really disappointed,” EIU coach Jim Schmitz said. “We played well last weekend at SEMO and then had finals this week. Now we didn’t get a chance to play and lost three games to the weather. We’re going to try to add some games this week, so we get more games under our belt as we move on.”

Eastern has had a league-high six OVC games canceled this season — two at home and four on the road. The Panthers are scheduled to play a non-conference game Tuesday at Butler.

The regular season is to conclude with a three-game set against Eastern Kentucky at Coaches Stadium, a 1 p.m. Friday doubleheader and 1 p.m. Saturday single game.

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