It is a tight battle for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference going into the last month of the 2003 baseball season.

Austin Peay is barely holding onto first place with a record of 5-2-1 followed close behind them are three teams in a tie for second place.

Eastern Kentucky, Murray State and Tennessee Tech are tied with each other at 5-3.

Tennessee Tech head coach Aaron Carroll said he does not see anyone running away with the title.

“It is going to be a dog figh. Anyone is capable of winning,” Carroll said. “The league is more balanced this year than it has been in the past.”

Eastern Kentucky head coach Elvis Dominquez said the closeness in the race shows the symmetry between the teams.

“It is just going to boil down to who is hot at the right time and who is playing good baseball,” Dominquez said.

Tennessee Martin head coach Bubba Cates said the teams at the bottom in the league are better than they have been in past years, and the top teams no longer have the distance between them and the lower teams.

“There is more parody in the league, it is not surprising to see anyone beat anybody else,” Cates said.

Morehead State head coach John Jarnagin said it is whoever who is hot right then.

Southeast Missouri State is placed fifth with a record of 4-4. Eastern is riding close behind SEMO with a record of 4-5 in sixth place.

Morehead State is ranked seventh with 3-5.

Jarnagin said if his seventh place team plays well, they will have a chance.

“We are always in this position fighting to get in,” Jarnagin said.

Tennessee Martin is ranked in the last spot with a record of 1-5-1.

Cates is still optimistic about his eighth place team ending the season well.

He is optimistic because his team was able to tie one out of the two games they played against first place Austin Peay.

“Our guys lined up and played well all day long,” Cates said. “That weekend they started looking at each other saying that team is not any different than we are and that is a conference booster for our guys.”