Both the Eastern baseball and softball teams will be playing fall exhibitions. 

The baseball team will play Illinois State on the road Saturday while the softball team will host Wabash Valley College on Sunday afternoon. 

Both teams have some returning players that played major roles last season. Let’s look at a couple of of the top returners for each team. 

Baseball- Cameron Doherty

Cameron Doherty led the Eastern baseball team in appearances, innings pitched, ERA, strikeouts and saves. 

His 3.45 ERA ranked fourth in the OVC. He also ranked seventh in strikeouts, eighth in innings pitched and walked just 14 batters, the fewest of any pitcher in the top-10 in innings pitched. 

Doherty was named second team All-OVC for his efforts last season. 

Baseball- Logan Eickhoff

Eastern’s best hitter last season was undoubtedly Trey Sweeney. Now that Sweeney is a member of the Yankees’ organization, Eastern’s best hitter is now Logan Eickhoff. 

Despite missing time with injury last season, Eickhoff led the OVC with a .423 batting average. He led the conference in that category by 33 points. 

Softball- Morgan Lewis

Eastern outfielder Morgan Lewis batted leadoff for the Panthers, helping make them one of the top offenses in the OVC. 

Lewis led the team with a .357 batting average, ranking eighth in the conference. She also led the conference with 23 steals and was only caught stealing 3 times. 

Softball- Megan Burton

Shortstop Megan Burton had one of the best seasons in Eastern history last season. 

Burton set a new school record with 18 home runs, which ranked 9th in the nation, and was named OVC Player of the Year. Her .759 slugging percentage was the third-highest mark in a single season in program history. 

Burton now ranks third on the Eastern home run list with 25. 

She also tied for ninth in the conference with 13 stolen bases and started all 44 games on the season. 

Adam Tumino can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].