By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Fill the Quill. That's the headline for the Tennessee Tech baseball team as it heads into its most important series of the season this weekend, hosting Ohio Valley Conference foe Belmont in a three-game set to decide the regular season champion.
It's pretty cut-and-dried for the Golden Eagles; win two and they clinch both their eighth regular season title and the Number 1 seed in the OVC Tournament in Jackson, Tenn., next week.
The Golden Eagles currently hold a one-game lead over the visiting Bruins (and two over Jacksonville State) and will look to continue their stellar play at Quillen Field, owning a 24-5 record at home this season.
The match-up pits the league's top offense against the OVC's top pitching staff as the Golden Eagles lead nearly every offensive statistical category while the Bruins are the top dog for nearly every pitching statistic.
The Golden Eagles own 37 wins on the year, second most in program history and just two short of the record set by David Mays' 1997 team. Tech's 22 OVC wins are the second most in league history, trailing only Jacksonville State's 23 in 2008.
Game one will take place at Bush Stadium at the Averitt Express baseball complex on Thursday at 6 p.m. CDT. Game two, which also features a 6 p.m. first pitch, will take place on Friday. The series finale will be held on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Each contest will feature FREE ADMISSION as fans are encouraged to come out and cheer the Golden Eagles on to a conference title. For those fans that can't make it the games, all three contests will be streamed online on the OVC Digital Network found here. Fans can also follow the lives stats for each contest here.
SCOUTING THE BELMONT BRUINS
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LAST FIVE GAMES FOR |
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| Date | H/A/N | Opponent | Result | Score |
| May 8 | Away | No. 21 Mercer | W/10 | 6-4 |
| May 10 | Home | Murray State* | W | 7-2 |
| May 11 | Home | Murray State* | W | 5-4 |
| May 12 | Home | Murray State* | W | 12-1 |
| May 14 | Away | No. 1 Vanderbilt | L | 6-1 |
A look at the top seven offensive weapons for the Bruins:
| Player | Avg. | Runs | Hits | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SLG% | OB% | SB-SA |
| Alec Diamond | .321 | 16 | 42 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 21 | .344 |
.422 |
5-7 |
| Drew Turner | .317 | 38 | 64 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 28 | .441 |
.388 |
12-17 |
| Jared Breen | .299 | 32 | 55 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 33 | .451 |
.399 |
9-10 |
| Josh Davis | .295 | 26 | 38 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 22 | .380 |
.408 |
8-10 |
| Judah Akers | .286 | 36 | 55 | 10 | 1 | 10 | 41 | .505 |
.387 |
2-5 |
| Drew Ferguson | .282 | 40 | 53 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 24 | .404 |
.439 |
13-15 |
| Scott Moses | .265 | 22 | 40 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 21 | .338 |
.339 |
8-8 |
A look at this weekend's likely starters for Belmont:
| Day | Player | ERA | W-L | G-GS | IP | Hits | Runs | ER | BB | SO | Avg. |
| THU | Chase Brookshire | 1.12 | 4-1 | 9-9 | 56.0 | 34 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 61 | .179 |
| FRI | Dan Ludwig | 2.55 | 11-1 | 18-12 | 88.1 | 85 | 30 | 25 | 21 | 69 | .262 |
| SAT | James Buckelew |
5.51 |
5-4 |
14-13 |
67.0 |
71 |
46 |
41 |
40 |
40 |
.272 |
CATCHING UP WITH TECH
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LAST FIVE GAMES FOR |
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| Date | H/A/N | Opponent | Result | Score |
| May 4 | Away | Western Carolina | L | 6-1 |
| May 10 | Away | Southeast Missouri* | W | 16-1 |
| May 11 | Away | Southeast Missouri* | W | 11-6 |
| May 12 | Away | Southeast Missouri* | W | 5-1 |
| May 14 | Home | Lipscomb | W | 10-9 |
A look at the top seven offensive weapons for the Golden Eagles:
| Player | Avg. | Runs | Hits | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SLG% | OB% | SB-SA |
| James Abraham | .350 | 37 | 63 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 26 | .417 | .440 | 14-16 |
| Daniel Miles | .347 | 36 | 61 | 11 | 3 | 10 | 44 | .614 | .420 | 2-2 |
| Zach Stephens | .333 | 51 | 67 | 15 | 1 | 13 | 63 | .612 | .441 | 0-0 |
| Dylan Bosheers | .325 | 34 | 63 | 17 | 2 | 5 | 39 | .510 | .390 | 6-6 |
| Zach Zarzour | .308 | 51 | 60 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 24 | .400 | .410 | 13-17 |
| Austin Wulf | .300 | 46 | 62 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 31 | .401 | .399 | 9-11 |
| Brandon Thomasson | .292 | 49 | 62 | 18 | 3 | 12 | 51 | .575 | .376 | 0-0 |
A look at this weekend's likely starter for Tennessee Tech:
| Day | Player | ERA | W-L | G-GS | IP | Hits | Runs | ER | BB | SO | Avg. |
| THU | Tristan Archer | 3.43 | 8-4 | 13-13 | 84.0 | 85 | 39 | 32 | 19 | 85 | .262 |
| FRI | Ross Spurgeon | 4.70 | 2-3 | 16-7 | 46.0 | 50 | 30 | 24 | 15 | 36 | .282 |
| SAT | Jacob Honea | 5.24 | 3-1 | 13-12 | 56.2 | 64 | 38 | 33 | 27 | 55 | .286 |