COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- The Golden Eagle softball team hosts Southeast Missouri this weekend in a crucial three-game Ohio Valley Conference series. Admission is free, with a doubleheader Saturday and single game slated for Sunday. Action begins at 1 p.m. each day.

Tech enters the weekend coming off of a big win at Jacksonville State on Thursday that helped the Golden Eagles gain ground in the OVC standings. SEMO is just behind Tech in the standings, as the Redhawks fell at home to UT-Martin on Thursday. 

SEMO is led by Cheyenne Gipson, who enters the series batting .366 with 15 stolen bases. Three other Redhawk batters have double-digit RBI and SEMO bats .263 as a team. They have scored six or more runs in nine games this season and are 9-0 when doing so. The Redhawks have thrown just one shutout this year (Indiana State, 3/14) and have been the victims of two. In the circle, SEMO relies on sophomore Alora Marble (6-8), who has an ERA of 3.21 with 48 strikeouts in 98 innings pitched.

The Golden Eagles will lean on the arm of senior Holly Thomas, who has won her last three decisions. She enters the weekend in the top five in the OVC in seven pitching categories including ERA (2nd, 2.29), Opponent batting average (1st, .197), Wins (4th, 8) and strikeouts (5th, 87). Holly has allowed just eight hits over the course of her last three games, pitching 21 innings in that span.

Tech will go on the road for a single game Tuesday at Eastern Kentucky before returning home for a weekend series against Murray State.