RICHMOND, Ky. -- Coach Jim Ward's Eastern Kentucky University Colonel baseball team begins 1998 Ohio Valley Conference play this weekend with a three-game set at Middle Tennessee State University. Eastern plays MTSU in a doubleheader Saturday and closes the weekend action with a Sunday afternoon single game.

EKU comes into conference play having won three of the past four games to up the season's record to 5-7-1. Weather forced the rescheduling of the Tuesday Louisville game and has played havoc with practices outdoors for the Colonels.

"Weather has definitely been a factor in our progress as a team in every aspect of the game. It has been particularly tough on our defense and pitching work, and I think some of our early season stats show that, " said Ward.

Through 13 games, Eastern has a 6.51 team E.R.A, but has an 88-37 strikeout-walk ratio which pleases the veteran EKU coach.

"Our pitching has been inconsistent, although Joe Witten (senior reliever) has had total command of his pitches and Eric Bess (junior righthanded starter) threw an excellent game against Nebraska (a 7-4 Eastern victory), " Ward said.

Eastern has a .264 team batting average as junior rightfielder Sean Murray leads the way at .395. Sophomore first baseman Lee Chapman is next at .368, while sophomore designated hitter Matt Mason (.361) and sophomore leftfielder Brad Sizemore (.310) round out the Colonels' .300 hitters.

"There is no doubt we'll improve as a team when we get outside. Right now, we have two or three who are hot and two or three who are struggling. But I feel good one through nine about our hitters. They're more mature, have a different demeanor about going about the business of becoming a better hitter and have been real receptive about ideas we, as a staff, have had about helping them improve, " Ward said.

Fielding hurt Eastern's efforts in the Bowling Green and Detroit series, but things started coming around in the three-game set with Youngstown State over this past weekend that saw the Colonels take two out of three contests.

"Oddly enough most of our fielding problems have been throwing errors and not errors where we've missed catching the ball. I saw improvement against Youngstown State and with more and more work outside, both in practice and in games, this aspect of our game should improve, " Ward said.

Ward and his staff have set the pitching rotation for the weekend with sophomore lefthanders Keith Jones and Corey Eagle slated for Saturday's twinbill with Middle Tennessee and Bess scheduled to start Sunday against the Blue Raiders.

The MTSU games begin an 11-game spring break road trip for the Colonels which include games with Belmont, St. Louis, SIU-Edwardsville, Missouri and a three-game set with fellow OVC foe Southeast Missouri.

Eastern returns home to Turkey Hughes Field Tuesday, Mar. 24, for a 3:00 p.m. game with Belmont.

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