COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (April 21, 2026) – This week, the University of North Alabama baseball team travels to Tennessee Tech on Wednesday and Eastern Kentucky beginning Friday for another conference weekend series.
Live stats will be available for all four via StatBroadcast. The midweek game is streamed on ESPN+ while the Friday and Saturday games at EKU are streamed, as well.
North Alabama vs. Tennessee Tech
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
6 p.m.
Live Stats | ESPN+
North Alabama vs. Eastern Kentucky
Friday, April 24, 2026
5 p.m.
Live Stats | ESPN+
North Alabama vs. Eastern Kentucky
Saturday, April 25, 2026
12 p.m.
Live Stats | ESPN+
North Alabama vs. Eastern Kentucky
Sunday, April 26, 2026
12 p.m.
Live Stats
NOTES
THE RUNDOWN: The UNA baseball team fell in game three to Lipscomb on Sunday, 6-0 at Mike D. Lane Field at Bank Independent Stadium. North Alabama was limited to four hits in 30 at-bats, as left fielder Nash Rippen led the way with a pair of doubles for the afternoon game. Lipscomb threw 12 strikeouts between the likes of Collin Bosley-Smith and Jackson Lee. Bosley-Smith earned the win after five innings of work as he allowed only two hits with eight strikeouts. Lee threw four innings with four strikeouts to close for the save. Rippen reached base safely for the 36th straight game on Sunday.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES: The last time these two met, Tennessee Tech had an 8-12 record. Since then, TTU has went 5-15 during that span to have an overall record of 13-27. The Golden Eagles have just three wins away from Cookeville but have a 10-12 record at home. They most recently lost their conference home series against SEMO but took the Saturday game, 10-4. A name to know is Jorsixt Jimenez who ranks second in the OVC with a .388 batting average while also leading the conference in RBI (50) and OPS (1.305). Jiminez sits among the OVC league leaders in hits (54) and home runs (15).
SERIES HISTORY TENNESSEE TECH: This will be the 19th all-time meeting for the two dating back to 1984. North Alabama owns an 8-10 overall record vs. Tennessee Tech with a 4-4 home record. The Lions have managed two wins during the Division I era. Before this season, the pair had not competed since 2024 and had not played in Florence since 2022. Now, both are accomplished in 2026 as the Golden Eagles won the first matchup this season in Florence, 10-9. The two meet in Cookeville for the second matchup where UNA owns a 4-6 record on the road. Prior to the first matchup this year, the last five games were in Cookeville, Tenn. with both Division I wins coming during that span.
SCOUTING THE COLONELS: The last time these two met, EKU came to Florence with a 7-14 record. The Colonels now have an overall of 10-30, losing all four conference series since seeing UNA. The last two, Bellarmine and Central Arkansas, have swept Eastern Kentucky. The Colonels have hosted Central Arkansas, Austin Peay and Bellarmine at home this season. EKU defeated UCA at home, lost the series to Austin Peay and was swept by the Knights. Eastern Kentucky hosts two sluggers in the top-10 for home runs in Dylan Littlefield (11) who sits in sixth and Khaleel Pratt (10) who sits in eighth.
SERIES HISTORY EASTERN KENTUCKY: This will be the 22nd, 23rd and 24th all-time meetings between UNA and EKU — all coming during the Division I era. Last season, the Lions took both series wins over the Colonels with the final punching their ticket to the ASUN Championship Tournament for the first time in school history. The other win against EKU came in 2022 with an outstanding 10-1 score. The 2022 game saw four home runs, tied for the most in a game during the Division I era. Earlier this season, the Lions swept the first series with a walk-off from Petey Craska on Friday night, 7-5.
AROUND THE ASUN: After the series loss to Lipscomb, the Lions still have a one game lead atop the ASUN Gold Division at 11-7. This past weekend, both Austin Peay and Central Arkansas secured sweeps of Bellarmine and Eastern Kentucky, respectively. This now makes for a three-way tie between the Governors, Bisons and Bears who all sit at 10-8. Bellarmine is in fifth at 9-9 while EKU owns a 4-14 conference record. The Lions play EKU this weekend before hosting Bellarmine, traveling to Central Arkansas and then ending with Austin Peay at home for the regular season finale.
ONE AWAY: Nash Rippen hit his 11th home run of the season on Saturday against Lipscomb. This leveled the Lions up to their 55th home run of the season which now is one shy of the Division I record of 56 that was set in 2024. The Lions are eight away from tying the all-time record of 63 home runs in a single season. UNA has five guys with six or more home runs in Dylan Coleman (14), Nash Rippen (11), Will Millard (7), Wes Walker (7) and Petey Craska (6).
MIDWEEK MAYHEM: The Lions had won only one prior midweek game before traveling to Martin, Tenn. last Tuesday. The Lions took home their second midweek win in mercy rule fashion with a 21-3 score. UNA nearly broke the Division I runs scored record and it was the first time since 2013 that exactly 21 runs had been scored in a game. Dylan Coleman had a two home run game, which became his third of the season. UNA totaled 20 RBIs and 18 hits for the UT Martin game which broke the Division I team single game RBI record; the recent high was set at 16, done on two different occasions. Including runs scored, all three categories are season highs for the team in 2026.
UP NEXT: After the four road games this week, the Lions get the midweek off before hosting Bellarmine in their second to last home weekend series which begins on Friday, May 1.
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
