Eagles Drop Regular Season Finale to Central Michigan, 4-2

Box Score.

YPSILANTI, Mich.—The Eastern Michigan University baseball team closed out the regular season Sunday afternoon, May 16, at Oestrike Stadium with a 4-2 loss to the Chippewas of Central Michigan University in a Mid-American Conference West Division match-up.

The Eagles finish the regular season with a 23-33 (13-14 MAC) record, while the Chips improve to 27-28 (12-15 MAC) with the win.

With Ball State University clinching the MAC West title yesterday against the University of Toledo and locking up the No. 2 seed in the MAC Tournament, the Eagles take the No. 7 seed and will face the Cardinals Wednesday, May 20, at 4 p.m. at V.A. Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio. The Eagles took two out of three against BSU earlier this season at Oestrike Stadium, including a 14-13 extra inning thriller in the series finale to win the series.

Sophomore Zack Leonard (Canton, Ohio-McKinley) finished 2-for-4 with one run and two RBI in the loss, as he belted his fifth home run of the season in the fourth inning.

In his final home game, senior Kyle Rhoad (Fostoria, Ohio-Elmwood) captured the single season stolen base record, recording his 32nd stolen base of the season in the bottom of the fifth to pass Brian Bixler and Greg Howe's single season mark. In his career, Rhoad has 66 stolen bases, good for third all time behind Howe (80) and Tom Hauk (85).

Nate Theunissen started off the scoring in the top of the second inning with a solo shot to put the Chippewas ahead, 1-0.

Leonard cracked a line shot over the fence in left center field in the bottom of the fourth inning for his fifth homer of the season, giving the Eagles their first lead of the game, 2-1.

But the Chips battled back, putting up one in the fifth and one in the seventh to go ahead, 3-2. CMU took a 4-2 lead in the top of the ninth, as a bases loaded hit-batsman plated one run for the Chips, giving them a two run lead.

The Eagles threatened in the bottom of the ninth, as back to back base hits by Leonard and senior Aaron Powell (Clarkston, Mich.-Clarkston) gave the Eagles momentum with no outs. But CMU's Chris Kupillas managed to retire the next three batters to seal the win for the Chips and hand EMU its first loss in the series.

2009 MAC Baseball Tournament Schedule

Wednesday, May 20
No. 4 Kent State vs. No. 5 Miami, 9 a.m.
No. 3 Ohio vs. No. 6 Toledo, 12:30 p.m.
No. 2 Ball State vs. No. 7 Eastern Michigan, 4 p.m.
No. 1 Bowling Green vs. No. 8 Central Michigan, 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, May 21
Game 2 Loser vs. Game 3 Loser, 9 a.m.
Game 1 Loser vs. Game 4 Loser, 12:30 p.m.
Game 1 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner, 4 p.m.
Game 2 Winner vs. Game 3 Winner, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, May 22
Game 6 Winner vs. Game 7 Loser, 9 a.m.
Game 5 Winner vs. Game 8 Loser, 12:30 p.m.
Game 7 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner, 4 p.m.
Game 10 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 23
MAC Championship Game, 1 p.m.

* Game 13 will be necessary if the winner of Game 9 also wins Game 11.
** Game 14 will be necessary if the winner of Game 10 also wins Game 12.
+If both bracket winners are undefeated, the championship game will be played on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

# If only one of the two early games is necessary on Saturday, the first game will be played at 12 p.m., and the Championship Game will start 45 minutes following the previous game. If both “if necessary games” are played, the first game will begin at 11:30 a.m. and the second game will start 45 minutes after the completion of the first game. The championship game will then be played 45 minutes after the completion of the second game.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

Related News

Next Event

Related Videos