Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
South Alabama
Eagles Fall, 11-5, to South Alabama
2/26/2010 11:35:26 PM | Baseball
EMU drops game one of the Coca-Cola Classic in Mobile, Ala.
Box score
MOBILE, Ala. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University baseball team dropped its opening game of the Coca-Cola Classic Friday night, Feb. 26, at Stanky Field in Mobile, Ala., as the Eagles fell, 11-5, to the University of South Alabama Jaguars.
EMU drops to 1-2 overall with the loss, while USA improves to 3-2 with the victory.
True freshman Daniel Russell (Grandville, Mich.-Grandville) led the Eagles at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a stolen base in the loss, while redshirt sophomore transfer Ben Magsig (Okemos, Mich.-Okemos-Lansing C.C.), senior Andrew Marshall (Mason, Mich.-Mason), junior Ken Battiston (West Milton, Ohio-Milton Union) and sophomore Brent Ohrman (Adrian, Mich.-Adrian) each tallied two hits for EMU.
Senior Todd Graves (St. Marys, Ohio-St. Marys Memorial) went 1-for-4 with a walk and two RBI in the loss, extending his hitting streak to seven games dating back to last season.
Senior Kevin Sikora (Youngstown, Ohio-Boardman) took the loss for the Eagles, as he yielded four runs on four hits over five innings in the loss. South Alabama's D.D. Hanks went six innings and struck out eight to pick up the win.
After the Jaguars scored one in the bottom of the first, the Eagles made it a tie game in the top of the second, as an Ohrman single plated Battiston to knot the game at 1-1.
But South Alabama answered with three runs in the third inning to go ahead, 4-1, as a three-run homer by Sean Laird gave the Jags back the lead.
The Eagles would tally one run in the fifth and eight to claw back, but a four-run bottom of the eighth by South Alabama was too much to overcome, as four hits by the Jaguars and two EMU errors proved to be the difference down the stretch.
EMU stranded 14 runners on base in the loss, while the pitching staff combined for nine walks.
The Eagles resume day two of the tournament tomorrow when they play the Wichita State University Shockers at 4:30 p.m. Sophomore Jordan Glover (Toronto, Ontario-Ontario Schools) will start on the mound for EMU, while Jordan Cooper will get the nod for the Shockers, who won their first game of the tournament, 14-4, over the University of North Florida.
