Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
Cleveland State
EMU Wins Fifth Straight With 6-2 Victory Over CSU
4/20/2010 7:54:06 PM | Baseball
Eagles over the .500 mark for the first time since opening day
Box score.
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YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) — Strong pitching efforts from freshman starter Steve Weber (North Royalton, Ohio-North Royalton) and the Eagle bullpen led the Eastern Michigan University baseball team to a 6-2 victory over Cleveland State University Tuesday evening, April 20, at Oestrike Stadium.
Head Coach Jay Alexander's squad (19-18, 8-4 MAC) has won five games in-a-row and have a winning record for the first time since the Eagles topped No. 25 ranked Kansas in their season opener. Cleveland State falls to 8-25 with the loss.
Weber needed just 59 pitches to get through five and one-thirds innings before he gave way to a host of relievers, including the eventual winning pitcher Neil Butara (Euclid, Ohio-St. Ignatius), who threw just six pitches to earn the win and improve to 2-0 on the season.
At the plate, junior Zack Leonard (Canton, Ohio-McKinley) drove in two critical runs and crossed the plate twice in a 2-for-3 effort. Redshirt sophomore Ben Magsig (Okemos, Mich.-Okemos-Lansing C.C.) turned in a solid performance as well, going 3-for-4 with one RBI, while senior Todd Graves (St. Marys, Ohio-St. Marys Memorial) went 2-for-2 with one RBI and a pair of walks.
CSU's Brandon Cooper took the loss, moving him to 0-1 on the season.
The Eagles opened the scoring in the first inning when Leonard tallied a two run homer – his fifth of the year – to give the home team an early 2-0 lead.
Cleveland State scored a run in the third and fourth inning to knot the affair at two apiece.
Senior Andrew Marshall (Mason, Mich.-Mason) put the Green and White back in control in the bottom of the sixth inning with a sacrifice fly to right field to score Graves, making it a 3-2 game.
In the eighth, EMU added a trio of insurance runs to make the score 6-2. With Leonard and junior Matt Skirving (Midland, Mich.-H.H. Dow) looming on second and third, Graves sent a single to the outfield which was bobbled by CSU's centerfielder Alex Johnson, allowing both runners to score and putting Graves on second. Pinch running for Graves, sophomore Wally Gerbus (Fairfield, Ohio-Stephen T. Baden) entered the contest and successfully swiped third base. Magsig then hit a sharp single to right field to score him.
EMU is back at home this weekend, April 23-25, for a three-game Mid-American Conference series with the Western Michigan University Broncos.
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