Eastern Michigan Athletics
Friday, April 1
Bowling Green, Ohio
3 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
at
Bowling Green
Head Coach Jay Alexander
Photo by: EMU Athletics/Randy Mascharka
Eagles Head to Bowling Green for MAC Cross-Division Series
3/31/2011 5:32:48 PM | Baseball
The EMU baseball team will take on the Falcons in their first MAC road series of the 2011 campaign.
Game Notes (.pdf)
Live Stats
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University baseball team is looking to build on its season opening MAC series sweep over Buffalo last weekend as they head to Bowling Green, Ohio for the team's MAC road opener against the Falcons April 1-3. Friday's tilt is slated for 3 p.m. with Saturday and Sunday start times each set for 1 p.m.
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THE SERIES: EMU and BGSU will meet for the 154th time in the all-time series, which the Eagles hold an 87-66 advantage. The Eagles took two-out-of-three at home last season and have won nine of the last 11 meetings overall dating back to 2006.
WEEK IN REVIEW: After recording a sweep of Buffalo in the Mid-American Conference home opening series last weekend, the Eagles then split a pair of non-conference mid-week home tilts by falling to Cleveland State, 2-1, in extra-innings on Tuesday before defeating Michigan, 8-2, on Wednesday.
Against Cleveland State, a costly EMU miscue in the top of the 10th inning allowed the Vikings to push across the go-ahead run, eventually winning it for the visitors as Brandon Cooper struck out Brent Ohrman and Daniel Russell with the tying run at second base in the bottom of the 10th to close out the game. The Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the third inning after a Ken Battiston sacrifice fly gave EMU the advantage. CSU tied it with an RBI single in the fifth. EMU's Ben Magsig went 2-for-3 for the Eagles with a run scored. Jordan Glover started and gave up just a run on five hits and struck out six in six innings pitched.
EMU rebounded the following day with a win over Michigan at Oestrike Stadium. The win avenged a loss to the Wolverines from earlier this season. Trailing 2-0, the Eagles scored three times in the fourth to take the lead and then added to it with a run in the fifth and two runs in each the sixth and eighth innings to blow the game open. Right-hander Brian Valente turned in his best outing of the season as he went five innings and allowed a pair of unearned runs on his way to a 2-0 record to start the year. Senior Robert Wendzicki went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored on the day.
ON THE HORIZON: The Eagles will travel to East Lansing to take on Michigan State in a 3 p.m. start Wednesday, April 6, before heading to Kent State for a three-game MAC cross-divisional series April 8-10, in Kent, Ohio.
SCOUTING THE FALCONS: Bowling Green State University will comes into the weekend with an 8-11 overall record and a 2-1 Mid-American Conference ledger after taking two-of-three from Northern Illinois last weekend.
The Falcons sport a .266 team batting average with a .349 slugging and a .366 on-base percentage through 19 games this season. Infielder Jon Berti has started all 16 games he has played in this year, recording a .397 batting average with three triples, a homerun, seven RBI and a team-high 25 hits. Brandon Howard has posted a .417 avearge in just 36 at-bats while Clay Duncan is registering a .306-clip with two doubles, a homerun and 11 RBI.
As a pitching staff, the Falcons have a 4.48 ERA and have held opponents to a .285 batting average. Frontline starters Cody Apthorpe and Nick Bruns have paced the Falcon staff. Apthorpe has a 4.44 ERA and a 2-2 record while Bruns is 1-1 with a 4.55 ERA and the team's only complete game shutout this season. The top reliever for BGSU is Ross Gerdeman, who boasts a 2-1 record with a 2.08 ERA in nine appearances spanning 21.2 innings.
PITCHING PROBABLES: The Eagles will stick with the same rotation they went with in a series sweep against Buffalo last weekend. Senior left-hander Robert Wendzicki will take the hill in game one, senior RHP Corey Chaffins in game, and sophomore righty Steve Weber in game three. Wendzicki and Chaffins each picked up wins in the team's last MAC series while defensive miscues forced Weber's pitch count to run high and his start to run short.
The Falcons will send Cody Apthorpe and Nick Bruns in game's one and two, respectively. Each picked up victories in the team's first series at Northern Illinois. Right-hander Charles Wooten will pitch in game three.
BEST START IN 23 YEARS: Eastern Michigan is off to its best start in 23 years after going 16-9 through its first 25 games this season. The last time the Eagles started better was in 1988 when the then-Hurons went 18-6-1 on the way to a 35-22-1 overall record and a MAC runner-up finish. The Eagles are 15-5 in their last 20 contests.
RUSSELL CLAIMS ANOTHER WEEKLY HONOR: Daniel Russell earned his second Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week award for the week ending March 27, after leading the Eagles to a 4-1 record and a sweep of Buffalo in the team's first MAC series of the season. Russell hit .368 (7-for-19) and drove in 10 runs last week. He recorded three multi-RBI games and had at least one in each of the team's five games.
LONG BALL ON HIATUS: The Eastern bats haven't produced a homerun since Kyle Peterson blasted his fourth of the season in the first inning of game one of a doubleheader against West Virginia back on March 22. Since then, 226 at-bats have gone by without a homerun, but relief is on the way as the “Homer-happy” confines of Steller Field await the Eagles for a three-game set at Bowling Green this weekend.
VALUABLE VALENTE: Sophomore right-hander Brian Valente turned in one of the more impressive performances of his career in a win over Michigan Wednesday, March 30. The Macomb, Mich. native allowed just two unearned runs on five hits over five innings pitched on the way to a victory. He is now 2-0 for the Eagles.
AVENGE TWO-FOLD: The Eagles more than doubled their hit total in avenging a previous loss to the Wolverines from earlier this season. After tallying just two runs and five hits in a 5-2 loss to Michigan back on March 20, EMU pounded out 13 hits which led to an 8-2 victory over the Wolverines March 30. It also snapped a two-game losing streak to their Washtenaw County rival.
SUICIDE SQUEEZE: In the past week, the Eagle offense has twice performed the suicide squeeze attempt and succeeded each time. Last Saturday, Tucker Rubino brought in Daniel Russell to score from third with a squeeze in a 5-1 win over Buffalo. And on Tuesday, Matt Hitt performed the task and did one better as he beat out the bunt attempt for a base hit while, in the process, allowing Rubino to score from third.
Live Stats
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University baseball team is looking to build on its season opening MAC series sweep over Buffalo last weekend as they head to Bowling Green, Ohio for the team's MAC road opener against the Falcons April 1-3. Friday's tilt is slated for 3 p.m. with Saturday and Sunday start times each set for 1 p.m.
--
THE SERIES: EMU and BGSU will meet for the 154th time in the all-time series, which the Eagles hold an 87-66 advantage. The Eagles took two-out-of-three at home last season and have won nine of the last 11 meetings overall dating back to 2006.
WEEK IN REVIEW: After recording a sweep of Buffalo in the Mid-American Conference home opening series last weekend, the Eagles then split a pair of non-conference mid-week home tilts by falling to Cleveland State, 2-1, in extra-innings on Tuesday before defeating Michigan, 8-2, on Wednesday.
Against Cleveland State, a costly EMU miscue in the top of the 10th inning allowed the Vikings to push across the go-ahead run, eventually winning it for the visitors as Brandon Cooper struck out Brent Ohrman and Daniel Russell with the tying run at second base in the bottom of the 10th to close out the game. The Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the third inning after a Ken Battiston sacrifice fly gave EMU the advantage. CSU tied it with an RBI single in the fifth. EMU's Ben Magsig went 2-for-3 for the Eagles with a run scored. Jordan Glover started and gave up just a run on five hits and struck out six in six innings pitched.
EMU rebounded the following day with a win over Michigan at Oestrike Stadium. The win avenged a loss to the Wolverines from earlier this season. Trailing 2-0, the Eagles scored three times in the fourth to take the lead and then added to it with a run in the fifth and two runs in each the sixth and eighth innings to blow the game open. Right-hander Brian Valente turned in his best outing of the season as he went five innings and allowed a pair of unearned runs on his way to a 2-0 record to start the year. Senior Robert Wendzicki went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored on the day.
ON THE HORIZON: The Eagles will travel to East Lansing to take on Michigan State in a 3 p.m. start Wednesday, April 6, before heading to Kent State for a three-game MAC cross-divisional series April 8-10, in Kent, Ohio.
SCOUTING THE FALCONS: Bowling Green State University will comes into the weekend with an 8-11 overall record and a 2-1 Mid-American Conference ledger after taking two-of-three from Northern Illinois last weekend.
The Falcons sport a .266 team batting average with a .349 slugging and a .366 on-base percentage through 19 games this season. Infielder Jon Berti has started all 16 games he has played in this year, recording a .397 batting average with three triples, a homerun, seven RBI and a team-high 25 hits. Brandon Howard has posted a .417 avearge in just 36 at-bats while Clay Duncan is registering a .306-clip with two doubles, a homerun and 11 RBI.
As a pitching staff, the Falcons have a 4.48 ERA and have held opponents to a .285 batting average. Frontline starters Cody Apthorpe and Nick Bruns have paced the Falcon staff. Apthorpe has a 4.44 ERA and a 2-2 record while Bruns is 1-1 with a 4.55 ERA and the team's only complete game shutout this season. The top reliever for BGSU is Ross Gerdeman, who boasts a 2-1 record with a 2.08 ERA in nine appearances spanning 21.2 innings.
PITCHING PROBABLES: The Eagles will stick with the same rotation they went with in a series sweep against Buffalo last weekend. Senior left-hander Robert Wendzicki will take the hill in game one, senior RHP Corey Chaffins in game, and sophomore righty Steve Weber in game three. Wendzicki and Chaffins each picked up wins in the team's last MAC series while defensive miscues forced Weber's pitch count to run high and his start to run short.
The Falcons will send Cody Apthorpe and Nick Bruns in game's one and two, respectively. Each picked up victories in the team's first series at Northern Illinois. Right-hander Charles Wooten will pitch in game three.
BEST START IN 23 YEARS: Eastern Michigan is off to its best start in 23 years after going 16-9 through its first 25 games this season. The last time the Eagles started better was in 1988 when the then-Hurons went 18-6-1 on the way to a 35-22-1 overall record and a MAC runner-up finish. The Eagles are 15-5 in their last 20 contests.
RUSSELL CLAIMS ANOTHER WEEKLY HONOR: Daniel Russell earned his second Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week award for the week ending March 27, after leading the Eagles to a 4-1 record and a sweep of Buffalo in the team's first MAC series of the season. Russell hit .368 (7-for-19) and drove in 10 runs last week. He recorded three multi-RBI games and had at least one in each of the team's five games.
LONG BALL ON HIATUS: The Eastern bats haven't produced a homerun since Kyle Peterson blasted his fourth of the season in the first inning of game one of a doubleheader against West Virginia back on March 22. Since then, 226 at-bats have gone by without a homerun, but relief is on the way as the “Homer-happy” confines of Steller Field await the Eagles for a three-game set at Bowling Green this weekend.
VALUABLE VALENTE: Sophomore right-hander Brian Valente turned in one of the more impressive performances of his career in a win over Michigan Wednesday, March 30. The Macomb, Mich. native allowed just two unearned runs on five hits over five innings pitched on the way to a victory. He is now 2-0 for the Eagles.
AVENGE TWO-FOLD: The Eagles more than doubled their hit total in avenging a previous loss to the Wolverines from earlier this season. After tallying just two runs and five hits in a 5-2 loss to Michigan back on March 20, EMU pounded out 13 hits which led to an 8-2 victory over the Wolverines March 30. It also snapped a two-game losing streak to their Washtenaw County rival.
SUICIDE SQUEEZE: In the past week, the Eagle offense has twice performed the suicide squeeze attempt and succeeded each time. Last Saturday, Tucker Rubino brought in Daniel Russell to score from third with a squeeze in a 5-1 win over Buffalo. And on Tuesday, Matt Hitt performed the task and did one better as he beat out the bunt attempt for a base hit while, in the process, allowing Rubino to score from third.
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