Eastern Michigan Athletics
Friday, April 29
Oestrike Stadium
6:30 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
vs
Ball State
Photo by: EMU Athletics/Randy Mascharka
Baseball Hosts Ball State in MAC Play This Weekend
4/28/2011 10:46:30 PM | Baseball
The EMU baseball team returns home for three games against the Cardinals at Oestrike Stadium.
Game Notes (.pdf)
Live Stats
Live Audio (Friday and Saturday only)
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University baseball team jumps back into Mid-American Conference play fresh off an upset win over Michigan State on the road this past week. The Eagles will host Ball State University in a MAC West Division three-game series at Oestrike Stadium April 29-May 1. Game one on Friday is slated for 6 p.m., followed by game two on Saturday at 3 p.m. and the series finale on Sunday at 1 p.m.
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SETTING THE SCENE: Eastern Michigan jumps back into Mid-American Conference play this weekend as it hosts Ball State in a three-game series at Oestrike Stadium in Ypsilanti, Mich. The Eagles are 9-6 and in a three-way tie for second place after sweeping Western Michigan last weekend. The Cardinals are 8-6 after dropping two-of-three to West Division favorite, Central Michigan.
THE SERIES: The Eagles and Cardinals will meet for the 134th time with Eastern Michigan leading the all-time series 70-62-1. The Eagles are 8-5 over their last 13 meetings with the Cardinals, but BSU took two-of-three at home when they met in 2010.
THE COACHES: EMU Head Coach Jay Alexander enters Friday's contest with a 238-230 career record, including a 77-82 mark in three seasons with the Eagles. Ball State Head Coach Alex Marconi is in his first year, taking over for Greg Beals who was named the head man at Ohio State. Marconi was an assistant coach for the Cardinals the past five seasons before taking over.
WEEK IN REVIEW: After sweeping Western Michigan last weekend to move into second place in the MAC West Division, the Eagles pulled out a mid-week marathon thriller as they defeated Michigan State, 17-15, in 12 innings at McLane Stadium in East Lansing.
In a game that took four hours, 17 minutes to complete, both teams combined for 32 runs on 39 hits while 13 pitchers took the hill in the extra-inning affair. The Eagles trailed 10-0 after two innings and then 13-5 an inning later before scoring nine unanswered runs to take a 14-13 lead. Ben Magsig's sacrifice fly tied it at 15-all in the ninth before Lee Longo won it in the 12th inning with a two-run homerun to deep left.
Eight position starters got in on the hit parade for the Eagles while six had multi-hit games with Zack Leonard leading the way going 5-for-5 with three RBI, his first career five-hit effort. Ken Battiston went 3-for-7 with a homerun and four RBI and Brent Ohrman was 3-for-6 with an RBI and two runs scored.
EMU used five pitchers in the contest. Sophomore Kristian Calibuso threw four scoreless innings in relief and earned the win to move to 2-0 on the season.
SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: Ball State University enters this weekend's series with a 12-25 overall record and an 8-6 mark in conference play. The Cardinals are 6-16 on the road this year, but have won four of their last six including two MAC series victories against Miami and Buffalo.
The Ball State offense is averaging just 4.8 runs per contest with a team batting average of .251. Mitch Widau and Cody Elliot are the lone Cardinals above the .300 mark this season. Widau is hitting .308 on the year with a homerun, 18 RBI and 21 runs scored while Elliot maintains a .305 average with three homeruns and team-leading 26 RBI and 24 runs scored.
On the mound, the Cardinals boast a 5.32 ERA while opponents are hitting .288 against them. Ace pitcher Cal Bowling is 4-3 on the year with a 2.62 ERA and team-high 39 strikeouts against 21 walks over 65.1 innings pitched. He also has all three of the team's complete games including a shutout.
PITCHING PROBABLES:
Friday, April 29 (6 p.m.)
EMU: Robert Wendzicki, LHP (3-4, 3.82 ERA)
BSU: Cal Bowling, RHP (4-3, 2.62 ERA)
Saturday, April 30 (3 p.m.)
EMU: Corey Chaffins, RHP (5-3, 4.48 ERA)
BSU: Derek Grabner, LHP (1-3, 5.00 ERA)
Sunday, May 1 (1 p.m.)
EMU: Joe Battistelli, RHP (4-1, 4.45 ERA)
BSU: Morgan Coombs, RHP (4-3, 3.79 ERA)
COMEBACK FOR THE AGES: Eastern Michigan's come-from-behind, 17-15, 12-inning victory over Michigan State April 26, after being down 10-0, is believed to be the biggest comeback victory in school history. The Eagles incredibly came back from 15 runs down back on May 1, 2005, but lost 17-16 in 11 innings. Both instances took place on the road.
LEONARD'S BIG DAY: As if setting the all-time record for career hits at Eastern Michigan wasn't enough, senior Zack Leonard did his best encore impression with his first career five-hit game in a win over Michigan State April 26. Not only that, but he set what is believed to be the school record for assists in a game with 14. Dating back to 2000, Leonard is the only player to record double-digit assists, doing so twice. He recorded 10 against Toledo back on May 16, 2010. He didn't commit in error in either occurrence.
ROAD SUCCESS: The Eagles are 17-11 on the road this season. That equals the most road wins in a season for an Eagle squad since 2002, when that team finished the year 17-17 away from home. So far this season, the Eagles have defeated fourth-ranked Clemson, taken two out of three from Kansas and defeated Michigan and Michigan State, all on the road. EMU still has five road games remaining in a two-game set at Louisville and a three-game MAC series at Toledo.
BEST START IN 23 YEARS: Eastern Michigan is off to its best start in 23 years after going 25-15 through its first 40 games this season. The last time the Eagles started better was in 1988 when the then-Hurons went 25-14-1 on the way to a 35-22-1 overall record and a MAC Tournament runner-up finish. EMU has won five straight and is 7-2 over its last nine games.
MAC VERSUS THE BIG 10: The Mid-American Conference is 10-12 this year against Big 10 Conference competition. Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan are currently tied for the best record among MAC teams vs. the Big 10 with 3-1 records.
Complete List
EMU - 3-1
CMU - 3-1
Kent State - 1-0
Miami - 1-0
Toledo - 1-0
BGSU - 0-1
Ball State - 0-2
Akron - 0-4
LEONARD CAPTURES HITS CROWN: Senior infielder Zack Leonard took hold of the Eastern Michigan all-time hits record in game two against Western Michigan back on April 23. He needed just two hits to tie Derrick Peterson's ('04) total of 274 going into the series and got two hits in the first game. In game two, he wasted no time as he recorded an RBI single in the top of the first to etch his name atop the record. Leonard's 282 career hits also rank him 10th among NCAA Division I active career hit leaders.
THAT'S CHAFFINS WITH A 'K': Senior right-hander Corey Chaffins is just three strikeouts shy of tying Jeff Fisher ('07) for second place on the all-time list at EMU with 261 career Ks. Chaffins, who has registered 51 strikeouts so far this season, is 14th among all NCAA Division I active career strikeout leaders with 258 punch outs.
HAIL TO THE WASHTENAW COUNTY VICTORS: The Eagles took the season series from the University of Michigan with a 3-1 road victory Wednesday, April 20. It was the first time the Eagles had captured the season series since 1993 when EMU swept U-M in two meetings. The Eagles outscored the Wolverines 13-8 in three games this season.
MAC SCHOLAR-ATHLETES OF THE WEEK: Ben Magsig and Ken Battiston have each been named Mid-American Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Week once so far this year. Magsig, an actuarial science major with a 3.38 GPA, earned the award for the week ending April 8, after hitting .500 (9-for-18) and slugging .778 with two doubles, six runs scored, four RBI and hit the team's lone homerun of the week as EMU went 3-1 on the week.
Battiston, an exercise science major with a 3.40 GPA, won the award for the week ending April 22. He led the Eagles to a 2-2 record after hitting .500 (11-for-22) at the plate and posting a .636 slugging percentage with a perfect fielding percentage in 12 chances. Battiston tallied multi-hit games in all four contests for the Eagles, including three-hit performances in each game of the Akron series. He also drove in a pair of runs while scoring a pair as well.
LEADING OFF WITH BATTISTON: Senior outfielder Ken Battiston has started 29 games in the leadoff spot for the Eagles. Aside from the team's record being 19-10, his numbers at the plate are even more impressive. He's leading the team with a .370 (57-for-154) batting average, hitting .376 against righties and .351 against lefties. Leading off an inning, he is 27-for-64 (.422) in reaching base, but as a producer, he is 18-for-38 (.474) with runners in scoring position, 17-for-50 (.340) when there are two outs in an inning, and he has a .611 (44-for-72) success rate in advancing runners.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Seniors Zack Leonard and Corey Chaffins are putting up impressive career numbers at Eastern Michigan University, ranking among the all-time greats at EMU in several offensive and pitching categories, respectively.
Leonard overtook Derrick Peterson's record of 806 career at-bats earlier this season and now sits at 847 for his career. His 282 career hits are now first all-time and he is just two doubles shy of tying Greg Ryan's ('98) 59. He has 156 career RBI, good for third on the all-time list. Leonard is also tied for fifth in runs scored (155), just seven shy of reaching Tom Hauck ('86) with 162 for third place.
Chaffins ranks fifth all-time with 273.2 career innings pitched and is third all-time in strikeouts with 258, just three of tying Jeff Fischer ('07) for second place.
Live Stats
Live Audio (Friday and Saturday only)
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University baseball team jumps back into Mid-American Conference play fresh off an upset win over Michigan State on the road this past week. The Eagles will host Ball State University in a MAC West Division three-game series at Oestrike Stadium April 29-May 1. Game one on Friday is slated for 6 p.m., followed by game two on Saturday at 3 p.m. and the series finale on Sunday at 1 p.m.
--
SETTING THE SCENE: Eastern Michigan jumps back into Mid-American Conference play this weekend as it hosts Ball State in a three-game series at Oestrike Stadium in Ypsilanti, Mich. The Eagles are 9-6 and in a three-way tie for second place after sweeping Western Michigan last weekend. The Cardinals are 8-6 after dropping two-of-three to West Division favorite, Central Michigan.
THE SERIES: The Eagles and Cardinals will meet for the 134th time with Eastern Michigan leading the all-time series 70-62-1. The Eagles are 8-5 over their last 13 meetings with the Cardinals, but BSU took two-of-three at home when they met in 2010.
THE COACHES: EMU Head Coach Jay Alexander enters Friday's contest with a 238-230 career record, including a 77-82 mark in three seasons with the Eagles. Ball State Head Coach Alex Marconi is in his first year, taking over for Greg Beals who was named the head man at Ohio State. Marconi was an assistant coach for the Cardinals the past five seasons before taking over.
WEEK IN REVIEW: After sweeping Western Michigan last weekend to move into second place in the MAC West Division, the Eagles pulled out a mid-week marathon thriller as they defeated Michigan State, 17-15, in 12 innings at McLane Stadium in East Lansing.
In a game that took four hours, 17 minutes to complete, both teams combined for 32 runs on 39 hits while 13 pitchers took the hill in the extra-inning affair. The Eagles trailed 10-0 after two innings and then 13-5 an inning later before scoring nine unanswered runs to take a 14-13 lead. Ben Magsig's sacrifice fly tied it at 15-all in the ninth before Lee Longo won it in the 12th inning with a two-run homerun to deep left.
Eight position starters got in on the hit parade for the Eagles while six had multi-hit games with Zack Leonard leading the way going 5-for-5 with three RBI, his first career five-hit effort. Ken Battiston went 3-for-7 with a homerun and four RBI and Brent Ohrman was 3-for-6 with an RBI and two runs scored.
EMU used five pitchers in the contest. Sophomore Kristian Calibuso threw four scoreless innings in relief and earned the win to move to 2-0 on the season.
SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: Ball State University enters this weekend's series with a 12-25 overall record and an 8-6 mark in conference play. The Cardinals are 6-16 on the road this year, but have won four of their last six including two MAC series victories against Miami and Buffalo.
The Ball State offense is averaging just 4.8 runs per contest with a team batting average of .251. Mitch Widau and Cody Elliot are the lone Cardinals above the .300 mark this season. Widau is hitting .308 on the year with a homerun, 18 RBI and 21 runs scored while Elliot maintains a .305 average with three homeruns and team-leading 26 RBI and 24 runs scored.
On the mound, the Cardinals boast a 5.32 ERA while opponents are hitting .288 against them. Ace pitcher Cal Bowling is 4-3 on the year with a 2.62 ERA and team-high 39 strikeouts against 21 walks over 65.1 innings pitched. He also has all three of the team's complete games including a shutout.
PITCHING PROBABLES:
Friday, April 29 (6 p.m.)
EMU: Robert Wendzicki, LHP (3-4, 3.82 ERA)
BSU: Cal Bowling, RHP (4-3, 2.62 ERA)
Saturday, April 30 (3 p.m.)
EMU: Corey Chaffins, RHP (5-3, 4.48 ERA)
BSU: Derek Grabner, LHP (1-3, 5.00 ERA)
Sunday, May 1 (1 p.m.)
EMU: Joe Battistelli, RHP (4-1, 4.45 ERA)
BSU: Morgan Coombs, RHP (4-3, 3.79 ERA)
COMEBACK FOR THE AGES: Eastern Michigan's come-from-behind, 17-15, 12-inning victory over Michigan State April 26, after being down 10-0, is believed to be the biggest comeback victory in school history. The Eagles incredibly came back from 15 runs down back on May 1, 2005, but lost 17-16 in 11 innings. Both instances took place on the road.
LEONARD'S BIG DAY: As if setting the all-time record for career hits at Eastern Michigan wasn't enough, senior Zack Leonard did his best encore impression with his first career five-hit game in a win over Michigan State April 26. Not only that, but he set what is believed to be the school record for assists in a game with 14. Dating back to 2000, Leonard is the only player to record double-digit assists, doing so twice. He recorded 10 against Toledo back on May 16, 2010. He didn't commit in error in either occurrence.
ROAD SUCCESS: The Eagles are 17-11 on the road this season. That equals the most road wins in a season for an Eagle squad since 2002, when that team finished the year 17-17 away from home. So far this season, the Eagles have defeated fourth-ranked Clemson, taken two out of three from Kansas and defeated Michigan and Michigan State, all on the road. EMU still has five road games remaining in a two-game set at Louisville and a three-game MAC series at Toledo.
BEST START IN 23 YEARS: Eastern Michigan is off to its best start in 23 years after going 25-15 through its first 40 games this season. The last time the Eagles started better was in 1988 when the then-Hurons went 25-14-1 on the way to a 35-22-1 overall record and a MAC Tournament runner-up finish. EMU has won five straight and is 7-2 over its last nine games.
MAC VERSUS THE BIG 10: The Mid-American Conference is 10-12 this year against Big 10 Conference competition. Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan are currently tied for the best record among MAC teams vs. the Big 10 with 3-1 records.
Complete List
EMU - 3-1
CMU - 3-1
Kent State - 1-0
Miami - 1-0
Toledo - 1-0
BGSU - 0-1
Ball State - 0-2
Akron - 0-4
LEONARD CAPTURES HITS CROWN: Senior infielder Zack Leonard took hold of the Eastern Michigan all-time hits record in game two against Western Michigan back on April 23. He needed just two hits to tie Derrick Peterson's ('04) total of 274 going into the series and got two hits in the first game. In game two, he wasted no time as he recorded an RBI single in the top of the first to etch his name atop the record. Leonard's 282 career hits also rank him 10th among NCAA Division I active career hit leaders.
THAT'S CHAFFINS WITH A 'K': Senior right-hander Corey Chaffins is just three strikeouts shy of tying Jeff Fisher ('07) for second place on the all-time list at EMU with 261 career Ks. Chaffins, who has registered 51 strikeouts so far this season, is 14th among all NCAA Division I active career strikeout leaders with 258 punch outs.
HAIL TO THE WASHTENAW COUNTY VICTORS: The Eagles took the season series from the University of Michigan with a 3-1 road victory Wednesday, April 20. It was the first time the Eagles had captured the season series since 1993 when EMU swept U-M in two meetings. The Eagles outscored the Wolverines 13-8 in three games this season.
MAC SCHOLAR-ATHLETES OF THE WEEK: Ben Magsig and Ken Battiston have each been named Mid-American Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Week once so far this year. Magsig, an actuarial science major with a 3.38 GPA, earned the award for the week ending April 8, after hitting .500 (9-for-18) and slugging .778 with two doubles, six runs scored, four RBI and hit the team's lone homerun of the week as EMU went 3-1 on the week.
Battiston, an exercise science major with a 3.40 GPA, won the award for the week ending April 22. He led the Eagles to a 2-2 record after hitting .500 (11-for-22) at the plate and posting a .636 slugging percentage with a perfect fielding percentage in 12 chances. Battiston tallied multi-hit games in all four contests for the Eagles, including three-hit performances in each game of the Akron series. He also drove in a pair of runs while scoring a pair as well.
LEADING OFF WITH BATTISTON: Senior outfielder Ken Battiston has started 29 games in the leadoff spot for the Eagles. Aside from the team's record being 19-10, his numbers at the plate are even more impressive. He's leading the team with a .370 (57-for-154) batting average, hitting .376 against righties and .351 against lefties. Leading off an inning, he is 27-for-64 (.422) in reaching base, but as a producer, he is 18-for-38 (.474) with runners in scoring position, 17-for-50 (.340) when there are two outs in an inning, and he has a .611 (44-for-72) success rate in advancing runners.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Seniors Zack Leonard and Corey Chaffins are putting up impressive career numbers at Eastern Michigan University, ranking among the all-time greats at EMU in several offensive and pitching categories, respectively.
Leonard overtook Derrick Peterson's record of 806 career at-bats earlier this season and now sits at 847 for his career. His 282 career hits are now first all-time and he is just two doubles shy of tying Greg Ryan's ('98) 59. He has 156 career RBI, good for third on the all-time list. Leonard is also tied for fifth in runs scored (155), just seven shy of reaching Tom Hauck ('86) with 162 for third place.
Chaffins ranks fifth all-time with 273.2 career innings pitched and is third all-time in strikeouts with 258, just three of tying Jeff Fischer ('07) for second place.
16th Annual EMU Baseball Golf Outing
Sunday, October 05
Oestrike Stadium Turf Replacement Time lapse
Friday, October 03
Oestrike Stadium Upgrades Reveal
Thursday, October 02
Alumni Achievement Award - Anthony Tomey
Friday, September 26