Eastern Michigan Athletics
Thursday, May 26
Chillicothe, Ohio
4 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
4
vs
5
Kent State
Lee Longo
Photo by: EMU Athletics/Randy Mascharka
EMU Falls to Kent State; Rematch Set with NIU in Elimination Game
5/26/2011 8:34:08 PM | Baseball
The Eagles surrendered a sixth inning lead to fall to Kent State by the slimmest of margins, 5-4.
Box score
Re-Listen to the Game.
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University baseball team surrendered a two-run lead in the sixth inning to fall to Kent State, 5-4, in the second round matchup of the 2011 Mid-American Conference Tournament at V.A. Memorial Stadium, today, May 26. The Eagles will face Northern Illinois for a second time at 9 a.m. tomorrow while the Golden Flashes await the winner of that contest to determine which team moves on to the championship game.
Freshman first baseman Lee Longo (Mayfield, Ohio-Mayfield) blasted two home runs, giving the Eagles a lead on each solo blast. EMU took a 4-2 lead into the sixth inning, but Kent State reclaimed the lead in the next half-inning. A one hour and 31-minute rain delay interrupted a rally, but did not hinder such as the Golden Flashes scored three runs which proved too much to overcome for EMU.
Despite a shaky start, MAC Pitcher of the Year, Kyle Hallock, earned the win to move to 10-4 on the season while Tim Combs (Dayton, Ohio-Wayne) took the loss to fall to 1-2 and Casey Wilson earned his third save of the season.
Longo recorded two of the Eagles' four hits on the day. Meanwhile, Jimmy Rider, Travis Shaw and Derek Toadvine each tallied multi-hit games with two hits apiece.
EMU falls to 35-21 on the year while Kent State improves to 41-14.
Kent State opened the scoring with a run in the first inning. A leadoff walk to Evan Campbell proved costly as he came around to score on a slow-rolling RBI single up the middle by Shaw. EMU sophomore Joe Battistelli (Allen Park, Mich.-Allen Park) had trouble finding the strike zone early on, but battled back to limit the damage done by the Golden Flashes.
The Eagles tied the score in the bottom half of the first with a run-scoring single by Zack Leonard (Canton, Ohio-McKinley), driving in Brent Ohrman (Adrian, Mich.-Adrian) from second base after his one out hustling double. Leonard extended his MAC Tournament hitting streak to 14 games, hitting safely in each tournament game his has played in his career.
Longo put the Eagles in front in the second inning with his third home run of the season. The Mayfield, Ohio native took a 1-2 pitch from Hallock and put it over the wall in left-center field.
In the top of the third, a failed pickoff attempt at first base by Battistelli sent Toadvine all the way around to third with only one out. The sophomore right-hander was able to get Rider to pop out before striking out Shaw with a devastating curveball to end the threat.
Battistelli struggled to find the strike zone again in the fifth as he walked two batters, including one with the bases loaded to tie the game at 2-2, but worked his way through yet another jam by striking out David Lyon and then getting T.J. Sutton to ground out to first base.
Longo went deep again in the bottom of the fifth inning, this time with a more impressive blast to left field to give EMU its second lead of the game at 3-2. With two outs in the frame and Matt Hitt (Fishers, Ind.-Fishers-Kishwaukee C.C.) at third, Hallock unleashed his third wild pitch of the inning on ball four to Ohrman and Hitt scored to extend the Eagle lead to 4-2.
As quickly as the Eagles regained the lead, they gave it right back in the top of the sixth, but not before an hour and a half rain delay prolonged the big inning. Just prior to the delay, Kent State put runners on first and third after an attempt for a doubleplay by the Eagle shortstop went awry.
When play resumed, the new EMU pitcher, Combs, walked the first batter he faced to load the bases before serving up a game-tying two-run double to Rider. He settled down to retire the next two batters he faced, but a sacrifice fly by Shaw gave the Golden Flashes a 5-4 lead they would not relinquish.
Casey Wilson relieved Hallock on the mound to start the sixth inning and had his way with the Eagle lineup, not allowing a hit in four innings. He retired 12 of the 13 batters he faced, giving up just a walk to Sam Ott (Canton, Mich.-Salem) in the sixth.
Eastern Michigan and Northern Illinois will meet for the second time in this tournament tomorrow morning, May 27, at 9 a.m. It will be an elimination game to determine which team will play Kent State for a chance to reach the championship game.
Re-Listen to the Game.
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University baseball team surrendered a two-run lead in the sixth inning to fall to Kent State, 5-4, in the second round matchup of the 2011 Mid-American Conference Tournament at V.A. Memorial Stadium, today, May 26. The Eagles will face Northern Illinois for a second time at 9 a.m. tomorrow while the Golden Flashes await the winner of that contest to determine which team moves on to the championship game.
Freshman first baseman Lee Longo (Mayfield, Ohio-Mayfield) blasted two home runs, giving the Eagles a lead on each solo blast. EMU took a 4-2 lead into the sixth inning, but Kent State reclaimed the lead in the next half-inning. A one hour and 31-minute rain delay interrupted a rally, but did not hinder such as the Golden Flashes scored three runs which proved too much to overcome for EMU.
Despite a shaky start, MAC Pitcher of the Year, Kyle Hallock, earned the win to move to 10-4 on the season while Tim Combs (Dayton, Ohio-Wayne) took the loss to fall to 1-2 and Casey Wilson earned his third save of the season.
Longo recorded two of the Eagles' four hits on the day. Meanwhile, Jimmy Rider, Travis Shaw and Derek Toadvine each tallied multi-hit games with two hits apiece.
EMU falls to 35-21 on the year while Kent State improves to 41-14.
Kent State opened the scoring with a run in the first inning. A leadoff walk to Evan Campbell proved costly as he came around to score on a slow-rolling RBI single up the middle by Shaw. EMU sophomore Joe Battistelli (Allen Park, Mich.-Allen Park) had trouble finding the strike zone early on, but battled back to limit the damage done by the Golden Flashes.
The Eagles tied the score in the bottom half of the first with a run-scoring single by Zack Leonard (Canton, Ohio-McKinley), driving in Brent Ohrman (Adrian, Mich.-Adrian) from second base after his one out hustling double. Leonard extended his MAC Tournament hitting streak to 14 games, hitting safely in each tournament game his has played in his career.
Longo put the Eagles in front in the second inning with his third home run of the season. The Mayfield, Ohio native took a 1-2 pitch from Hallock and put it over the wall in left-center field.
In the top of the third, a failed pickoff attempt at first base by Battistelli sent Toadvine all the way around to third with only one out. The sophomore right-hander was able to get Rider to pop out before striking out Shaw with a devastating curveball to end the threat.
Battistelli struggled to find the strike zone again in the fifth as he walked two batters, including one with the bases loaded to tie the game at 2-2, but worked his way through yet another jam by striking out David Lyon and then getting T.J. Sutton to ground out to first base.
Longo went deep again in the bottom of the fifth inning, this time with a more impressive blast to left field to give EMU its second lead of the game at 3-2. With two outs in the frame and Matt Hitt (Fishers, Ind.-Fishers-Kishwaukee C.C.) at third, Hallock unleashed his third wild pitch of the inning on ball four to Ohrman and Hitt scored to extend the Eagle lead to 4-2.
As quickly as the Eagles regained the lead, they gave it right back in the top of the sixth, but not before an hour and a half rain delay prolonged the big inning. Just prior to the delay, Kent State put runners on first and third after an attempt for a doubleplay by the Eagle shortstop went awry.
When play resumed, the new EMU pitcher, Combs, walked the first batter he faced to load the bases before serving up a game-tying two-run double to Rider. He settled down to retire the next two batters he faced, but a sacrifice fly by Shaw gave the Golden Flashes a 5-4 lead they would not relinquish.
Casey Wilson relieved Hallock on the mound to start the sixth inning and had his way with the Eagle lineup, not allowing a hit in four innings. He retired 12 of the 13 batters he faced, giving up just a walk to Sam Ott (Canton, Mich.-Salem) in the sixth.
Eastern Michigan and Northern Illinois will meet for the second time in this tournament tomorrow morning, May 27, at 9 a.m. It will be an elimination game to determine which team will play Kent State for a chance to reach the championship game.
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