Eastern Michigan Athletics
Friday, March 29
Oestrike Stadium
3 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
vs
Ohio
Baseball Tangles with Ohio in Easter Weekend Series
3/28/2013 5:36:00 PM | Baseball
EMU hosts Bobcats for first time since 2009
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YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – After a 4-3 midweek win over Concordia, March 26, the Eastern Michigan University baseball team turns its sights back to Mid-American Conference action Friday-Sunday, March 29-31, with a three-game series against East Division foe Ohio University at Oestrike Stadium. The Eagles (10-13; 0-3 MAC) will take on the Bobcats (4-19; 1-2 MAC) at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 1 p.m. Easter Sunday.
EMU play-by-play voice Chad Bush will join Ohio's Russ Eisenstein in a joint broadcast for the entire series. The games can be heard on WOUB (woub.org).
CAT FIGHT: Ohio enters the weekend as one-of-three MAC East Division teams to have just four wins on the season. The Bobcats opened conference play by snapping an eight-game skid with a 9-3 win in the middle game of their series against Toledo, but ended up dropping the other two games to the Rockets.
In the all-time series with OU, the Eagles own a 61-47 ledger over 108 previous contests. Last season, however, it was the Bobcats who took two-of-three from EMU, March 30-April 1, in Athens, Ohio. Eastern Michigan will host Ohio for the first time since 2009, when the Bobcats also walked away with a 2-1 series victory.
SETTING THE PACE: The Green and White rank in the top-half of MAC teams in several critical categories according to the conference statistics as of March 25. Those categories are home runs (second; 11), triples (second; eight) slugging percentage (third; .368), runs scored (fourth; 109), doubles (fourth; 31), RBI (tied-fourth; RBI), hits (fifth; 194) and on-base percentage (fifth; .346).
Individually, Sam Ott is third in the conference with 33 hits, second in doubles (nine), second in total bases (47) and tied for second in RBI (17). Jamie Simpson's three home runs are tied for second in the MAC, while Joe Battistelli's ranked third with three saves prior to earning his fourth against Concordia, March 26.
EMU'S “K” MASTER: Paul Schaak (1-1) leads the Eagles' pitching staff with 24 strikeouts and is scheduled to make his fourth start of the season Sunday versus the Bobcats. The junior southpaw had 21 strikeouts all of last year in 28.1 innings on the bump, but has already surpassed that total in 20.2 innings in 2013. In his previous three starts this year, Schaak racked up six, five and nine punchouts, respectively, with the latter coming against Butler, March 16. Schaak's 2012 single-game high for strikeouts was three.
SIMPSON FINDS HIS PLACE: In his second full season in an EMU uniform, senior Jamie Simpson has hit his stride as Jay Alexander's primary first-baseman and No. 6 hitter. After an up-and-down 2012 campaign in which he hit .256 in 40 games played and 26 starts, Simpson is leading the 2013 club with three round-trippers and carries an impressive .921 OPS. His .305 batting average is also third on the team.
CALIBUSO MAKES HIS RETURN AGAINST CONCORDIA: Tuesday's home-opening 4-3 win against Concordia was a special day for reliever Kristian Calibuso. The redshirt junior pitched for the first time since Feb. 28, 2012, after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He contributed one inning of scoreless pitching to an EMU staff which surrendered just three hits the entire game.
BEST TO BE AHEAD AFTER FOUR: When the Eagles have the lead after four innings this season, they have gone on to a 7-2 record. That mark improves to 8-1 after five, 8-2 after six and 8-1 after eight. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Green and White does most of its offensive damage in the fourth and fifth innings with run totals of 22 and 26, respectively.
Conversely, the Eagles are 0-9 when trailing after four frames, 0-10 after five, 1-10 after six, 0-9 after seven and 1-10 after eight.
BATTISTELLI RACKING UP THE SAVES: Senior hurler Joe Battistelli notched his 15th-career save and fourth of the season in EMU's 4-3 win over Concordia, March 26. Battistelli broke a second-place tie all-time in EMU history with Matt Shoemaker, who posted 14 saves from 2007-08. Steve Herbst (1992-95) had the most saves (23) of any EMU pitcher from 1992-95.
CLUTCH NUMBERS: Head Coach Jay Alexander's club is quickly building a killer instinct at the plate. EMU is batting a blistering .593 with runners on third and less than two out. With the bases loaded, the Eagles are batting .304 (7-for-23) thanks in large part to Jamie Simpson's 3-for-4 showing in that situation.
DAMAGE AT THE DISH: Twelve EMU players have posted at least one game with two-or-more hits this season and 10 have notched a multiple-RBI game at least once. Sam Ott, who also had a nine-game hitting streak earlier this year, has the most multi-hit games (12) and multi-RBI games (five) of any EMU player this year, while Jamie Simpson and Lee Longo have seven games with multiple knocks.
CONTINUING THE TRIPLE TREND: EMU was among the top teams in the nation with 21 triples in 2012. The Eagles' knack for hitting the three-bagger has continued this year, as the squad ranked 52nd nationally with eight according to the NCAA statistics for the week ending March 24. Daniel Russell recorded his second triple of the year and the 13th of his career against the RedHawks to move him into seventh place in EMU history.
MORE SCHEDULE CHANGES: EMU's home game against Michigan State has been moved from Tuesday, April 2, to Wednesday, April 3, at 6 p.m. In addition, the Eagles will make up a rained-out game against Michigan Tuesday, April 23, at 6 p.m.
HOME OPENER RECENT HISTORY: The Eagles evened the record at 4-4 in home openers since 2006 thanks to Wednesday's 4-3 triumph over Concordia. Last season, the Green and White won a wild 19-10 slugfest over Niagara, March 16, to open the 2012 home slate. The Eagles finished the year with a 12-6 record in games played in Ypsilanti.
Listen Live
Live Stats
Get to Know John Rubino
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – After a 4-3 midweek win over Concordia, March 26, the Eastern Michigan University baseball team turns its sights back to Mid-American Conference action Friday-Sunday, March 29-31, with a three-game series against East Division foe Ohio University at Oestrike Stadium. The Eagles (10-13; 0-3 MAC) will take on the Bobcats (4-19; 1-2 MAC) at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 1 p.m. Easter Sunday.
EMU play-by-play voice Chad Bush will join Ohio's Russ Eisenstein in a joint broadcast for the entire series. The games can be heard on WOUB (woub.org).
CAT FIGHT: Ohio enters the weekend as one-of-three MAC East Division teams to have just four wins on the season. The Bobcats opened conference play by snapping an eight-game skid with a 9-3 win in the middle game of their series against Toledo, but ended up dropping the other two games to the Rockets.
In the all-time series with OU, the Eagles own a 61-47 ledger over 108 previous contests. Last season, however, it was the Bobcats who took two-of-three from EMU, March 30-April 1, in Athens, Ohio. Eastern Michigan will host Ohio for the first time since 2009, when the Bobcats also walked away with a 2-1 series victory.
SETTING THE PACE: The Green and White rank in the top-half of MAC teams in several critical categories according to the conference statistics as of March 25. Those categories are home runs (second; 11), triples (second; eight) slugging percentage (third; .368), runs scored (fourth; 109), doubles (fourth; 31), RBI (tied-fourth; RBI), hits (fifth; 194) and on-base percentage (fifth; .346).
Individually, Sam Ott is third in the conference with 33 hits, second in doubles (nine), second in total bases (47) and tied for second in RBI (17). Jamie Simpson's three home runs are tied for second in the MAC, while Joe Battistelli's ranked third with three saves prior to earning his fourth against Concordia, March 26.
EMU'S “K” MASTER: Paul Schaak (1-1) leads the Eagles' pitching staff with 24 strikeouts and is scheduled to make his fourth start of the season Sunday versus the Bobcats. The junior southpaw had 21 strikeouts all of last year in 28.1 innings on the bump, but has already surpassed that total in 20.2 innings in 2013. In his previous three starts this year, Schaak racked up six, five and nine punchouts, respectively, with the latter coming against Butler, March 16. Schaak's 2012 single-game high for strikeouts was three.
SIMPSON FINDS HIS PLACE: In his second full season in an EMU uniform, senior Jamie Simpson has hit his stride as Jay Alexander's primary first-baseman and No. 6 hitter. After an up-and-down 2012 campaign in which he hit .256 in 40 games played and 26 starts, Simpson is leading the 2013 club with three round-trippers and carries an impressive .921 OPS. His .305 batting average is also third on the team.
CALIBUSO MAKES HIS RETURN AGAINST CONCORDIA: Tuesday's home-opening 4-3 win against Concordia was a special day for reliever Kristian Calibuso. The redshirt junior pitched for the first time since Feb. 28, 2012, after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He contributed one inning of scoreless pitching to an EMU staff which surrendered just three hits the entire game.
BEST TO BE AHEAD AFTER FOUR: When the Eagles have the lead after four innings this season, they have gone on to a 7-2 record. That mark improves to 8-1 after five, 8-2 after six and 8-1 after eight. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Green and White does most of its offensive damage in the fourth and fifth innings with run totals of 22 and 26, respectively.
Conversely, the Eagles are 0-9 when trailing after four frames, 0-10 after five, 1-10 after six, 0-9 after seven and 1-10 after eight.
BATTISTELLI RACKING UP THE SAVES: Senior hurler Joe Battistelli notched his 15th-career save and fourth of the season in EMU's 4-3 win over Concordia, March 26. Battistelli broke a second-place tie all-time in EMU history with Matt Shoemaker, who posted 14 saves from 2007-08. Steve Herbst (1992-95) had the most saves (23) of any EMU pitcher from 1992-95.
CLUTCH NUMBERS: Head Coach Jay Alexander's club is quickly building a killer instinct at the plate. EMU is batting a blistering .593 with runners on third and less than two out. With the bases loaded, the Eagles are batting .304 (7-for-23) thanks in large part to Jamie Simpson's 3-for-4 showing in that situation.
DAMAGE AT THE DISH: Twelve EMU players have posted at least one game with two-or-more hits this season and 10 have notched a multiple-RBI game at least once. Sam Ott, who also had a nine-game hitting streak earlier this year, has the most multi-hit games (12) and multi-RBI games (five) of any EMU player this year, while Jamie Simpson and Lee Longo have seven games with multiple knocks.
CONTINUING THE TRIPLE TREND: EMU was among the top teams in the nation with 21 triples in 2012. The Eagles' knack for hitting the three-bagger has continued this year, as the squad ranked 52nd nationally with eight according to the NCAA statistics for the week ending March 24. Daniel Russell recorded his second triple of the year and the 13th of his career against the RedHawks to move him into seventh place in EMU history.
MORE SCHEDULE CHANGES: EMU's home game against Michigan State has been moved from Tuesday, April 2, to Wednesday, April 3, at 6 p.m. In addition, the Eagles will make up a rained-out game against Michigan Tuesday, April 23, at 6 p.m.
HOME OPENER RECENT HISTORY: The Eagles evened the record at 4-4 in home openers since 2006 thanks to Wednesday's 4-3 triumph over Concordia. Last season, the Green and White won a wild 19-10 slugfest over Niagara, March 16, to open the 2012 home slate. The Eagles finished the year with a 12-6 record in games played in Ypsilanti.
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