Early Lead Holds in Series Clinching 13-5 Win at Bowling Green

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University baseball team jumped out to a 6-0 first-inning lead and never looked back en route a 13-5 win to take the final two games of a weekend series against Bowling Green State University Sunday, April 7.

The Eagles (14-16; 4-5 MAC) came up victorious in their second straight Mid-American Conference series against a Falcons' (7-19; 3-6 MAC) team that gave up double-digit runs in consecutive contests. EMU went to work early Sunday, piling on six runs in the first inning and chasing BGSU starter Trevor Blaylock (0-6) after just two-thirds of an inning. Bowling Green scored a pair in the bottom of the second, but the Eagles put up three runs in the sixth and eighth innings to pull away.

Saturday's hit parade carried over into Sunday as the Eagles mashed 14 hits for a series total of 38. Lee Longo went 2-for-3 with his second homer of the season and three RBI. The Eagles' designated hitter was one-of-five players to record multiple knocks and Sam Ott turned in a 3-for-5 effort with a double, triple, an RBI and four runs scored. Adam Sonabend (2-for-5) also notched three RBI and joined John Rubino (2-for-5) and Tony DiLeo (2-for-4) as the other Eagles with multi-hit days.

Paul Schaak (3-1) won his second straight MAC start in five innings of work. He allowed three runs on six hits while racking up five strikeouts. Brian Valente, Devon Bronson, Taylor Dimmerling, and Kristian Calibuso also pitched an inning apiece.

Bowling Green received a two-RBI day from Jeremy Shay, who went 1-for-4 with a home run. Patrick Lancaster went 2-for-3 and was the lone BGSU player to earn multiple hits.

Sonabend made it a 3-0 game with one swing of the bat in the first inning when he smacked a bases-loaded double to left-center. Jamie Simpson knocked Sonabend in with a single for the fourth run and DiLeo and Marquise Gill also came through with RBI in the inning. It became a 7-0 contest in the second when Ott doubled and Longo drove him in with a single back up the middle.

Schaak gave up all three of his runs in the second and third innings. Brandon Howard tripled in Jesse Rait and Nick Glanzman tallied an RBI in a two-run second frame for the Falcons. In the third, BGSU cut its deficit to 7-3 on a sacrifice fly by T.J. Losby.

Eastern Michigan's offense came back to life in the sixth inning with a trio of runs. The basepaths were clear with two outs, but a pair of hits followed by two fielding errors and a hit batsman allowed the Eagles to take a seven-run lead, 10-3. Daniel Russell, Ott and Rubino all scored unearned runs in the inning.

A two-run round-tripper by Shay made it a 10-5 game in the bottom of the sixth, but Valente limited the damage to just those two tallies. Ott's triple and Longo's two-run jack in the top of the eighth put the game out of reach and sealed another series triumph for the Green and White.

The Eagles are back in action Wednesday, April 10, with a non-conference tilt against the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.

Early Lead Holds in Series Clinching 13-5 Win at Bowling Green

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Team Stats

Daniel Russell

Sam Ott

John Rubino

Lee Longo

Eastern Michigan Athletics