Baseball Hits the Road for the Final Time in 2013

Live Stats vs. NIU - Friday. Saturday. Sunday.

EAGLES HIT THE ROAD FOR THE FINAL TIME IN 2013: After a forgettable weekend series against Ball State University, the Eastern Michigan University baseball team looks to regroup as it heads out on the road for the final six road games of the 2013 campaign. On the docket are two non-conference road games, a resumption of a game against the University of Michigan, May 7, and a contest versus Michigan State University, May 8. Then, the Eagles head to DeKalb, Ill. for a three-game set against Mid-American Conference West Division leader Northern Illinois University, May 10-12. Friday's game is slated for a 3 p.m. CT start, while Saturday and Sunday will begin at 1 p.m. CT. Following the NIU contests, Eastern Michigan will make a stop in West Lafayette, Ind. Tuesday, May 14, to battle defending Big Ten Conference Champion Purdue University. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Alexander Field.

JUST TWO WEEKS LEFT BEFORE THE MAC TOURNAMENT: Eastern Michigan will need to make up some ground with only two weekends remaining before the 2013 Mid-American Conference Tournament at All-Pro Freight Stadium in Avon, Ohio. The sweep by Ball State, May 3-5, dropped the Eagles from fifth place in the standings to ninth place. EMU is tied with Central Michigan with a 9-12 conference record, but the Chippewas win the head-to-head tiebreaker via a series victory over the Eagles. Only the top eight seeds advance to play in northeast Ohio. If the MAC Tourney started May 6, the standings would look like this: 1. Buffalo, 2. Kent State, 3. Northern Illinois, 4. Miami, 5. Ball State, 6. Bowling Green, 7. Toledo and 8. Central Michigan.

SUSPENDED: Following two weather delays, the April 17 game between the Eagles and Michigan Wolverines at the Wilpon Complex was halted due to thunderstorms and is scheduled to resume Tuesday, May 7, with EMU leading, 4-1, in the bottom of the third inning. Michigan retired the first two EMU batters and then the storm arrived, causing a nearly two-hour postponement (1 hour, 47 minutes). After another 62 minutes of action, lightning once again struck the area, causing the game to be suspended.
The contest will finally be completed Tuesday, May 7, back in Ann Arbor. Start time is scheduled for 6 p.m.

BEST TEAM IN WASHTENAW COUNTY?: The Eagles have defeated the Wolverines five consecutive times dating back to 2011 campaign.
The two clubs will meet for the 175th time Tuesday, with Michigan holding a 112-61-2 advantage in the all-time series. Since Head Coach Jay Alexander took over the program in 2009, Eastern Michigan is 7-4 against its Washtenaw County rival.

TIES RUN DEEP: Michigan pitching coach Sean Kenny was a two-time All-MAC selection as a pitcher at Eastern Michigan, where he played 1991-93. In 1993, Kenny selected in the 17th round by the New York Mets and played three seasons within the organization. Kenny came over with Erik Bakich from the University of Maryland, where he served as the Terrapins' pitching coach for three seasons.

ALL TIME AGAINST THE SPARTANS: The Eagles and Spartans will be meeting for the 129th time Wednesday. MSU holds a 71-55-2 advantage in the series. Earlier this season in Ypsilanti, EMU committed four errors that ended up haunting the Eagles as they fell, 9-3, against Michigan State, April 3. Joe Battistelli recorded the loss for the Eagles, allowing seven unearned runs in the eighth inning courtesy of three errors by the EMU defense. All nine MSU runs in the contest were unearned.
The two clubs split a home-and-home series last season with each team winning on the road. MSU won the first meeting in 2012, April 4, at Oestrike Stadium, 6-1. EMU avenged the loss with a 13-5 win in East Lansing, April 11. In that game, the Eagles put up a 12-run third inning and cruised to the victory.
The Spartans are coached by Jake Boss, Jr., who was also the head man at Eastern Michigan for the team's fourth MAC Tournament Championship in 2008. That season, Boss led the Eagles to a 25-34 record and a 15-8 mark in MAC games.

NOT SO B1G: The Eagles are 1-1 this season against teams that hail from the Big Ten Conference with a 9-3 setback to Michigan State, April 3, and a 15-10 victory over Michigan, April 23. The Eagles still have three more contests to play against Michigan, May 7, Michigan State, May 8, and Purdue, May 14.
Eastern Michigan went 3-2 against Big Ten opponents last year which included a home-and-home sweep over Michigan. EMU also split games with Michigan State. Since Jay Alexander took over head coaching duties, EMU has posted a winning record against the B1G in three out of four seasons.

LEST WE FORGET: The all-time series between EMU and NIU has been a fairly lopsided affair over its 103-game history. The Eagles are 64-39 against the Huskies, but NIU has taken took two-of-three from the Eagles in each of the last two seasons. EMU's lone victory was a 7-5 decision that saw Steve Weber toss 113 pitches in 7.1 innings and give up five runs (three earned) on seven hits while striking out five and walking one at Oestrike Stadium, April 28, 2012.
EMU is 8-6 against NIU since Jay Alexander took over as head coach in 2009.

COACH CORYELL: A familiar face will be in the opposing dugout this weekend at Ralph McKinzie Field, as Todd Coryell is the pitching coach for NIU Head Coach Ed Mathey. Coryell served as an assistant coach at EMU 2004-07 and is the son of EMU Hall of Fame Head Coach Roger Coryell.
He first served as a student assistant and then became the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for the Green and White. While there, Todd coached 2004 and 2006 Mid-American Conference Pitcher of the Year Ryan Ford and Jeff Fisher, respectively, as well as the MAC Player of the Year Brian Bixler in 2004. The Eagles won the MAC Regular Season Championship and was the MAC Tournament Runner-Up in 2007.

WILSON FINDING HIS WAY: Freshman Austin Wilson led the Eagles with a .412 batting average (7-for-17) in five games during the week ending May 5, 2013. The Valrico, Fla. native also scored five runs and drove in a run as well to go drawing a pair of walks. In the upset of No. 26 Notre Dame, May 1, Wilson scored two runs while going 1-for-4 at the dish with an RBI. In the weekend series again Ball State he earned himself the starting leftfielder spot and responded with six hits over the three games. He also collected three walks and his first career extra base hit.

SWEPT AT HOME: For the first time since the 2010 campaign, the Eagles were swept at home by a Mid-American Conference foe. Ball State notched a 10-6 extra innings thriller, May 3, and followed it up with a 6-4 win, May 4, and a 4-1 victory, May 6. In the three-game set, Eastern Michigan stranded 36 runners on base.
The last team to come into Ypsilanti and win three straight was the University of Toledo, May 14-16.

HILL FINDING HIS STRIDE: Friday starter Brian Hill has shut down opponents in his last six outings, collecting quality starts and wins in five of them. Hill's season earned run average has dropped from 5.46 to a rotation-best 3.78 since the streak started. The redshirt senior southpaw has only allowed 10 earned runs in 37.0 innings for a 2.43 ERA during his 5-0 stretch.

DEFEATING THE NATION'S BEST: The Eagles have not only proven they can compete with some of the nation's best, but they can beat them as well. The May 1 victory over No. 26 ranked Notre Dame, 12-6, marked the fourth win over a ranked team in the past six years. Head Coach Jay Alexander's ballclub picked up its first win over a ranked opponent since Feb. 18, 2011, when the Eagles beat then-No. 4 ranked Clemson, 7-6. The Green and White knocked off No. 25 Kansas, 3-1, in the Metrodome, Feb. 22, 2010. EMU also defeated No. 19 Tennessee, Feb. 10, 2007, by a final 6-3 tally.

SOLID HITTING DOWNS THE IRISH: Eastern Michigan used some hot hitting at the plate, notching 12 hits in a 12-6 victory against Notre Dame, May 1. Eight of the nine batters in the starting lineup tallied a hit, including four Eagles recording two or more hits. The Eagles avenged a 12-4 loss from a season ago, March 20, 2012, beating the Golden Domers for the first time in over a decade.
The last time EMU baseball took down Notre Dame was April 13, 2003, when the Eagles notched a 5-3 decision over the then-No. 13 ranked Fighting Irish.

BEST TO BE AHEAD AFTER FOUR: When the Eagles have the lead after four innings this season, they have gone on to a 15-3 record. That mark improves to 17-2 after five, 17-3 after six and 18-2 after seven. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Green and White does most of its offensive damage in the fourth and fifth innings with run totals of 33 and 38, respectively.
Conversely, the Eagles are 1-18 when trailing after four frames, 2-18 after five, 3-17 after six, 0-18 after seven and 1-19 after eight.

ALEXANDER NEARS 300 CAREER WINS: EMU Head Coach Jay Alexander (296-292) is four wins away from recording his 300th victory as the head man of a collegiate baseball program. Alexander is in his fifth season coaching the Eagles and has guided his teams to a record of 135-144 (.484). In six seasons at Wayne State, the 1996 graduate of the Division II school led the Warriors to a 161-148 (.521) ledger. The 41-year-old Alexander (3-30-72) became the first African-American head coach in EMU baseball history in 2009 when he took over for current Michigan State Head Coach Jake Boss, Jr.

CONTINUING THE TRIPLE TREND: Using a combination of speed and power, EMU leads the league with 21 triples on the season. The Green and White also boasts the top-two leaders in triples for MAC contests. Leadoff hitter Daniel Russell has six three-baggers while teammate Dae Bowden and Jamie Simpson have collected four triples of their own.
Russell moved into sole possession of second-place in the EMU record books with his 16th-career triple against Notre Dame, May 1. His three-bagger was the team-leading sixth on the year and surpassed his season-high of five from 2012. The senior from Grandville, Mich. is now just three triples away from tying Jeff Peck's 19 from 1968-70.
The Eagles' knack for hitting the three-bagger has continued this year, as the squad ranked 13th nationally with according to the NCAA statistics for games. Individually, Russell is 15th nationally in that category and just three behind leaders Chad Carroll from James Madison.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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