EMU Hosts Kent State for Weekend MAC Series

Live Stats: Fan-Based. - Media-Based.

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- Following a mid-week 9-8 victory over Northwestern in its home opener, the Eastern Michigan University baseball team (9-11, 0-3 MAC) remains at Oestrike Stadium for the weekend, hosting defending Mid-American Conference regular season champion Kent State University (12-9, 2-1 MAC) for a three-game series, March 28-30. Game one is set to begin at 3 p.m. on Friday, March 28, before the two conference foes battle at the same time Saturday, March 29. The series concludes with a Sunday afternoon matchup, March 30, slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch.

LAST TIME WE MET: Competing against a Mid-American Conference opponent in a rare non-conference game, the Eagles fell to Kent State, 7-5, at All-Pro Freight Stadium April 30, 2013. Sam Ott continued his hot hitting, reaching base for the 17th straight game and going 2-for-5 with two runs batted in. Leadoff hitter Daniel Russell also tallied two hits, two runs and a RBI for the Green and White. Shortstop John Rubino knocked in two Eagles as well in the setback. Taylor Dimmerling took his first loss of the season, giving up three runs on three walks and six hits. The defending MAC Champion Golden Flashes claimed the neutral site victory behind two innings of relief by John Birkbeck. Third baseman Zarley Zalewski led KSU at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI and a run scored. Teammate Alex Miklos also tallied two hits and two runs for Kent State.

SCOUTING KENT STATE: The Golden Flashes are 12-9 on the season, including a 2-1 mark in conference play after winning their conference-opening series against Toledo. A come-from-behind win over Wright State, March 26, in its latest game has made Kent State the victors of four of its past five games. KSU trailed the Raiders by two before rallying to tie the game in the eighth. The Golden Flashes scored twice in the 12th before keeping WSU off the board for the 9-7 extra-innings victory.

Sophomore Zarley Zalewski leads Kent State at the dish, hitting a whopping .463 that paces the MAC and ranks fifth in the nation. Zalewski is the team-leader in hits (38), RBI (16), slugging percentage (.585) and on-base percentage (.527). Alex Miklos provides power at the plate with a team-high nine doubles to go along with a triple and one round-tripper. On the mound, KSU is projected to send out two lefties in Eric Lauer and Brian Clark to start the first and third games of the series against the Eagles, respectively. Right-hander Nick Jensen-Clagg will start in between the two southpaws for Saturday's game, March 29. Lauer is the ace of the rotation with the best ERA (2.05), record (5-1) and most strikeouts (25) out of the three Golden Flashes.

YOUNG GUNS: Against Northwestern, Head Coach Jay Alexander went with four true freshman pitchers to toss the first 5.1 innings in the Eagles' 9-8 victory over the Wildcats, March 26. Sam Delaplane made his first career start, while Sterling Sharp, Layne Gusler and Tyler Russell all made relief appearances. After Delaplane pitched his scheduled two innings, Sharp picked up the first win of his career by tossing four innings of relief and letting just one run cross the plate. Gusler pitched to one batter before Russell relieved him, lasting 1.1 innings and surrendering one run on two hits.

TOP O' THE LINEUP: In the win against the Wildcats, EMU racked up nine runs on nine hits, while taking advantage of three Northwestern errors that led to a pair of unearned runs. The top four Eagles in the lineup produced the bulk of the success at the dish, accounting for all eight RBI, 7-of-9 hits, and 6-of-9 runs. Sam Ott and Lee Longo each picked up two hits and three RBI for Eastern as Longo also added a run scored. Austin Wilson scored on three occasions to go along with one hit, one RBI and two walks. Leading off, shortstop John Rubino went 2-for-5, including a triple with two runs and one RBI.

KEEP UP THE HOME COOKING: In Eastern Michigan's previous five years under Head Baseball Coach Jay Alexander, the Eagles have never lost its first Mid-American Conference series at home, boasting a record of 11-4. In fact, the Green and White has not lost a home-opening MAC series since the 2005 campaign. During that stretch, EMU is sporting a record of 17-5 against opponents being the first conference team to play in Oestrike Stadium for the respective seasons. The Eagles will hope the streak continues as the Golden Flashes come to town this weekend.

THE COMFORT OF OESTRIKE STADIUM: The 9-8 victory over Northwestern marked the fourth-straight win in the home opener for Eastern Michigan. In the Eagles' last loss in the first game of the season at Oestrike Stadium, EMU fell, 9-6, to Michigan State University in a St. Patrick's Day affair featuring two teams wearing Green and White, March 17, 2010.

The home of EMU Baseball, Oestrike Stadium, named after EMU Hall of Fame Coach Ron Oestrike, was built in 1971, the year following Eastern Michigan's NAIA Collegiate National Championship and four years before its back-to-back NCAA World Series appearances. The Eagles boast a record of 495-336-2 (.595) in their home stadium since its construction.

LEADERS OF THE MAC: Through the first 20 games of the season, the EMU bats have proven to be huge threats to opposing pitchers. Eastern leads the MAC in doubles (45), RBI (123) and runs (138). Moreover, the Eagles rank second in the conference in on-base percentage (.372), slugging percentage (.384) and steals (38). Individually, three Eagles top the MAC charts. Sam Ott leads the league in runs scored (21), and sophomore Mitchell McGeein paces the conference with four homers on the season. Meanwhile, Lee Longo is second in the MAC with 11 doubles.

BETTER WITH DUCKS ON THE POND: With runners on the base, the pressure may seem to rise for hitters as they try to find a way to get their teammates around to score. However, the Eagles welcome the pressure by hitting at a better average with runners on than with the bases empty. EMU sluggers are hitting at a .291 clip with Eagles on the base path, including a .333 average with the bases loaded. When the bases are empty, Eastern is hitting .275 as a team.

LONGO LEADS THE WAY: First baseman Lee Longo has had an incredible start to his final season as an Eagle. As of March 25, 2014, Longo is seventh in the nation in doubles with 11, just two shy of the country's leader in Texas Tech's Adam Kirsch. Overall, the two-time MAC West Player of the Week is fourth nationally in doubles per game. Not only do Longo's doubles per game rank fourth in the country, but he also is one of the team leaders in multiple hitting categories, pacing the Green and White in batting average (.397), hits (31), RBI (21), total bases (45), hit by pitch (8) and on base percentage (.466). Another impressive stat is Longo's clutch hitting; with two outs in the inning, he has hit at a .593 clip with 14 RBI.

IRON MAN OTT: EMU looks to have its own Cal Ripken, Jr. as one Eagle has emerged as a baseball iron man. Since the end of his redshirt-freshman season in 2011, Sam Ott has started every game for Head Coach Jay Alexander. The Canton, Mich. native started the last 18 games of the 2011 season while starting all 110 games his sophomore and junior campaigns. He got in the lineup for all 56 games in 2012 primarily as the designated hitter while he had 54 starts in 2013, with the majority of them coming in right field. To kick off the 2014 slate, Ott has started all 20 games in right field to total 148 straight starts and counting for the EMU redshirt-senior.

Ott is one-of-27 NCAA Division I baseball players that boasts an active streak of over 100 starts. His 148 consecutive starts rank seventh in that category behind: Ryan Lindemuth, William & Mary (194); Aaron Attaway, Western Carolina (192); Justin Glass, Cincinnati (191); Ethan Gross, Memphis (181); Ross Kivett, Kansas State (175); Nick Favatella, Rutgers (165).

FINDING THE NATIONAL RANKS: Not only are the EMU sluggers one of the leaders of the Mid-American Conference in multiple categories, but the Eagles are also moving up the charts in the national ranks. In the latest national rankings (March 24, 2014), Eastern's highest rank is ninth with 2.32 doubles per game, trailing nation-leading William & Mary which averages 3.09 per contest. In terms of total doubles, EMU's 44 two-base hits are 38th in the country, 24 behind the top mark. Tallying 6.8 runs per game, the Green and White is the 29th-best scoring team in the nation. The Eagles also have been effective on the base path, stealing 1.74 bases per game, which stands at No. 30 in all of NCAA Division I baseball.

NOTABLE STREAKS: First baseman Lee Longo saw his 27 on base streak that dated back to the 2013 campaign come to an end against Akron, March 22. Fellow senior Adam Sonabend now holds the highest stretch at 16 consecutive games as the EMU catcher also is on a eight-game hitting streak. Sam Ott is the next closest Eagle, reaching base in nine straight contests.

SIMILAR WEEK AHEAD: Facing a Big Ten opponent for a mid-week game before a weekend series against a MAC foe, EMU will follow the same pattern next week. The Eagles will host Michigan State University on Tuesday, April 1 at 6 p.m. from Oestrike Stadium before making the trek to Muncie, Ind. for a three-game set against the Cardinals of Ball State University, April 4-6. Actually, the schedule calls for this trend to continue for four straight weeks.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

Related News

Next Event

Related Videos