Eastern Faces Ohio State in Non-Conference Battle

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University baseball team (10-18, 1-8 MAC) will look to get back to its winning ways as the team concludes a five-game road trip with a mid-week contest, April 8, against Ohio State University (18-13, 2-7 B1G). First pitch from Columbus, Ohio is set for 6:35 p.m. as freshman Sam Delaplane is projected to make the second start of his career for the Eagles, while left-hander Zach Farmer will get the ball for the Buckeyes. The game will be broadcast over the airwaves of Eagle All-Access. Veteran Voice of the Eagles Chad Bush will have the play-by-play while Greg Steiner will provide the analysis from Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium.

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW: EMU fell short in two games earlier in the week at home versus Michigan State University, April 1, and on the road against the University of Dayton, April 2. After a 5-3 setback against the Spartans along with a 7-6 loss to the Flyers, the Eagles returned to MAC play with a trip to Muncie, Ind. to face the Ball State University Cardinals, April 5-6. The results were not what EMU wanted due to running into a buzz-saw at the plate with the Cardinals sweeping Eastern in a three-game series. BSU downed the Eagles in a doubleheader to kick off the series, winning by scores of 20-5 and 7-3, respectively. Trailing 5-0 in the series finale, the Eagles came back to knot the game at five, but Ball State walked off with the victory on a double in the bottom of the ninth.

SCOUTING THE BUCKEYES: Ohio State will host the Eagles after a busy week on the diamond. The Buckeyes took two games against MAC opponents Ohio and Toledo at home during the middle of the week before getting swept by Nebraska on the road over the weekend. OSU is led by underclassmen at the plate in freshman Ronnie Dawson and sophomore Troy Kuhn. Dawson holds an average line of .356/.465/.414, while Kuhn leads in runs (24), RBI (21), doubles (8) and home runs (4). As a team, the Buckeye offense ranks third in the Big Ten in runs scored (151). Farmer, the Buckeyes' projected starter for Tuesday's game, holds a 4-3 record with a 2.97 ERA as a freshman. His four victories are tied for fourth in the conference.

LAST TIME WE MET: The Eagles and Buckeyes last met on the diamond two years ago, March 27, 2012, when OSU came away with a 13-4 victory. The Eagles took a 3-2 lead after three innings, but could not keep up with a Buckeyes' offense that amassed 14 hits. EMU fell behind, 2-0, after the first inning, but Tucker Rubino and Adam Dennison blasted back-to-back doubles to tie the score. Brent Ohrman earned the Eagles their first and only lead of the night when he scored on a wild pitch in the third to make it 3-2. The wheels then came off for the EMU pitching staff in the fourth inning, as the Buckeyes put five runs on the board in that frame and tacked on another six runs before the last pitch was thrown.

ALL-TIME AGAINST THE BIG TEN: In the 65-year history of the Eastern Michigan baseball program, the Eagles have faced off against members of the Big Ten Conference a whopping 366 times, compiling a record of 140-223-5. Throughout the 2014 campaign, Head Coach Jay Alexander and his club are scheduled to face four different opponents from the Rosemont, Ill. based conference: Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern and Ohio State. Washtenaw County neighbor Michigan has been the Eagles' most common Big Ten opponent as the two have met on the diamond for 176 games. The Green and White of both Michigan State and EMU clashed on 130 different occasions, while the Eagles and the team from Columbus, Ohio have squared off in 15 meetings. Eastern and Northwestern have each won once in their series as the Eagles took this year's contest, 9-8, March 26, 2014.

DOUBLING DOWN: Two current Eagles are climbing up the program's all-time doubles list. Seniors Lee Longo and Sam Ott each have recorded 45 doubles throughout their respective careers at Eastern, ranking in a tie for sixth in EMU laurels. Longo leads the team in doubles this season with 12 while Ott has smacked seven two-baggers throughout the 2014 campaign. Both EMU sluggers are just one double away from tying Steve Bradshaw for fifth on the career charts, including two from the fourth-highest total held by Scott Barrett. Eastern Michigan hit king Zack Leonard holds the all-time record with 63 doubles during his four-year career.

CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR: Eastern Michigan nearly pulled off remarkable comebacks last week in a pair of games. Against Dayton, April 2, the Eagles trailed 7-0 through five innings before coming alive in the sixth with a pair of runs. Eastern kept the momentum going with four runs in the seventh to make it a one-run ballgame, 7-6. However, the umpires decided to call the game after the Eagles were retired in the seventh due to darkness, giving the Flyers a one-run victory. Then, against Ball State, April 6, the Green and White rallied from down five to tie the game, scoring twice in the seventh and three times in the eighth. However, the Cardinals secured the win with a walk-off double in the ninth.

THE MOST IMPORTANT INNING: A good indicator of the outcomes of EMU baseball games this season is to see how the Eagles fare after the sixth inning. The Green and White is 8-1 when leading after the sixth as well as 2-0 when tied with its opponent through the first two-thirds of the game. In contrast, Eastern is 0-17 when they are behind through six innings of play. Moreover, Eastern is currently outscoring the opposition, 23-12, in the sixth inning.

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 25 games in right field to total 156 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 156 consecutive starts rank sixth in that category behind: Ryan Lindemuth, William & Mary (201); Justin Glass, Cincinnati (198); Ethan Gross, Memphis (184); Ross Kivett, Kansas State (183); Nick Favatella, Rutgers (172).

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 .299 clip with Eagles on the base path, including a .310 average with the bases loaded. When the bases are empty, Eastern is hitting .231 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 April 1, 2014, Longo is 10th in the nation in doubles with 12, just three 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 (.371), hits (39), RBI (26), total bases (54), hit by pitch (9) and on base percentage (.433). Another impressive stat is Longo's clutch hitting; with two outs in the inning, he has hit at a .556 clip with 16 RBI.

DOUBLE DIP: Inclement weather has forced Eastern to play six unexpected doubleheaders thus far this season. The Eagles boast a 5-7 record in doubleheaders this year. EMU split with Austin Peay, Feb. 25, before dropping a pair of games at No. 30 Kentucky later that week, March 1. The last time the Green and White swept a doubleheader was down in Cincinnati, March 9. The Eagles first took down the host Bearcats, 5-4, and then continued their winning ways with an 11-5 thumping of Youngstown State. EMU out-scored Northern Kentucky, 26-5, sweeping a doubleheader over the Norse, 13-3 and 13-2 before dropping a pair of conference contests to both Akron and Ball State in the latest twinbills.

BACK TO YPSILANTI: Following the mid-week contest at Ohio State, Head Coach Jay Alexander and his ballclub return to the friendly confines of Oestrike Stadium for four games in consecutive days. The Eagles added a game to their schedule this week and will host Siena Heights in a Thursday evening contest, April 10, at 5 p.m. The non-conference matchup will set the stage for a three-game series against MAC West Division foe Northern Illinois, April 11-13. The Eagles and Huskies will battle under the lights in game one, April 11, at 6 p.m., before a Saturday afternoon affair, April 12, with a 3 p.m. first pitch. The series wraps up on Sunday, April 13, starting at 1 p.m.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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