Baseball Opens Four-Game Set Against Saint Mary's

MORAGA, Calif. (EMUEagles.com) -- After a disappointing season opening series with the University of Arizona, the Eastern Michigan University baseball team looks to change its luck as continues a grueling road schedule to begin the season this weekend, Feb. 20-22, when the Eagles travel to Moraga, Calif. for a four-game set with Saint Mary's College.
Eastern will take on the Gaels Friday, Feb. 20, at 2 p.m. PT before starting a doubleheader at 10 a.m. PT on Saturday morning. The Eagles will close out the series with SMC Sunday, Feb. 22, with a single contest at Louis Guisto Field at 1 p.m. PT.

THE SERIES: Eastern Michigan and Saint Mary's will be meeting on the diamond for the first time in 2015. The Gaels are the first of two West Coast Conference schools the Eagles will face, as EMU will play Santa Clara, Feb. 27-March 1.
The contests are also EMU's first in the state of California since 2001 when the team battled San Deigo, Fresno State, Pacific and Sacramento State, March 2-10.

ON THE MOUND: The Green and White hopes that this series with the Gaels will be a rebounding effort following a disappointing sweep by the Wildcats of Arizona last weekend. Eastern will continue with the same starters as its opening series with Ryan Lavoie (0-1, 7.50 ERA) leading the way, before Charlie Land (0-1, 11.59 ERA) takes the mound in game two and Jake Andrews (0-1, 0.00 ERA) receives the ball in game three. Coach Mark Van Ameyde has yet to announce his starter for the fourth and final game of the series. The Gaels will send out right-hander Cameron Neff (0-1, 4.76 ERA) to begin the series before Corbin Burnes (1-0, 2.57 ERA) and Johnny York (1-0, 0.00 ERA) go games two and three, while Jake Valdez (1-0, 0.00 ERA) will take the hill to complete the series.

WEST COAST SWING: The Eastern Michigan baseball team began its campaign on the western portion of the United States. In fact, the Eagles are spending their first 13 games in either the Mountain or Pacific time zones, playing 10-of-13 games to open the season in the state of California. Eastern will not have to worry about playing in the cool Midwest winter until they travel to Indiana, March 10-11, for two games in Bloomington, Ind.

OPENING UP: The EMU baseball team opened up the 2014 campaign last weekend, Feb. 13-15, with a three-game set at Arizona. The Wildcats beat up on the Eagles, sweeping Eastern (7-3, 16-3, 6-2). The Green and White hit at just a .167 clip, while the Wildcats knocked the ball around at a .368 batting average, while scoring 29 runs, compared to EMU's eight.

ERRORS PLAGUE EMU IN FINALE: Eastern Michigan put itself in position to defeat the Wildcats in the getaway game of the opening series. Eastern led UA, 2-1, until the bottom of the sixth, when the Wildcats hit up Jake Andrews for three runs. The issue was not the pitching for EMU, but the Eagles committed seven errors in the loss, leading to five unearned runs for Arizona.

RUBINO CONTINUES TO HIT: After hitting at a .330 clip during the 2014 campaign, the Eagles' middle infielder, John Rubino, has continued to swing a hot bat, going 3-for-9 with a .556 slugging percentage in the first series of the season. Rubino scored a pair of runs, while legging out a triple and driving in one run.

LEARNING TO FLY: Between Feb. 13 and March 15, the Eagles will play 19 games in 30 days and log 10,462 miles of travel. After an opening weekend series in Tuscon, Ariz. against the Arizona Wildcats, EMU heads to The Golden State for a series with Saint Marys, Feb. 20-22, before making their way to UC Davis, Feb. 24-25, and Santa Clara, Feb. 27-March 1. EMU then returns east to battle Georgia State University, March 6-7, Indiana University, March 10-11, and Northern Kentucky University, March 13-15.

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Players Mentioned

Jake Andrews

Charlie Land

Ryan Lavoie

John Rubino

Eastern Michigan Athletics