Eagles End 2015 Season at Oestrike Against Toledo

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – Closing out the 2015 campaign, the Eastern Michigan University baseball team welcomes the University of Toledo for a three-game Mid-American Conference series, May 14-16, at Oestrike Stadium. The Eagles will look for their second consecutive series victory over the Rockets to close the book on head coach Mark Van Ameyde's first season at the helm of the EMU baseball program.
    The series gets underway Thursday, May 14, with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. while the three-game set continues Friday, May 15, at 3 p.m. The 2015 finale and Senior Day is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 16. Fans that cannot attend the games can listen live to all three contests on the airwaves of Eagle All-Access free of charge.

THE SERIES: Eastern Michigan and Toledo will be meeting on the diamond for the 143rd time on Thursday evening, with the Eagles holding an 88-54 all-time series advantage. However, the teams have split the prior 30 meetings dating back to the 2005 season.
    The Eagles claimed the series victory last year in Toledo to end the season, but the Rockets took two-of-three from the Green and White in their last trip to Ypsilanti to close out the 2013 campaign.

SENIOR DAY: The Eastern Michigan baseball program will honor five seniors before Saturday's, May 16, season finale against Toledo. The five seniors who will be donning the Green and White for the final time are John Rubino, Adam Dennison, Charlie Land, Ryan Lavoie, and Jake Andrews. During their tenure at EMU, the team has posted 89 victories, including one appearance in the 2012 MAC Tournament.

SCOUTING TOLEDO: Toledo enters the final weekend of the regular season with an overall record of 22-30 and a conference mark of 14-10, which places the Rockets in fourth in the MAC standings. The Rockets dropped their final mid-week contest of the season Tuesday, May 12, at Wright State by a final score of 7-1.
    At the plate, UT is hitting .244 as a team with three players over the .300 mark. Freshman A.J. Montoya carries a .301 batting average and leads the Rockets is almost every offensive category. The catcher leads the team in runs (29), hits (62), doubles (15), home runs (8), RBI (36), total bases (103), and slugging percentage (.500). Deion Tansel (.310) and Dalton Bollinger (.308) are also hitting over .300 for the Rockets, while Tansel proves to be the biggest threat on the basepath with a team-best 10 stolen bases.
    On the mound, the Rocket pitching staff has compiled an ERA of 4.68. The three weekend starters have a combined record of 13-17, but all have ERA's below 3.2. RHP Cameron Palmer and LHP Steven Calhoun will each be making their 14th starts of the season against the Eagles. RHP Adam Tyson has been solid out of the bullpen for the Rockets, recording a 2-0 record with seven saves and a 2.91 ERA in 16 appearances.

STEALING HISTORY: Senior John Rubino set the single season stolen base record last weekend against Ohio University. Rubino entered the weekend with 31 stolen bases, needing just two to set the single season record in EMU baseball laurels. The second baseman tied the mark of 32 steals set by Kyle Rhoad during the 2009 season on Saturday, May 9. Rubino did not wait long to break the record in the series finale Sunday, May 10, against the Bobcats. Following a first inning single, Rubino swiped second base for his 33rd steal of the season and claimed sole possession of the record. Rubino is currently fourth in the record book with 71 career stolen bags for the Green and White.

MAC SCHOLAR ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Senior John Rubino continued to collect the accolades during his final campaign, as the second baseman was named the Mid-American Conference Scholar Athlete of the Week, May 13. It is the first of Rubino's career, but the 10th EMU student-athlete to be garnered with the award this academic year. Rubino took home the honor after setting the single season stolen base record at EMU last weekend, May 10, against Ohio.

NOTABLE STREAKS: Senior John Rubino enters his final weekend for the Green and White riding a career-high 27-game reached base streak. Despite losing his career-best 13-game hitting streak May 2 at Miami, Rubino has recorded a hit in the last six games and 19 of the previous 20 games for the Eagles. Jordan Peterson's base hit against Michigan Tuesday, May 12, extended the junior's hitting streak to seven straight games, which matches a career-best for the transfer.

WALK-OFF VICTORY: The Eagles recorded a walk-off victory in the 13th inning over Oakland University Monday, May 11, in a game that lasted a total of six hours and 57 minutes. Trailing 8-3 heading to the bottom of the eighth, the Green and White plated six runs in the frame to grab a 9-8 lead. The eighth inning rally was halted for two hours and 25 minutes as the game was put into a weather delay. OU tied the game at nine runs apiece in the top of the ninth to send the game into extra innings. Following a run from each team in the 10th, the game remained deadlocked at 10 until the bottom of the 13th. After the Eagles loaded the bases, pinch hitter Tony DiLeo watched four straight balls to bring in the winning run for the Green and White.

INSIDE THE OAKLAND BOX SCORE: Monday's, May 11, 13-inning contest between Eastern Michigan and Oakland was the longest game the EMU baseball team has played since defeating Central Michigan 11-10 in 14 innings May 11, 2009. There were a total of 416 pitches thrown (EMU 218, Oakland 198), 36 players used (EMU 18, Oakland 18), and 14 stolen bases (EMU 10, Oakland 4). The total game duration on Monday was 6:57, including a 2:25 weather delay.

DEVENNEY DELIVERS: Freshman Luke DeVenney made the most of his sixth start of the season against the Golden Grizzlies on Monday, May 12, at Oestrike Stadium. DeVenney recorded career highs in hits and runs with three apiece out of the leadoff spot. He came around to score the game-winning run for the Eagles in the bottom of the 13th and also recorded his first career extra base hit, which was a double in the bottom of the eighth to get the six-run rally started.

RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY: During the Eagles' stretch of five games in five days, three of those contests were put into weather delays. On Friday night, May 8, Eastern Michigan and Ohio were put in a two-hour delay in the bottom of the seventh inning while the teams also had to wait out another two-hour weather delay in the seventh inning in the series finale on Sunday, May 11. The contest between Oakland and EMU was halted for two hours and 25 minutes after inclement weather struck the Ypsilanti area in the bottom of the eighth inning. All in all, the Eagles had to wait out six hours and 25 minutes of delay.

FINDING THE NATIONAL RANKS: Senior John Rubino currently sits in fourth among all NCAA Division I players with 35 stolen bases this season. Rubino trails the nation's leader, Joe Daru of NYIT by just three steals. Buffalo's Nick Sinay is just two steals ahead of Rubino with 37 swipes on the season for the MAC lead.

THE DIFFERENCE AT THE PLATE: In the Eagles' 19 victories this season, the Green and White has a team batting average of .313 and has scored 122 runs, which is good for about 6.4 runs per contest. Eastern Michigan is hitting nearly 100 points lower in the 33 losses, however, batting at a .223 clip while only scoring 2.8 runs per game.

IRON MAN RUBINO: Since the beginning of the 2013 season, John Rubino has started in all but one game for the Green and White. The only game Rubino did not start in was against a Division II opponent, Hillsdale College, last year. The Scottsdale, Ariz. native has appeared in 199 games for the Eagles, starting in 187 of those contests. Rubino has started in 67-straight games at either second base or shortstop.

NOT ON MY WATCH: Junior catcher Tony DiLeo is making the most of his first significant playing time behind the dish for the Green and White. DiLeo has thrown out 41.7 percent (30-of-72) of potential base stealers this season, which ranks the junior in the top-15 in the nation among all NCAA Division I catchers.

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Players Mentioned

Jake Andrews

Adam Dennison

Luke DeVenney

Tony DiLeo

Charlie Land

Ryan Lavoie

Jordan Peterson

John Rubino

Eastern Michigan Athletics