Eagles Welcome Ohio for Weekend MAC Series at Oestrike Stadium

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – Following a seven-game road swing, the Eastern Michigan University baseball team returns to Oestrike Stadium for the first time since April 18. With just two weeks remaining in the regular season, the race for one of the eight spots in the Mid-American Conference tournament heats up. The Eagles are currently on the outside looking in, but have a chance to make up some ground this weekend against Ohio University.
    The series gets underway Friday evening, May 8, under the lights at Oestrike Stadium with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. Game two is set for Saturday, May 9, at 3 p.m. while the series concludes with a Mother's Day contest on Sunday, May 10, at 1 p.m. Fans that cannot attend the games can follow along with live stats on EMUEagles.com or listen live on Eagle All-Access.

THE SERIES: Eastern Michigan and Ohio will be meeting on the diamond for the 115th time on Friday evening, with the Eagles holding a 64-50 all-time series advantage. However, the teams have split the prior 32 meetings dating back to the 2003 season.
    The Bobcats took two-of-three from the Eagles last season in Athens, Ohio, but Ohio's last trip to Oestrike Stadium in 2013 resulted in a series victory for the Green and White as the Eagles claimed the final two games of the weekend set.

WEEKEND CELEBRATIONS: The Eastern Michigan baseball program has scheduled multiple celebrations for all three games of this weekend's series against Ohio. On Friday, all EMU baseball alumni will be welcomed back to Oestrike Stadium. Also, the EMU baseball program will be honoring the late Ron Oestrike. Coach Oestrike is the winningest coach in program history with 657 wins and he led the Green and White to two NCAA College World Series appearances. A tribute to Coach Oak will be conducted before the first pitch, along with a special guest that will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.
    Saturday is Little League Appreciate Day, where little leaguers from the Ypsi-Arbor Little League Association will spend an afternoon at the ballpark watching the Eagles take on the Bobcats. The little leaguers will have the opportunity to stand on the field during the national anthem and partake in on-field contests throughout the game. Finally, on Sunday the baseball program will show support of Breast Cancer Awareness by wearing pink in their uniforms. The Eagles encourage all fans to wear pink to try and "Pink out the Park." All mothers in attendance will also be honored during the game.

ON THE MOUND: Head Coach Mark Van Ameyde and the Eagles have announced one starting pitcher for this weekend's series against Ohio. Senior RHP Charlie Land (3-6, 3.76 ERA) will get the start in the series opener on Friday against RHP Jake Miller (2-3, 3.51 ERA). The Bobcats will go with RHP Connor Sitz (5-1, 4.91 ERA) in game two on Saturday and RHP Jake Rudnick (3-4, 6.55 ERA) in the series finale on Sunday.

SCOUTING OHIO: Ohio enters the weekend series tied for third in the MAC standings with a conference record of 12-9. The Bobcats fell in their home finale on Wednesday, May 5, by a final score of 5-3 to the University of Dayton, dropping their overall record to 27-18.
    At the plate, the Bobcats are hitting .278 as a team led by Mitch Longo, who is hitting at a team-best .366 clip. He leads the conference in hits with 70 and also leads the team in RBI (36), total bases (92), and slugging percentage (.482). Longo is the brother of former EMU baseball student-athlete Lee Longo (2011-2014). Ohio has three others players hitting above the .300 mark: Jake Madsen (.328), Manny DeJesus (.313), and Cody Gaertner (.300). Garret Black proves to be the biggest threat on the basepath as he has stolen 12-of-19 bases.
    On the mound, the pitching staff has compiled an ERA of 4.35. Logan Cozart (5-1) has been solid out of the bullpen, appearing in 24 games while recording an ERA of 1.88. Cozart has nine saves on the season and is holding opponents to just a .171 batting average against. The three weekend starters have a combined record of 10-8 with Connor Sitz and Jake Rudnick each sporting ERAs over four and a half.

MID-WEEK CANCELLATION: Due to rain in the Rochester, Mich. area on Tuesday, May 5, Eastern Michigan and Oakland were forced to cancel their non-conference mid-week contest. The Eagles and Golden Grizzlies added the game to their schedules due to cancellations earlier in the season. The game will not be rescheduled.

RUBINO NAMED CAPITAL ONE ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT: Senior second baseman John Rubino was named to the Capital One Academic All-District Baseball First Team in District Five by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), May 7. The award is the second of Rubino's career as he garnered the accolades last year as well. Aside from his success on the diamond, the Scottsdale, Ariz. native carries a 3.90 grade point average as an economics major in the classroom.

STEALING HISTORY: Senior John Rubino is just one stolen base away from tying the all-time single season stolen base record at Eastern Michigan. Rubino enters the weekend with 31 stolen bases, which puts him in a tie for second in EMU laurels with Greg Howe and Brian Bixler. The senior's next stolen base will match the all-time single season record of 32 that was set by Kyle Rhoad during the 2009 season. Rubino is currently fourth in the record book with 67 career stolen bags.

DEALING LAND: Senior RHP Charlie Land has been dominant in his previous two starts against Miami and Northern Illinois. After tossing his first career complete game shutout against the Huskies, April 24, Land followed that performance with six scoreless innings against the RedHawks, May 1. In his last two starts combined, Land has pitched 15 innings allowing no runs on seven hits and six strikeouts. The Wheat Ridge, Colo. native is 3-6 on the season with an earned run average of 3.76.

NOTABLE STREAKS: Although John Rubino's career-best 13-game hitting streak came to an end on Saturday, May 3, at Miami, the senior is still riding a 22-game reached base streak heading into the weekend. The 22-game streak marks a new career high for the second baseman. Junior Mitchell McGeein saw his 19-game reached base streak end in the series opener at Miami on Friday night, May 1.

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 42.6 percent (29-of-68) of potential base stealers this season, which is good for 13th in the nation among all NCAA Division I catchers. The 29 total runners caught stealing is good for second in the nation. DiLeo trails only BGSU's Trey Keegan (50 percent) for the highest percentage in the MAC.

NATIONAL RANKS: John Rubino's 31 stolen bases places him in a tie for sixth among all NCAA Division I players. Rubino is just four bases off the lead as Buffalo's Nick Sinay and NYIT's Joe Daru lead the country with 35 swipes apiece on the season. Mitchell McGeein is tied for 61st in the nation with 10 round trippers on the year.

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 194 games for the Eagles, starting in 182 of those contests. Rubino has started in 62-straight games at either second base or shortstop.

ON DECK FOR THE EAGLES: Following the weekend MAC series against Ohio, the Eagles make the short trek to Ann Arbor for the third time this season as the Green and White square off against the University of Michigan Tuesday, May 12, in the final mid-week contest of the season. First pitch against the Wolverines is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Wilpon Complex.

Eagles Welcome Ohio for Weekend MAC Series at Oestrike Stadium

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Players Mentioned

Tony DiLeo

Charlie Land

Lee Longo

Mitchell McGeein

John Rubino

Eastern Michigan Athletics