Baseball Poised to Take On No. 1 Florida

Baseball vs No. 1 Florida
Date	Tuesday, Feb. 23- Wednesday, Feb. 24
Location	Gainseville/Lakeland, Fla. (Alfred A. McKethan/Joker Marchant)
Game Notes	EMU Notes
Live Stats	floridagators.com
Audio	floridagators.com
Twitter	@EMU_Baseball

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University baseball team remains in the south when it makes the short jaunt to the University of Florida for a mid-week two-game set with the No. 1 ranked Gators, Feb. 23-24. Game one on Tuesday, Feb. 23, will take place at Florida's home field in Gainseville, while Wednesday's game will take place at the spring training home of the Detroit Tigers, Joker Marchant Stadium, in Lakeland, Fla. Both games are set to begin at 7 p.m.

ALL-TIME SERIES: The Eagles and Gators have met a total of six times on the diamond in their respective histories. UF holds a 5-1 advantage all-time in the series, winning the last four meetings. EMU's lone win came in the 1985 season, a 7-6 win, March 7. The last time the two teams met was in 2009 when No. 12 Florida swept a two-game series , Feb. 24-25.

GAUGING THE GATORS: Florida enters the week ranked as the No. 1 team in the country by multiple outlets, including D1Baseball.com and the USA Today Coaches Poll. They opened their 2016 season by sweeping a weekend series 3-0 over Florida Gulf Coast. UF is coming off a season in which they made their eighth trip to the College World Series. They concluded the season with a 52-18 record, falling in the semifinals to Virginia.

EAGLES OUT TO HISTORIC START: With the 3-1 start to the season in Emerson, Ga. the Eagles baseball squad is off to their best start to a season since the 1994 campaign. That season, EMU finished with a 29-27 overall record, including a 15-12 mark in MAC play. The Eagles outscored their opponents 33-6 over the weekend, including an 8-0 shutout of NJIT, Feb. 20. The 16-3 win over UNO, Feb. 19, saw the most runs scored by an EMU team since 2014, and the most hits in a game (20) since 2013.

WILLIAMS NAMED MAC WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Sophomore designated hitter Brennan Williams was named the Mid-American Conference West Division Baseball Player of the Week for the period ending Feb. 21. Williams paced the Eagles' offense in a 3-1 weekend to start the season for EMU baseball, recording wins over Nebraska-Omaha and NJIT. The sophomore DH hit a scorching .500, recording seven hits in 14 plate appearances. One of the hits was a two-run home run, the first of his career, and was apart of six RBIs on the weekend. Racking up 11 total bases, Williams finished with a .786 slugging percentage. Not just a power threat, Williams stole two bases on two attempts. His offensive efforts helped lead EMU to its best start since the 1994 season.

EQUALLY GOOD WEEKEND FOR MARTIN: The weekend series in the Peach State was equally as fruitful for senior Jackson Martin. Starting in all four games, Martin totaled seven hits, including a double and a homerun, and seven RBIs. In the first game of the season against UNO, Feb. 19, Martin led the way with a 4-for-5 game, including four RBIs. The four RBIs was one more then the senior had in his first two seasons combined for EMU, and the seven on the season is already more than he had in all of 2015 (six).

VERSATILE PITCHING STAFF: The EMU starting pitching staff needed contributions from creative places to start the season after graduating it's entire rotation from last season in these early season games. It was found from junior Sam Delaplane and senior Austin Wilson. Each making a start in Georgia, Delaplane, a converted closer, and Wilson, the usual starting centerfielder with pitching experience, both picked up wins in their first starts of the season. Delaplane went 6.2 innings, striking out eight against Omaha, Feb. 19, while Wilson went four shutout innings, striking out three also against Omaha, Feb. 21.

HIT AND RUN: EMU was alert and impactful when getting on base against UNO and NJIT, Feb. 19-21. The Green and White stole 15 bases on the weekend in 16 attempts. Redshirt junior Marquise Gill led EMU with five steals on five attempts. The 15 steals ranks No. 3 in the country, only two behind the national leader, Wright State. EMU also ranks 8th in the nation with 49 hits after the first weekend of play, including 11 doubles, which is 11th.

NEWCOMERS MAKING EARLY IMPACTS: In the first weekend of the season, EMU saw contributions from some new players in their EMU debuts. Freshman Davis Feldman made his first career start for Eastern against UNO, Feb. 20. Despite taking a no-decision, the righty did not allow an earned run in five innings of work, while striking out three. Fellow freshman Tyler Butzin earned his first collegiate save in his first career appearance after going four shut-out innings in relief against NJIT, Feb. 20. The lefty struck out five batters and only allowed two hits. Junior college transfer Jeremy Stidham started all four games behind the plate for EMU, collecting three hits including a triple, and knocking in a run.
Other players to make their EMU debuts included freshman Robert Iacobelli, John Rensel Jr. and redshirt freshman Alex Wolanski, who all collected their first hits. Freshman Max Schuemann made his first collegiate start against UNO, Feb. 20. Finally junior college transfers Kevin Shul and Josh Bravin both pitched relief innings for EMU, without allowing any runs.

RETURN TO THE SUNSHINE STATE: Senior Austin Wilson is the lone Florida native on the 2016 EMU baseball squad. With the team in Florida for the upcoming week, the outfielder/pitcher will be spending the week in his home state. The Valrico, Fla. native attended Bloomingdale Senior High School, which is located just outside of Tampa, Fla.

BULLS ON THE HORIZON: After the mid-week series against Florida, EMU remains in the Sunshine State with a weekend series against the South Florida Bulls. The three-game set will take place Feb. 26-28, with game one set for a 7 p.m. first pitch on Friday.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Josh Bravin

Tyler Butzin

Sam Delaplane

Davis Feldman

Marquise Gill

Robert Iacobelli

Jackson Martin

John Rensel Jr.

Max Schuemann

Kevin Shul

Jeremy Stidham

Brennan Williams

Austin Wilson

Alex Wolanski

Eastern Michigan Athletics