Baseball Wraps Up Spring Break Trip with Five Games in Four Days

Baseball vs St. Bonaventure (0-0, 0-0 A-10), Dartmouth (0-0, 0-0 Ivy) & UW-Milwaukee (1-3, 0-0 Horizon)
Date	Friday-Monday, Feb. 24-27
Venue	Port Charlotte/Winter Haven, Fla. \| Chain of Lakes Park
Game Notes	EMU Notes
Live Stats	Sidearm (Sunday/Monday)
Audio	N/A
Twitter	@EMUBaseball

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University baseball team wraps up its Florida spring break trip with five games in four days against three teams at the SnowBird Classic in Port Charlotte, followed by the RussMat Invitational in Winter Haven. EMU begins the weekend with single games against St. Bonaventure and Dartmouth, Friday-Saturday, Feb. 24-25. First pitch against the Bonnies is set for 1 p.m., followed by an 11 a.m. start time on Saturday. EMU will then take on UW-Milwaukee for three games, starting with a doubleheader on Sunday at 1 p.m., followed by a single game beginning at 10:30 a.m. on Monday.
The action can be tracked live on Twitter by following @EMU_Baseball. Live stats will be available for the Milwaukee series on SidearmSports.com.

ALL-TIME VS THE OPPONENTS: EMU has not faced off against any of the three teams prior to their games this weekend. These teams are three of six opponents that EMU will play for the first time in its 69 years of baseball history in 2017.

BREAKING DOWN THE BONNIES: Friday will mark the 2017 season opener for St. Bonaventure. The Bonnies are coming off of a 26-22-1 overall record in 2016, the program's most wins since 2009. SBU returns 17 players from last season, including six starting position players and five pitchers from a staff that ranked fouth in the nation in ERA.

GREETING THE BIG GREEN: Dartmouth will also be making their 2017 season debut in Port Charlotte. The Hanover, N.H. based school played to an 18-25 mark in 2016, including 11-9 in the Ivy League. They were predicted to finish first in the Ivy League Rolfe Division as they return six position starters and seven pitchers.

PREVIEWING THE PANTHERS: UW-Milwaukee enters the weekend after a 1-3 start to the season down in Texas against Illinois and Lamar. The Panthers' lone win came against the Fighting Illini, 4-2. UW batted a mere .180 as a team in those four games, being outscored 32-22 and striking out 39 times. The pitching staff threw to a 4.72 ERA, tossing 38 strikeouts to just 21 walks. Last season, UW finished 32-26 overall and 17-11 in the Horizon Conference.

MONTGOMERY'S MONSTER START: Senior John Montgomery has his final season in the Green and White off to a great start in in the first five games of the season. The Anaheim Hills, Calif. native leads the team, batting .500 with nine hits, including two doubles, and four RBI's. His three-RBI game on Opening Day matched his career-high and helped EMU defeat Mizzou, 6-2. He also notched his fourth career three-hit game against FGCU, Feb. 22.

CLUB 100: A trio of Eagles reached a career milestone in the first five games of the season. Redshirt senior Marquise Gill and junior Brennan Williams both reached the 100 career hit milestone against Missouri. Fellow senior John Montgomery joined them in that club, as he notched his 100th hit against FGCU, Feb. 22. They joined redshirt senior Mike Mioduszewski for active players in the 100 hit club. Mioduszewski is the active leader in hits with 150 career knocks.

NOTABLE DEBUTS: Coming into the season, it was well known that the squad would have to rely heavily on newcomers to pick up early innings of work. Through the first five games of the season, four true freshman saw starts in the infield, including three with multiple starts. Additionally, four new pitchers have seen time on the bump.
These EMU rookies have had some notable accomplishments, including Drake Peggs, who has batted .364 with two RBI's and three runs in his first five games (three starts). Nick Jones and Zachary Owings have also picked up their first collegiate hits as well, with Jones notching his first career RBI against FGCU, Feb. 22. On the mound, JUCO transfer Brad Allen made his first EMU start, and despite taking the loss, he struck out six batters in just five innings. Freshman James Harness also made his collegiete debut against FGCU, tossing a scoreless inning with a strikeout.

SPEED KILLS: After finishing the season ranked third in the county in stolen bases last year, the Eagles will once again look to rank near the top of that category in 2017. After the first four games of the year, EMU has stolen six bases, which is good for 27th in the country.

SENIOR STOPPERS: The back of the EMU bullpen is one of the strongest parts of this 2017 squad, as two seniors have the end of games on lockdown. Both Matthew Beaton and Sam Delaplane are also at the top of career statistical categories for their efforts, as the two rank tied for 17th and fifth, respectively, in saves with five and 10. Beaton also currently ranks ninth all-time with an ERA of 3.32.

CARDINALS ON THE HORIZON: After a week off from play, the Eagles will get back into action when they travel to the Bluegrass State for a three-game weekend series against the nationally ranked Louisville Cardinals. The series against UL will commence with a Friday, March 3, with a 3 p.m. first pitch.

Baseball Wraps Up Spring Break Trip with Five Games in Four Days

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Players Mentioned

Brad Allen

Matthew Beaton

Sam Delaplane

Marquise Gill

James Harness

Nick Jones

Mike Mioduszewski

John Montgomery

Zachary Owings

Drake Peggs

Brennan Williams

Eastern Michigan Athletics