Eagles Host Falcons for Home, MAC Opening Series

Baseball vs Bowling Green (4-13, 0-0 MAC)
Date	Friday-Sunday, March 24-26
Venue	Ypsilanti, Mich. \| Oestrike Stadium
Game Notes	EMU Notes
Live Stats	emueagles.com
Audio	N/A
Twitter	@EMUBaseball

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University baseball team opens its 45th Mid-American Conference season and 47th season at Oestrike Stadium this weekend when it plays host to Bowling Green State University for a three-game set, Friday-Sunday, March 24-26. The series begins with a 6 p.m. first pitch on Friday, followed up with a 3 p.m. start time on Saturday, and the series finale coming Sunday with a 1 p.m. beginning.
The action can be tracked live on Twitter by following @EMU_Baseball. Live stats will be available through emueagles.com.

ALL-TIME VS THE FALCONS: The Eagles and Falcons have met a total of 168 times on the diamond in their respective histories, with EMU leading the series, 97-71. That marks the most times EMU has played an opponent outside of the state of Michigan. Last year, EMU swept BGSU in a three-game series in Ypsilanti by scores of 5-4, 4-0, and 8-4. It was the first time sweeping a MAC foe since 2013, and the first sweep of the Falcons since 2007.

FEELING OUT THE FALCONS: Bowling Green enters the conference opening weekend with a 4-13 mark, including dropping its last three games. In true road contests, BGSU is 1-8. The offense hits at a .209 clip, the second-lowest in the MAC, and are being outscored 124-58 as well as outhit 163-109. The Falcons are led by Greg Basalyga who hits .333 with 15 hits and 11 RBI's.
The pitching staff holds an ERA of 6.37, the seventh ranked mark in the MAC. BGSU opponents bat .294 against the Falcon hurlers, while allowing 86 walks to 105 K's. BGSU's Friday starter, Chase Antle, has yet to allow a run in 12.1 innings, striking out 16. The defense also has a .945 fielding percentage with 32 errors, the lowest fielding percentage in the MAC.

ALL-TIME AT OESTRIKE: Friday marks the opening of the 47th season at the friendly confines of Oestrike Stadium. In the long standing history of the field, EMU holds a 516-365-2 record at the stadium. Of the 46 previous seasons, 33 have resulted in winning home records for Eastern.

ALL-TIME IN THE MAC: Friday also sees the beginning of the 45th season EMU has participated in the Mid-American Conference as a program. Eastern holds a 565-523-3 all-time record in conference play. The program holds five regular season championships, as well as four tournament championships, most recently in 2008.

EAGLES AND FALCONS CONNECTIONS: The Eastern Michigan and Bowling Green coaching staffs have a few connections that link both programs. The Falcons are coached by former EMU baseball student-athlete and E-Club Hall of Famer Danny Schmitz ('79). Danny is the father of third-year Eastern Michigan assistant coach, Spencer Schmitz. Spencer played for his father at BGSU before beginning his coaching career. He was an assistant coach under the elder Schmitz for six years (2008-2013) at BGSU. In addition, second-year volunteer assistant coach Mike Frank is a former student-athlete for BGSU, playing there from 2010-2014.

PLAYING THE BEST: Thus far this season, EMU's non-conference schedule has been the toughest in college baseball. EMU's past opponents hold an 84-38 record, for a .689 winning percentage, good for the best in the NCAA. In addition, four teams on EMU's schedule are currently ranked in the Baseball America top-25, including No. 1 Louisville, No. 12 Florida Gulf Coast, No. 18 Missouri, and No. 23 Michigan.

THE WINNING FORMULA: In EMU's four wins this season, starting pitcher Brent Mattson has been the starting pitcher in all four of them. The junior righty holds a personal record of 2-1, but when Mattson is the starting pitcher, EMU is 4-1 on the season.

TWICE IS NICE: In the 8-3 win over Samford, March 19, Jeremy Stidham hit two home runs to power the Eagles to the victory. He was the first EMU player hit two homers in a game since Mike Mioduszewski blasted two, including a walk-off HR, in the Senior Day win over NIU, May 15, 2016. Stidham now owns 10 homers in his two-year EMU career.

WALK-OFF HEARTBREAK: With the first 19 games of the season away from Oestrike, EMU has been the road team more often than not. This has resulted in some heartbreaking finishes in close games, including being the victim of a walk-off loss on three occasions, including versus Missouri, Feb. 19, Louisville, March 4, and Samford, March 17.

IMPACT FRESHMEN: So far this season, EMU has relied early and often on 'true' freshmen in starting roles. In the first 19 games, freshmen have combined to make 57 starts in the field and eight appearances on the mound. Infielders Devin Hager and Drake Peggs have made the most of their starts, as Hager leads EMU with a .326 batting average, while Peggs leads EMU in walks (12) and OBP (.382), and is also second in RBI's (11). Meanwhile, pitcher James Harness has made three starts in five appearances, and picked up his first collegiate win against Samford, March 19.

EARLY INNING STRUGGLES: EMU has dug itself some early holes that it has not been able to get out of early in the 2017 season. EMU is currently being outscored in the first four innings by 45 runs, 81-36, while they are only being outscored by 18, 74-56, in the final five. The Eagles have only scored first seven times so far, and are 3-4 in those contests, while putting up a 1-11 record when opponents score first.

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 158 career knocks.

GOLDEN GRIZZLIES ON THE HORIZON: EMU returns to mid-week action next week, Tuesday, March 28, for a solo game against Oakland University. First pitch from Oestrike Stadium is set for 6 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Marquise Gill

Devin Hager

James Harness

Brent Mattson

Mike Mioduszewski

John Montgomery

Drake Peggs

Jeremy Stidham

Brennan Williams

Eastern Michigan Athletics