Baseball Opens Season with Four-Game Set Against FGCU

Baseball at Florida Gulf Coast (0-0, 0-0 A-Sun)
Date	Friday-Sunday, Feb. 16-18
Venue	Ft. Myers, Fla. \| Swanson Stadium
Game Notes	EMU Notes
Live Stats	StatBroadcast
Audio	N/A
Twitter	@EMUBaseball

FT. MYERS, Fla. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University baseball team opens its 2018 season with a four-game series against Florida Gulf Coast University Friday-Sunday, Feb. 16-18 at Swanson Stadium in Ft. Myers, Fla. The season begins at 2 p.m. Friday for the first end of a doubleheader. Games three and four will both start at 1 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.
The action can be followed live on Twitter by following @EMU_Baseball. Live stats can also be tracked on FGCUAthletics.com.

EMU IN SEASON OPENERS: Eastern Michigan is entering its 70th season as a varsity program since its first season in 1949. In those 69 previous seasons, Eastern is 34-35 in season openers. The Eagles have won their last two opening games, defeating Nebraska-Omaha in 2016, and knocking off Missouri last season.

ALL-TIME VS. FGCU: EMU and FGCU met for the first time in their respective histories last season for a one-game midweek contest. The Eagles of Florida Gulf Coast took the game, 12-5, Feb. 22. FGCU has only fielded a team since 2003, and just became a full-time Division-I program in 2010.

ALL-TIME VS. THE A-SUN: Eastern Michigan is 4-5 all-time against the Atlantic Sun Conference. Eastern faced a pair of teams from the Macon, Ga. based conference in 2016, winning a single game against NJIT, and going 1-2 in a weekend series against Lipscomb. Last season, the meeting with FGCU was the lone contest against the A-Sun.

RACKING UP THE FLYER MILES: As with most northern based teams, EMU is forced to play its early season games in warmer climates before it can play games at home. The Eagles will play its first 20 games away from Ypsilanti this season.

HELLO MY NAME IS: With a senior-laden squad last season, EMU saw its fair share of turnover this offseason to the roster. Entering 2018, EMU has more newcomers (15) than returning letterwinners (13), having lost 14 lettermen from a season ago.

RETURNING PRODUCTION: The newcomers will be expected to fill big roles in a hurry, as EMU lost six primary position starters from a season ago, as well as six go-to pitchers. In total, EMU returns just 37.5 percent of its at-bats from a season ago, as well as 44.1 percent of its innings.

ROOF TAKES OVER AS EMU SKIPPER: This offseason, fourth-year assistant coach Eric Roof took over as interim head coach of the EMU baseball program after spending the last three as an assistant coach on the Eagles' staff. A full biography for coach Roof can be found on page 8 of the notes.

HEAD COACH EXPERIENCE: Roof, as well as fouth-year assistant coach Spencer Schmitz, have some experience leading the Green and White over the last three seasons in a head role. Whether due to ejection, or later suspension, Roof and Schmitz have been tasked to lead the team in six games from 2015-17. In those six games, the Eagles have a 5-1 record.

ABOUT LAST SEASON: Last season was a memorable one for the EMU baseball team, as the Eagles finished the year in the Mid-American Conference Championship game for the first time since winning the title back in 2008. In all, EMU finished with 27 wins, with a 14-10 conference mark, its best win total and MAC winning percentage since 2011.

NEW ASSISTANTS: Two new assistant coaches were hired over the offseason in volunteer assistant Matt Rembielak and pitching coach A.J. Achter. Both join EMU in their first coaching roles, as Rembielak joins the Eagles after finishing up his playing career at Akron in 2015, while Achter recently retired from the MLB after the 2017 season after an eight-year professional career, including parts of three seasons with the Twins and Angles.

ROOF/ACHTER CONNECTION: A.J. Achter was a logical choice for interim head coach Eric Roof to choose when the job became open, as the two were teammates on Michigan State from 2008-09. The two were battery mates, with Achter pitching to Roof on numerous occasions.

2018 SCHEDULE: The Eagles will play a full 56-game slate in 2018, including 17 games at Oestrike Stadium. 2018 will be a unique one for the MAC, as with 10 teams now in the league, each team will play a full conference schedule with three-game series against all nine teams.

ON THE HORIZON: EMU remains in the Sunshine State for a single midweek game with NCAA Division II Lynn University, Tuesday, Feb. 20. First pitch against the Fighting Knights is set for 2:30 p.m.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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