Eastern Michigan Athletics
Saturday, February 17
Ft. Myers, Fla.
1 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
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Florida Gulf Coast
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Eastern Michigan
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FGCU
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Photo by: Brian Tietz
Baseball Winds Up on Wrong End of Slugfest at FGCU
2/17/2018 5:29:00 PM | Baseball
Eastern was led by a career-day from Zachary Owings
FT. MYERS, Fla. (EMUEagles.com) – For the second time in three games, the Eastern Michigan University baseball team lost in walk-off fashion at Florida Gulf Coast University, this time in a 12-11 slugfest Saturday afternoon, Feb. 17, at Swanson Stadium.
EMU (0-3) led for a majority of the contest, including by as much as four, but a two-run ninth-inning rally from FGCU (3-0) was enough to be the difference.
EMU's offense pounded out 17 hits on the day, out-hitting FGCU by one, including multi-hit games from six Eagle starters. Sophomore Zachary Owings (Saline, Mich.-Saline) led the way with a career day, finishing 4-for-5 with five RBIs, including his first home run in the Green and White.
Fellow sophomore Devin Hager (Commerce Township, Mich.-Walled Lake Northern) added three hits, tying his career-high, while junior Max Schuemann (Portage, Mich.-Portage Northern) continued his hot start, going 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI, and two runs scored. Finally, sophomore Drake Peggs (Knightstown, Ind.-Knightstown Community) also tallied two hits, including a double and RBI, while also scoring a career-high four runs.
Eastern grabbed the lead in the first inning as Owings blasted the first home run of his EMU career on a deep shot off the left field foul pole. FGCU countered with a solo homer of their own in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game back up after one, before adding three more in the second to take a 4-1 advantage.
EMU cut into the lead in the third, getting back to within one. Peggs led things off with a walk, and Schuemann remained on fire, notching a single and advancing on the throw to make it second and third. Owings was there again with the RBI infield single to plate the first run. The second would come in when Schuemann scampered home on a bad pick-off attempt, making it 4-3.
Florida Gulf Coast kept the offensive pressure on in the bottom half of the third, getting another run to push the lead back to two, 5-3. Eastern responded though with a big two-out rally in the fourth.
With two down, redshirt freshman Jeff Timko (Rochester Hills, Mich.-Brother Rice) notched the first hit of his career, an infield single, which was followed by a Hager single. Junior Cameron Cruz (Chandler, Ariz.-Hamilton (Mesa C.C.)) then knocked in the first with a third-straight base knock. After a pitching change, Cruz swiped second and the ball sailed into center, allowing Hager to score and Cruz to advance to third, tying the game. Peggs followed that up with an RBI single to give EMU the lead back, 6-5.
FGCU subbed pitchers for the second time in the frame, but to no avail as Schuemann ripped an RBI double down the right field line to give Eastern the two-run lead. FGCU made a third pitching change, but it didn't work again, as Owings tallied his third RBI of the afternoon on a single, giving Eastern its fifth run with two outs, and an 8-5 lead.
After a clean bottom of the fourth, FGCU hit another solo home run in the fifth to tighten the advantage to two. In the sixth, some sloppy FGCU play led to a couple more runs for the Green and White.
Hager led off with a bunt single and, one batter later, Peggs reached on an error, putting runners on the corners. A passed ball scored Hager, and then Owings delivered his fourth RBI on a single up the middle to get EMU's lead up to four, 10-6.
The FGCU Eagles did not back down though, getting it back to within one in the bottom of the sixth. With the bases loaded and just one out, FGCU got a walk, fielder's choice, and RBI double to cut it to 10-9 going into the final three frames.
Eastern got its first three-up, three-down inning of the game in the seventh, as senior Justin McMurtrey (Redding, Calif.-Shasta (Butte C.C.)) notched a strikeout in his 1-2-3 frame. EMU capitalized on it in the eighth as Owings secured his fifth RBI on a groundout, which scored Peggs, who led off the inning with a double. FGCU cut it to one once again in the bottom half of the eighth, setting up the ninth inning with an 11-10 score.
After EMU went in order in the top half of the ninth, FGCU rallied with two runs on three hits, the last of which was the walk-off winner, to saddle Eastern with the heartbreaking 12-11 setback.
EMU concludes its four-game series with Florida Gulf Coast tomorrow, Feb. 18. First pitch from Swanson Stadium is set for 1 p.m.
EMU (0-3) led for a majority of the contest, including by as much as four, but a two-run ninth-inning rally from FGCU (3-0) was enough to be the difference.
EMU's offense pounded out 17 hits on the day, out-hitting FGCU by one, including multi-hit games from six Eagle starters. Sophomore Zachary Owings (Saline, Mich.-Saline) led the way with a career day, finishing 4-for-5 with five RBIs, including his first home run in the Green and White.
Fellow sophomore Devin Hager (Commerce Township, Mich.-Walled Lake Northern) added three hits, tying his career-high, while junior Max Schuemann (Portage, Mich.-Portage Northern) continued his hot start, going 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI, and two runs scored. Finally, sophomore Drake Peggs (Knightstown, Ind.-Knightstown Community) also tallied two hits, including a double and RBI, while also scoring a career-high four runs.
Eastern grabbed the lead in the first inning as Owings blasted the first home run of his EMU career on a deep shot off the left field foul pole. FGCU countered with a solo homer of their own in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game back up after one, before adding three more in the second to take a 4-1 advantage.
EMU cut into the lead in the third, getting back to within one. Peggs led things off with a walk, and Schuemann remained on fire, notching a single and advancing on the throw to make it second and third. Owings was there again with the RBI infield single to plate the first run. The second would come in when Schuemann scampered home on a bad pick-off attempt, making it 4-3.
Florida Gulf Coast kept the offensive pressure on in the bottom half of the third, getting another run to push the lead back to two, 5-3. Eastern responded though with a big two-out rally in the fourth.
With two down, redshirt freshman Jeff Timko (Rochester Hills, Mich.-Brother Rice) notched the first hit of his career, an infield single, which was followed by a Hager single. Junior Cameron Cruz (Chandler, Ariz.-Hamilton (Mesa C.C.)) then knocked in the first with a third-straight base knock. After a pitching change, Cruz swiped second and the ball sailed into center, allowing Hager to score and Cruz to advance to third, tying the game. Peggs followed that up with an RBI single to give EMU the lead back, 6-5.
FGCU subbed pitchers for the second time in the frame, but to no avail as Schuemann ripped an RBI double down the right field line to give Eastern the two-run lead. FGCU made a third pitching change, but it didn't work again, as Owings tallied his third RBI of the afternoon on a single, giving Eastern its fifth run with two outs, and an 8-5 lead.
After a clean bottom of the fourth, FGCU hit another solo home run in the fifth to tighten the advantage to two. In the sixth, some sloppy FGCU play led to a couple more runs for the Green and White.
Hager led off with a bunt single and, one batter later, Peggs reached on an error, putting runners on the corners. A passed ball scored Hager, and then Owings delivered his fourth RBI on a single up the middle to get EMU's lead up to four, 10-6.
The FGCU Eagles did not back down though, getting it back to within one in the bottom of the sixth. With the bases loaded and just one out, FGCU got a walk, fielder's choice, and RBI double to cut it to 10-9 going into the final three frames.
Eastern got its first three-up, three-down inning of the game in the seventh, as senior Justin McMurtrey (Redding, Calif.-Shasta (Butte C.C.)) notched a strikeout in his 1-2-3 frame. EMU capitalized on it in the eighth as Owings secured his fifth RBI on a groundout, which scored Peggs, who led off the inning with a double. FGCU cut it to one once again in the bottom half of the eighth, setting up the ninth inning with an 11-10 score.
After EMU went in order in the top half of the ninth, FGCU rallied with two runs on three hits, the last of which was the walk-off winner, to saddle Eastern with the heartbreaking 12-11 setback.
EMU concludes its four-game series with Florida Gulf Coast tomorrow, Feb. 18. First pitch from Swanson Stadium is set for 1 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: HERING, Kenton (2-0)
L: McMurtrey, Justin (0-2)
Batting:
2B: Peggs, Drake 1 ; Schuemann, Max 1
HR: Owings, Zachary 1
RBI: Peggs, Drake 1 ; Schuemann, Max 1 ; Owings, Zachary 5 ; Cruz, Cameron 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Peggs, Drake 4 ; Schuemann, Max 2 ; Owings, Zachary 1 ; Timko, Jeff 1 ; Hager, Devin 2 ; Cruz, Cameron 1
SB: Schuemann, Max 1 ; Owings, Zachary 1 ; Jones, Nick 1 ; Cruz, Cameron 1
CS: Jones, Nick 1
HBP: Schuemann, Max 1
PO: Schuemann, Max 1
Batting:
2B: BRAIT, Alex 1 ; GARCIA, Richie 2 ; HAYES, Jay 1
HR: GILMORE, Kohl 1 ; BRAIT, Alex 1
RBI: COFFERS, Marc 2 ; MOREY, Gage 1 ; GILMORE, Kohl 1 ; LOVELL, Eli 1 ; BRAIT, Alex 3 ; GARCIA, Richie 2 ; SMITH, Jake 1 ; PROFFITT, Christian 1
SH: PROFFITT, Christian 1
Base Running:
RUNS: COFFERS, Marc 1 ; MOREY, Gage 1 ; GILMORE, Kohl 2 ; LOVELL, Eli 2 ; BRAIT, Alex 1 ; GARCIA, Richie 1 ; HAYES, Jay 1 ; SMITH, Jake 2 ; GONZALEZ, Eric 1
SB: COFFERS, Marc 2
HBP: GARCIA, Richie 1 ; SMITH, Jake 2
Game Leaders
AB
5
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4
RBI
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5
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3
RBI
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4
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4
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2
RBI
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AB
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R
2
H
2
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
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RHP
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