Baseball Upends Dayton in Best Performance of Season

DAYTON, Ohio. (EMUEagles.com) – Despite being forced to reschedule its home opener due to weather, the Eastern Michigan baseball team is flying high today, March 12, after it dismantled the University of Dayton, 10-2, in a game played at Woerner Field.

EMU (3-13-1) fired on all cylinders, earning its best win of the young season. After establishing a first inning lead, 2-0, the Eagles never looked back, scoring an eventual 10 runs in the contest, the most in a single game this year.

Eastern's offense pounded out 10 hits on the day, out-hitting Dayton by seven, including multi-hit games from four Eagle starters. Redshirt sophomore Jeff Timko (Rochester Hills, Mich.-Brother Rice.), who has compiled a .517 batting average over his last nine games, was again stellar for the Green and White rocketing his second home run of the season in the fifth inning to extend Eastern's lead to 5-1, and going 2-for-3 at the plate with two RBI's in Tuesday's slugfest.

Fellow sophomore Nate Jones (Battle Creek, Mich.-Lakeview) added an additional two hits for EMU, going 2-for-4 while delivering an RBI. Elsewhere in the lineup, seniors Cameron Cruz (Chandler, Ariz.-Hamilton) and junior Zachary Owings (Saline, Mich.-Saline) were outstanding for Eastern, each providing two hits.

Cruz led off the game with a double on the first pitch of the afternoon, and Eastern grabbed the lead in later in the at-bat as Owings smacked an RBI single to center field, driving in Cruz. An RBI single from Timko gave Eastern the 2-0 advantage,a deficit that Dayton would never overcome.

Getting the start on the mound for EMU, and delivering the best performance by an EMU pitcher this season, was sophomore Luke McGuire (Shelby Twp, Mich.-Stevenson). The 6-2 right-hander started his outing the way he finished: hot. Setting the tone in the first inning for EMU, McGuire retired the first three batter's he faced.

Dayton would add their first run of the game in the second inning when it hit a solo home run off of McGuire, cutting Eastern's lead to 2-1.

Facing early adversity, McGuire responded with veteran poise, again sitting down three consecutive Dayton batters in the second inning, limiting the Flyers to one run. From there on, McGuire cruised, tossing the next five frames in near perfect fashion, allowing no hits, and no runs. McGuire finished his effort with a 1-2-3 seventh inning, ending his day having given up just one run on one hit. With his outstanding performance, McGuire earned his first win of the season.

Finishing off the Flyers was a duo of Eagles, senior Mitchell Sparks (Willis,Texas-Carmel(Ind.)(Iowa Lakes C.C.)), and sophomore Holden Cook (Oklahoma City, Okla.-Casady (Murray State)). Sparks locked down Dayton in the eighth inning, fanning one batter en route to a perfect inning. With his effort, Sparks lowered his ERA to 2.84 on the season. Closing the game for Eastern, Cook would go nearly unblemished, giving up just one run on a solo home run in the ninth, while striking out one to end Dayton's chance at a comeback.

While the battery shut down Dayton, the Eagle offense was busy crossing the plate. After loading the bases in the top half of the third inning, junior captain Nick Jones (Battle Creek, Mich.-Lakeview) rifled a single to left, scoring two and extending the lead to three, 4-1. After a scoreless fourth, Eastern added a run in the fifth, and in the sixth inning, freshman Taylor Hopkins (Mason, Ohio-Archbishop Moeller) bombed his first collegiate home run to extend Eastern's lead to five, 6-1.

Already up big, EMU bullied Dayton pitching until the end, adding four runs in the ninth inning to bring their total to 10.

A dominant day in all aspects, the Eagles coasted to their third victory of the season, beating Dayton, 10-2.

Flying south for the weekend, Eastern heads to Fort Worth, Texas for a three-game weekend series with Texas Christian University, March 15-17, at Lupton Stadium. The series will commence Friday, March 15, with a single game set for 6:30 p.m. CT. The series will close with single games on Saturday, March 16, and Sunday, March 17, scheduled for 2 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.

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Team Stats

Cameron Cruz

Zachary Owings

Jeff Timko

Nate Jones

Players Mentioned

Holden Cook

Cameron Cruz

Taylor Hopkins

Nate Jones

Nick Jones

Luke McGuire

Zachary Owings

Mitchell Sparks

Jeff Timko

Players Mentioned

Holden Cook

Cameron Cruz

Taylor Hopkins

Nate Jones

Nick Jones

Luke McGuire

Zachary Owings

Mitchell Sparks

Jeff Timko

Eastern Michigan Athletics