Baseball Set for Midweek Game at Youngstown State

May 1 at Eastwood Field
Date	Wednesday, May 1
Venue	Niles, Ohio \| Eastwood Field
Preview Info	EMU Notes
Live Stats	EMU Live Stats
Watch	N/A
Listen	YSN Live
Twitter	@EMU_Baseball \| @EMUAthletics

NILES, Ohio. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University baseball team, coming off its first series-sweep of the season, will make the trek to neighboring Ohio for a midweek game against Youngstown State University, Wednesday, May 1, at Eastwood Field. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.
Make sure to follow the games via Twitter and live stats, at @EMU_Baseball, and EMUEagles.com. Radio coverage for individual games can be found in the official game notes and in the links provided above.

SERIES WINNERS: With a 6-5 series-finale win over the University Toledo Sunday, April 28, Eastern claimed it's second Mid-American Conference series win of 2019, taking two-of-three from Bowling Green State University, April 5-7, before downing Toledo in all three contests, April 26-28.

BRING THE BROOMS OUT: With Eastern's 6-5 win over the University of Toledo, April 28, it claimed it's first series sweep of the 2019 season. The sweep is EMU's first in Mid-American Conference play since May 12-14, 2017, at Northern Illinois University, where the Eagles outscored NIU 30-6 over three games.

COMEBACK KIDS: Not only did Eastern win three consecutive games for the first time this season, beating Toledo, April 26-28, but it did so in comeback fashion. Showing grit and determination, the Eagles fought back from deficits in each game of the series. Eastern's largest deficit came in the seriesfinale, played Sunday, April 28, where the Eagles were down three, 4-1, in the fifth inning. EMU went on to outscore Toledo five-to-one in the remainder of the game to earn the sweep.

CLOSING IT OUT: Eastern Michigan redshirt junior Caleb Hester picked up a pair of saves in the closer role in the series sweep over the University of Toledo, April 26-28. The back-to-back saves were the first of his career and the first time the same EMU hurler picked up saves in consecutive contests since 2015 when Sam Delaplane closed out Western Michigan, April 4-5. Overall, Hester tossed 3.0 innings, allowed three hits, and struck out a pair of Rockets. Hester mad quick work of UT in the ninth on Saturday, but had to get the final two outs of Sunday's contest with the tying run standing at third base.

A MEIS ADDITION: Freshman Justin Meis picked up his third win of the season after notching a career-high seven strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work, allowing four earned runs on nine hits and a walk against Toledo, April 28. With the victory, Meis has now won three of his last four starts for the Green and White, earning wins over Bowling Green, April 7, and Ball State University, April 13, before knocking off Toledo this past Sunday.

WALKING IT OFF: Tied, 5-5, in the bottom of the ninth inning in EMU's series-opener against Toledo, April 26, redshirt sophomore Jeff Timko rose to the occasion, hitting a walk-off single over the head of the UT right-fielder to lead the Eagles past the Rockets, 6-5. With the knock, Timko became the first Eagle to provide a walk-off hit since then-freshman Jared Kauffman did so to give Eastern a 6-5 win over Ball State, April 7, 2018.

THE ROLLING JONES: Eastern Michigan sophomore Nate Jones was clutch in the threegame sweep of the University of Toledo, April 26-28, at Oestrike Stadium. Jones posted five hits in 11 at-bats for a .455 batting average with a team-best four RBI and three stolen bases. Three of Jones' RBIs occurred with two outs on the scoreboard, as he notched a .667 average with two away in an inning.
Overall, Jones notched at least one hit in every contest to extend his hitting streak to five, while posting a pair of RBIs in games one and three of the series. His sixth inning RBI single through the left side proved to be the difference in the finale as Eastern won 6-5 for its first sweep in Mid-American Conference play since May 12-14, 2017, at Northern Illinois University. Jones was clutch in the field as well, specifically in the series-finale against Toledo, April 28, where he delivered a dart from right field in the eight inning to keep the tying run from scoring.

EVERYDAY ELEVEN: One of its best offensive series' of the season, the Eastern Michigan bats were hot in its series against Toledo. The Eagles knocked 11 hits in all three contests, and saw hits from at least seven different players in each game. In addition to the slew of production throughout the lineup, six Eagles provided multi-hit efforts in at least one game in the series. Sophomore Nate Jones and junior Zachary Owings each had two multi-hit games in the series.

TRIPLE TRACKER: While the Eastern offense has been strong in many categories throughout the season, its three-bagging efforts are especially noteworthy, both individually and as a collective unit. EMU ranks 37th nationally in triples this season (fourth in MAC), and has two players ranked in the top-40 individually. Ranking 17th nationally is Zachary Owings, whose five triples leads the EMU offense and ranks third in the conference. Jeff Timko, a redshirt sophomore, ranks 34th nationally with four triples on the season, good for sixth in the league.

ALL-TIME VS YOUNGSTOWN STATE: When Eastern battles Youngstown State in a single game, Wednesday, May 1, it will mark just the fourth meeting between the two programs in their respective histories. The Penguins have bested the Eagles in two of the three prior meetings. Most recently, YSU topped Eastern, 9-7, 2018, at Oestrike Stadium. Prior to 2018, the teams had not met since the 2014 season, where each team picked up a win.

ON THE HORIZON: Following its midweek game in Niles, the Green and White will travel to Kalamazoo, Mich. for a three-game Mid-American Conference series against rival Western Michigan University. The series gets underway Friday, May 3 at 3:05 with games to follow Saturday, May 4 at 1:05 p.m. and Sunday, May 5, at 1:05 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Sam Delaplane

Caleb Hester

Nate Jones

Jared Kauffman

Justin Meis

Zachary Owings

Jeff Timko

Eastern Michigan Athletics