Baseball Returns Home to Face Ball State

Baseball vs. Ball State
Date	Friday-Sunday, April 16-18
Venue	Oestrike Stadium \| Ypsilanti, Mich.
Preview Info	EMU Notes
Gameday Program	Ball State Program
Live Stats	EMUEagles.com
Twitter	@EMU_Baseball \| @EMUAthletics

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University baseball team returns home to Oestrike Stadium to host Ball State University, Friday-Sunday, April 16-18. Game times are set for 6 p.m. Friday, 3 and 6 p.m. Saturday, and 1 p.m. Sunday.
   Fans can follow the action via live stats, with the link being found on the baseball schedule page of EMUEagles.com. In addition, updates will be posted on the team's Twitter account, @EMU_Baseball.

TEAM HIGHS FOR TAYLOR: Eastern Michigan junior Taylor Hopkins put up one of his best offensive series of the season at Ohio, April 9-11. Starting all four games, the Mason, Ohio native finished with a team-high .353 batting average, tallying six hits and four runs, both of which led the Green and White, and added one RBI. In addition, Hopkins launched his fourth home run of the season and drew two walks, numbers that tied for the team lead.
   Hopkins' six hits tie for the most in a series for Eastern this season, with Hopkins and senior Nick Jones each tallying the same number at Akron, March 19-21. In addition, the Mason, Ohio native recored four-or-more hits in a series for the third time this season, and led the team in series batting average for the second time.
   The junior's overall average of .272 and 25 total hits both lead the Green and White in 2021, and leads the team with six multiple-hit games.

THE MEIS-TRO AT WORK: In his 7.1 innings of work against Ohio, April 10, right-handed hurler Justin Meis fanned a season-high nine opposing batters, besting his previous season mark of eight against Miami, April 3.
   The Pittsburgh, Pa. native also tossed a personal-best four 1-2-3 innings (2, 4, 5 and 6), including the EMU pitching staff's first 1-2-3 inning in which all batters were retired by strikeout in 2021.

LONG BALLS MAKE A RETURN: In its series at Ohio, April 9-11, Eastern Michigan knocked its first home runs since its series at Western Michigan, March 27-29. Christian Bault, Gabe Denton, and Taylor Hopkins each launched solo shots, marking their third, second, and fourth long balls of the season, respectively.
   EMU was without a home run in its series against Miami, April 2-4, and had only one in its series at Western Michigan (Bault, March 29).

BACK ON TRACK: After struggling at the plate earlier in the season, EMU senior Daniel Warkentin put together a solid offensive outing in his appearances at Ohio, April 9-11. Starting all four games, the Leamington, Ontario native garnered four hits, one of which was a double, on the way to a .286 series batting average, his best mark in a series this season.

HOUSE DOESN'T BUDGE: In his two outings at Ohio, April 9-11, sophomore Trevor House made two appearances for Eastern Michigan, totaling 1.1 innings pitched, giving no hits and no runs while accumulating three strikeouts during his outing.

SEASON BESTS FOR SCOTT: Making his fifth start of the season, junior lefty Scott Granzotto threw a season-high 5.0 innings against Ohio, April 11. The Northville, Mich. native racked up a season-high four strikeouts, tied his season-low by only giving up one walk, and allowed a season-low one run during his time on the bump.

MCGUIRE FIRES: Starting the second game of the doubleheader against Ohio, April 10, senior Luke McGuire had a stellar outing for the Eagles in his career-high 8.0 innings pitched. McGuire struck out five, allowing only three hits and one run while on the mound. In addition, the Shelby Twp., Mich. native tossed his third outing of the season without surrendering a walk.
   Five of McGuire's eight innings on the mound saw the righty retire the Bobcats in order, marking the most by an Eastern pitcher so far in 2021.

FREE BASEBALL: Eastern Michigan's doubleheader with Ohio, April 10, totaled 19 innings, going five over the scheduled 14 innings to be played on the day. The contests marked the 10th and 11th extra inning games in the Eric Roof era (2018-Pres.) and third and fourth this season.
   Under Roof, the Eagles are 4-7 all-time in games with free baseball, and 1-3 in 2021.
The Eagles defeated Akron, 8-6, March 21, but fell to Bellarmine, March 7, and in both games against Ohio, April 10.

SHARK BAIT: Eastern Michigan sophomore Anthony Sharkas made his second start of the season at Ohio, April 9. Notching his first hit of the season, the Canton, Mich. native also scored a run, the first time he has crossed the plate the season.

PUTTING A DENT(ON) IN IT: EMU transfer Gabe Denton made his mark on the weekend in Eastern Michigan's series at Ohio, April 9-11. Starting all four games in a series for the first time in the Green and White, the Clare, Mich. native tallied two hits, one of which was his second home run this season, scored two runs, and one RBI, while also posting a 1.000 fielding clip in right field.

BAULT-ING IT: In his appearances at Ohio, April 9-11, Eastern Michigan senior Christian Bault posted a team second-best four hits, and had a team-high two extra-base hits, coming in the form of a double and home run against the Bobcats.
   Bault was coming off a series where he was one-of-two Eagles to record a multiple hit game against Miami, April 2-4, notching his second such performance of the season and team's 18th. Putting together one of the team's best offensive outings of the series, April 4, the Maineville, Ohio native finished with two base knocks, one RBI, scored one run, and drew two walks in the final game against the RedHawks.

MADE FOR MACTION: Eastern Michigan senior Nick Jones has had an impressive start to the conference slate. After tallying just three hits through the first 11 games of the season in non-conference action, the Battle Creek, Mich. native has a team second-best 16 hits in conference play, two of which were extra-base, and has driven in a second-best five runs through 16 games of league play.
   Moreover, Jones is the only Eagle that has recorded three-or-more hits in each MAC series so far this season.

ONE RUN TROUBLES: Through 25 games in 2021, Eastern Michigan has found themselves in one-run games 11 times, compiling a 3-8 record in those games.
   Starting off with a pair of one-run wins at Alabama State, Feb. 27-28 (2-1, 4-3), the Eagles also notched a win over Western Michigan, 5-4, March 29.
   Eastern fell to Bellarmine, 2-1, March 6, and 10-11, March 7, to Akron, 2-3, March 20, to Miami, 3-4 and 4-5, April 2 and 4, and to Ohio, 3-4, 1-2, and 2-3, April 10-11.

WHAT'S BALL STATE BEEN UP TO?: Currently sitting atop the conference standings, Ball State comes to Ypsilanti with a 19-9 record and 10-2 mark in league play. Not unchallenged in its nonconference slate, the Cardinals split a four-game series with Arizona, took two-of-three games from Kentucky, won its series against Bradley, and swept Butler. In MAC play, BSU has won series against Western Michigan and Toledo, and took all its games against Akron.

LAST MEETING: Eastern Michigan and Ball State last met April 12-13, 2019 in Muncie, Ind., with the home Cardinals coming away with the series win. In 2018, at Oestrike Stadium, Eastern came away with the series win, April 6-8. The two sides also met in Avon, Ohio for the MAC Tournament in 2018, with Ball State coming away with the 6-2 win.

SERIES HISTORY: Through their 158 meetings, the Eagles and Cardinals have been well-matched over the years, with Eastern holding a slight advantage, 80-77-1, over Ball State in the all-time meetings between the two teams.

#MACTION MATTERS: The Mid-American Conference announced that, due to circumstances onset by the COVID-19 pandemic, it would be eliminating conference tournaments for eight sports, with baseball being one of them. The result? The MAC regular season champion will receive the conference's automatic bid to a NCAA Regional. With the conference also adapting a 40-game schedule consisting of four-game series, every contest proves critical to staying in the hunt for the league crown.

MAC PRESEASON POLL: Eastern was selected to finish ninth overall in the Mid-American Conference preseason poll, as announced by the league office, Feb. 17. EMU finished with 36 points, while Central Michigan finished in the top spot for the second consecutive season with 111 points and four first-place votes. Kent State garnered five first-place votes and finished just shy of CMU with 110 points.

MAC Baseball Preseason Poll
1. Central Michigan (4) – 111 points
2. Kent State (5) – 110 points
T3. Miami (1) -- 96 points
T3. Ball State – 96 points
5. Northern Illinois (1) – 72 points
6. Western Michigan - 63 points
7. Ohio - 56 points
8. Toledo - 45 points
9. Eastern Michigan – 36 points
10. Bowling Green – 28 points
11. Akron – 13 points

ON THE HORIZON: Getting to play at home back-to-back weekends, Eastern Michigan welcomes Toledo for a four-game series, Friday-Sunday, April 23-25. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. Friday, 3 and 6 p.m. Saturday, and 1 p.m. Sunday.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Christian Bault

Gabe Denton

Scott Granzotto

Taylor Hopkins

Trevor House

Nick Jones

Luke McGuire

Justin Meis

Anthony Sharkas

Daniel Warkentin

Eastern Michigan Athletics