Baseball Returns to Action at St. Bonaventure

Baseball at St. Bonaventure
Date	Saturday, May 1
Venue	Fred Handler Park \| St. Bonaventure, N.Y.
Preview Info	EMU Notes
Live Stats	Game One \| Game Two
Twitter	@EMU_Baseball \| @EMUAthletics

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University baseball teams returns to action Saturday, May 1, for a doubleheader against St. Bonaventure University. Game times are set for 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. at Fred Handler Park.
   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.

BEST AGAINST BALL STATE: By winning two games and splitting its four-game set with Ball State, Eastern did something against the Cardinals that no other MAC opponent has done in 2021. The series was the first non-winning set for Ball State in conference play this season, as the Cardinals had previously swept or won its series, 3-1.

WAGONER WORKING: Sophomore hurler Cameron Wagoner had a career-best day against Ball State in the second game of a Saturday doubleheader, April 17. The hard-throwing righty not only earned his first career start, but he threw a career-best 5.0 innings, and struck out a career-high nine Cardinal hitters. His final line saw him relinquish just four hits, all singles, and three walks, while he kept Ball state scoreless in his outing.
   With his effort, Wagoner has now totaled eight scoreless outings on the hill for Eastern this season. In 31.0 innings of work, the Tecumseh, Mich. native has amassed an incredible 4-to-1 (40-10) strikeout-to-walk ratio. His 2.90 ERA is second-best on the team among players who have tossed more than one inning, and ranks 11th in the MAC. His 11.61 strikeouts per nine innings ranks seventh-best in the league, and 94th in the country.

NUMBER ONE ON THE FIELD AND ON THE OFFENSE: Eastern Michigan senior Shane Easter put up one of the best offensive series for the Eagles so far this season as he started all four games against Ball State, April 15-17, helping EMU hold the Cardinals to its first non-winning series in MAC play so far this season. Easter compiled a team-best .615 batting average after knocking a team-leading eight hits, (8-for-13), one of which was a double, while driving in two runs and scoring a team-high five runs himself. His nine total bases and .692 slugging percentage led the Green and White for players that played all four games in the series. On top of a strong series at the plate, the Kalamazoo, Mich. native also recorded a perfect 1.000 fielding clip for the series.

SCOTTY SCORELESS: Senior lefty Scott Granzotto turned in an incredible performance against Ball State Sunday, April 18. His longest outing of the season, Granzotto tossed 6.0 innings of scoreless baseball, and allowed a season-low three hits. His effort moves his season ERA down more than a full point, from 5.29 to 3.91.
   Granzotto's scoreless effort is the second of his career as an EMU starter, and first since he tossed 3.0 innings of scoreless baseball against Abilene Christian Feb. 27, 2019. In his career, Granzotto has held teams without an earned runs 20 times when on the hill for the Green and White.

FIRST WIN AT OESTRIKE: EMU's Friday night win over Ball State, April 16, gave the team its first win at Oestrike Stadium in 2021. Additionally, it was the first inside the venue in 719 days. Prior to last Friday, EMU's last home win came April 28, 2019, versus Toledo. The team never played at home last season after it was shortened at the hands of the COVID-19 pandemic.
   Now in its 50th season as the home of EMU baseball, Oestrike Stadium has seen its team collect 540 wins in its confines since the beginning of the 1971 season.

OFFENSIVE OUTBREAK: EMU put together its best offensive game of the series in its first game against Ball State, April 16. Eastern outpaced Ball State in runs (10-6), hits (15-10), RBI (9-6), and home runs (1-0), to earn its first home win of the season. EMU's 15 hits is a season-best, while its nine RBIs tie for the season-best mark.

PUT A DENT(ON) IN IT: Junior transfer Gabe Denton paced the Eagles against Ball State, April 16, as he put together his best game to-date as a member of the Ypsilanti-based club. In fact, his line was arguably the best by an Eagle in any game this season. The Clare, Mich. native finished his evening with season-best numbers in hits (4), RBIs (4), extra-base hits (3), doubles (2), and home runs (1; tied for season-best). Denton's performance in each of those categories was either a new single-game season-high or tied for single-game season-high by any EMU hitter this season. The effort, his first perfect outing (4-for-4) with EMU, was the first four-hit contest by a member of the team since senior captain Nick Jones did it against Miami on March 30, 2019. Four additional Eagles tallied two-hit performances.
   Denton finished the series against the Cardinals with a .500 batting average, going 5-for-10 with a team-leading three extra-base hits, tied for the team lead with four RBIs, and led all Eagles with 10 total bases over the series.

WINNER WINNER WALK-OFF DINNER: Senior captain Nick Jones delivered Eastern Michigan's first walk-off victory of the 2021 season against Ball State, April 17. With Anthony Sharkas on second, Jones was able to come through with a single down the left field line to score Sharkas and give the Eagles the 2-1 victory, as well as 2-1 series lead.
   The walk-off win marks the first of the sort for EMU in 2021, and first since besting Toledo, 6-5, April 26, 2019.

FRIDAY NIGHT W: Picking up his second win of the season was senior Luke McGuire, who tossed 6.0 innings in his Friday night start against Ball State, April 16. McGuire struck out four over six innings, while also hurling 1-2-3 fourth and fifth innings to help the Eagles to the 10-6, series-opening win.

REIN-ING ON THE CARDINALS' PARADE: Senior Justin Reinkall picked up his second save of the season against Ball State, April 16. Over 1.2 innings of work, the Superior, Wis. native struck out two, while allowing no hits, runs or walks during his time on the mound. The clean outing is the second of the season for Reinkall, previously doing so against Miami, April 3.

OVER .300: Six of Eastern Michigan's consistent starters (three-or-more games) against Ball State, April 16-18, registered batting averages over .300, the most to do so in a series all season, besting the previous four to bat at or over .300 against Akron, March 19-21.
   Shane Easter led the way at .615 (8-for-13), with Gabe Denton at .500 (5-for-10). Nick Jones and Taylor Hopkins each finished with .333 clips (5-for-15 and 4-for-12, respectively), while Eli Gora and Christian Bault rounded out the club with .308 and .300 averages (4-for-13 and 3-for-10), respectively.

CROSS THE PLATE: EMU's six runs in the sixth inning against Ball State, April 17, were the most scored by an EMU squad since March 3, 2018, when the Eagles put up the same number of runs in the top of the 10th inning against Nicholls State at the Cox Diamond Invitational.

DOUBLE-DIGIT KNOCKS: Eastern Michigan posted back-to-back games with 10-plus hits for the third time this season against Ball State, April 16-17. The Green and White opened the series with a season-best 15 hits, followed by 10 in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader.
   Eastern's previous back-to-back games with 10-or-more hits came against Akron, March 21 and Western Michigan, March 27 (14, 12), and at Bellarmine, March 6-7 (10, 11).

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 is tied for the team lead with 21 hits in conference play, two of which were extra-base, and has driven in nine runs, which also ties for the team lead.
   Moreover, Jones is the only Eagle that has recorded three-or-more hits in each MAC series so far this season.

WHAT'S ST. BONAVENTURE BEEN UP TO?: St. Bonaventure enters the weekend with a 5-16 overall record, and 4-8 mark in A-10 conference play. The Bonnies have picked up wins against George Mason, Fordham, Saint Joseph's, and La Salle after being swept by Youngstown State to start the season.

LAST MEETING: A February affair in Port Charlotte, Fla., Eastern Michigan bested St. Bonaventure, 12-7, Feb. 24, 2017. The Eagles put together 12 runs on 16 hits, highlighted by a six-run first inning.

SERIES HISTORY: The Eagles and Bonnies have met only once in each of their respective histories, with EMU winning the lone meeting to lead the all-time series, 1-0.

#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: Eastern Michigan returns to Oestrike Stadium for its first make-up game of the season, hosting Toledo for a 6 p.m. contest, May 4. The Eagles will trek to Bowling Green, Ohio to take on Bowling Green that weekend, Friday-Sunday, May 7-9.

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Players Mentioned

Christian Bault

Gabe Denton

Shane Easter

Eli Gora

Scott Granzotto

Taylor Hopkins

Nick Jones

Luke McGuire

Justin Reinkall

Anthony Sharkas

Cameron Wagoner

Eastern Michigan Athletics