Eagles Welcome Huskies for Weekend Series

Baseball vs. Northern Illinois
Date	Friday-Sunday, May 14-16
Venue	Oestrike Stadium \| Ypsilanti, Mich.
Preview Info	EMU Notes
Gameday Program	Northern Illinois Program
Live Stream	Eagle All-Access
Live Stats	EMUEagles.com
Twitter	@EMU_Baseball \| @EMUAthletics

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - Continuing its homestand, the Eastern Michigan University baseball team hosts Northern Illinois University for a four-game set, Friday-Sunday, May 14-16. Friday's game will take place at 6 p.m., with Saturday's doubleheader set for 4 and 7 p.m. Sunday's action will get underway at 1 p.m. In addition, prior to Saturday's first contest, Eastern Michigan baseball will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its 1970 NAIA National Championship team, whose planned 2020 celebrations were postponed due to COVID-19.
     Fans can watch the games on Eagle All-Access, or follow via live stats, with links being found on the baseball schedule page of EMUEagles.com. Updates will also be posted throughout the game on the team's Twitter account, @EMU_Baseball.

SHUTOUTS FOR THE EAGLES: Eastern Michigan opened its midweek doubleheader with a shutout of Toledo, taking game one, 6-0. The shutout marks back-to-back feats for the Eagles, who blanked Bowling Green, 3-0, in the series finale, May 8. The consecutive shutouts mark the first for the Eagles since April 13-14, 2007, when the Eagles shutout Ohio, 2-0 and 1-0, respectively, at Oestrike Stadium.
   EMU holds three total shutouts on the season, the most since the same number was achieved during the 2018 season (vs. Miami, March 25, vs. Ball State, April 6, and vs. Lawrence Tech, April 25).

EIGHT IS GREAT: After shutting out the Rockets in game one of Tuesday's doubleheader, May 11, Eastern Michigan recorded its eighth-straight win, and sixth consecutive Mid-American Conference victory. Those streaks are the best for the program in over a decade, last winning eight-straight April 23-May 4, 2011, and six-straight MAC games April 23-May, 2011.

GOING STREAKING: Despite splitting its doubleheader with Toledo, May 11, Eastern Michigan did manage to continue two of its streaks.
   Mike Monahan currently holds a 11-game hitting streak, the longest by any Eagle so far this season and longest since Nick Jones and Jeff Timko put together 13-game streaks during the 2019 season.
   Daniel Warkentin improved his reached base streak to 13 games, holding the longest active streak and marking the longest streak of the season for the Green and White. The Leamington, Ontario native was on a team-leading 10 game reached base streak when the 2020 season was called due to COVID-19.
MIKEY MAGIC: Designated hitter Mike Monahan continued his offensive tear in Eastern Michigan's doubleheader against Toledo, May 11.
   While the Saline, Mich. native may have only recorded two hits, he made both of them count. In game one, with two outs and a 3-1 count in the sixth inning, Monahan launched his first career home run over the right-center fence.
   In game two, Monahan had single, but also recorded a grondout RBI to finish the day tied for the team lead in runs driven in, tallying two on the day.

MAKING A DENT(ON): Eastern Michigan newcomer Gabe Denton has been dominating opposing pitchers, and continued that trend in EMU's doubleheader against Toledo, May 11. The Clare, Mich. native led the team with a .714 average, going five-for-seven on the day. More impressively, three of Denton's five hits were extra-base, knocking two doubles in addition to his ninth home run of the season. On the day, the junior led the team with three runs scored, and tied for the team lead with two RBIs.
   The nine home runs are the most by an Eagle since the 2017 season, when John Montgomery hit 12 on the year.

MORE 0'S FROM FELDMAN: Tossing three scoreless innings as the game one starter against Toledo, May 11, Eastern Michigan veteran Davis Feldman notched his fifth scoreless appearance of the season. In addition, his one hit allowed is a season-low, while he gave up no walks for the second time this season and in back-to-back outings. The Warren, Mich. native added three strikeouts on the day.

HOUSE DON'T FALL: Just three days after picking up his second win of the season against Bowling Green, May 8, Eastern Michigan lefty Trevor House notched his first career save against Toledo, May 11. House pitched 2.1 scoreless innings against the Rockets, dishing no walks and tying his season-high with three strikeouts during his time on the mound.

MAKING CONTACT: After marking its lowest number of strikeouts at the plate against Toledo, May 4, Eastern Michigan matched that figure with only three strikeouts in the series finale at Bowling Green, May 8. Moreover, EMU set a new season-low strikeout total, only getting K'd twice in the series opener against the Falcons.
   Eastern has had five-or-less strikeouts eight times this season, at Bowling Green, May 7 (2) vs. Toledo, May 4 (3), at Bowling Green, May 8 (3), at Western Michigan, March 29 (4), at Ohio, April 10 (4), vs. Toledo, May 11 (4), at St. Bonaventure, May 1 (5), and vs. Toledo, May 11 (5).

PRODUCTION ON THE RISE: Through the first 29 games of Eastern Michigan's season, it had averaged 4.1 runs per game, while allowing an average of 4.9 runs per game to its opponents. In Eastern's last nine games, the Green and White has seen a drastic improvement, improving to a 9.0 runs per game average, while keeping opponents to 3.6 runs per game. In total, EMU has outscored its opponents, 199-175, on the season.

SIX-HIT W: Eastern Michigan needed just six hits to defeat Toledo, 6-0, May 11 at Oestrike Stadium. The six hits tie for the second-lowest recorded in a win this season for the Eagles, matching the number knocked in a 5-4 win at Western Michigan, March 29.
   EMU rode four hits to a season-opening win, defeating Alabama State, 2-1, Feb. 27.

CLOSE CONNECTIONS: Northern Illinois Assistant Coach Andrew Maki served as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator for Eastern Michigan from 2009-14, while also serving as the pitching coach for two seasons.

WHAT'S NORTHERN ILLINOIS BEEN UP TO?: Northern Illinois comes to Ypsilanti with a 12-30 overall record, and 11-17 mark in MAC play. The Huskies are coming off a series split with Western Michigan and series win over Akron in its last two series.
   NIU opened its conference slate with a series win over Kent State, and lost its next series to Miami, 3-1. The Huskies have been swept by Central Michigan and Ball State, while splitting its series with Ohio.

LAST MEETING: The Eagles trekked to DeKalb, Ill. for a series with Northern Illinois, March 22-24, 2019. The Huskies swept the series, winning 6-3, 4-3, and 9-4 in the three contests.

SERIES HISTORY: EMU holds the series advantage over the Huskies, 76-50. Since 1999, the Eagles hold a 49-26 mark against NIU, with a 24-13 ledger at Oestrike Stadium.
   EMU last took a series against Northern Illinois May 17-19, 2018, at Oestrike Stadium, winning the first two games, 2-1 and 4-2, before falling in game three, 6-3.

#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 will close out its makeup slate against Toledo, hosting the Rockets for a nine-inning contest Tuesday, May 18, at Oestrike Stadium. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Gabe Denton

Davis Feldman

Trevor House

Nick Jones

Mike Monahan

John Montgomery

Jeff Timko

Daniel Warkentin

Eastern Michigan Athletics