Baseball Battles Oakland in Home Opener Tuesday

Baseball vs Oakland
Date	Tuesday, March 22 \| 3 p.m.
Venue	Oestrike Stadium \| Ypsilanti, Mich.
Preview Info	EMU Game Notes
Live Stats	EMUEagles.com
Twitter	@EMU_Baseball \| @EMUAthletics

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University baseball team will host its home opener with a Tuesday matinee, March 22, versus Oakland University. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. The contest can be followed via live stats on EMUEagles.com
    Eastern (5-11, 1-3 MAC) won its most recent series, defeating Butler in two of three games, March 18-20. Meanwhile, the Golden Grizzlies are also coming off a series victory, taking two of three at Wright State University in the same weekend.

DROPPIN' TANKS: The Eagles belted two home runs in the series against Butler, March 18-20. Eastern Michigan has hit 24 home runs in its first 16 games of the 2022 season. That number equates to a 1.50 home runs per game average. EMU has not had a season with a home runs per game average of better than 1.0 since 2009, when the Eagles belted 100 total home runs, a 1.69 per game average.
    Additionally, the Eagles' 1.50 home runs per game mark is good for 29th nationally. Tennessee leads the nation with 2.80 round-trippers per contest. EMU leads the MAC in homers per game and total home runs (24). Senior Gabe Denton paces Eastern, rounding the pillows seven times this season.
    Furthermore, two Eastern Michigan batters sit inside the top-10 in home runs in the league. Denton (7) and junior Matt Kirk (5) sit first and third, respectively.

TWO HITS, THAT'S IT: The Eagles' pitching staff allowed just two hits in the shutout victory over Butler, March 20. The two-hit shutout marks the second time this season Eastern has blanked its opposition. Junior Frankie Volkers struck out five Bulldogs hitters and senior Thomas House fanned five for the Eagles. Additionally, the win is House's first of the season and his first victory since the 2019 season (missed last season due to injury). Furthermore, the save is Volkers' first of his collegiate career.
    House finished with his best outing of the season, allowing only one hit and five strikeouts in 5.0 shutout innings. Volkers did the same, going 4.0 shutout innings of relief, striking out five and surrendering only one hit.

LEADING BY EXAMPLE: Captain Shane Easter is currently second on the squad in batting average (.317) and hits (19). Additionally, in all 16 games started and played, Easter has yet to record a fielding error (1.000 FLD%).
MATT'S BAT: Junior Matt Kirk has continues his EMU career on fire at the plate. The outfielder currently leads the team in batting average (.415), hits (27), slugging percentage (.754), total bases (49), and extra base hits (12). Additionally, Kirk is second on the squad with five home runs.
    The junior drove in three runs, totaling four hits, including a double, in the three-game series against Butler, March 18-20.
    Kirk's .415 batting average (27-for-65) ranks second in the Mid-American Conference, while his 27 hits lead the league. The Milford, Ohio native's five homers also ranks third in the MAC.
    Furthermore, the junior has averaged 1.69 hits per game through the first five weeks of the season. That number is good for 32nd in the nation. Tennessee Tech's Ed Johnson leads the nation with 2.22 hits per game.

HITTING FOR POWER: EMU hit home runs in eight consecutive games, March 5-20. That streak was the second stretch of at least five-straight games with at least one home run this season. Prior to this season, EMU had not seen multiple five-contest home run streaks since 2009, when the team put together three streaks of five-or-more consecutive games (12 games, 6 games, 6 games) with a home run.

WARKENTIN PUTTIN IN WORK: Senior Daniel Warkentin paced the Eagles' offense in the series at Butler, March 18-20, driving in five runs over the three-game span, including a home run and going 5-for-12 at the plate. Warkentin has recorded RBIs in three consecutive contests and multiple RBIs in two consecutive contests. The Leamington, Ontario native finished the Sunday doubleheader with a total of four RBIs on three hits and a home run.

GOOD EYE!: The Eagles have been disciplined at the plate as the Green and White lead the Mid-American Conference in fewest strikeouts (115). Additionally, EMU currently ranks fifth in the league in on-base percentage (.366) and is tied for the league lead in home runs (24).

HELP FROM HOUSE: Senior pitcher Thomas House got the ball to start game four of EMU's series at Ball State, March 14. He went 3.0 innings, his fourth straight appearance hitting that mark. He relinquished a season-low two hits in the effort.
    House's four consecutive outings of three-or-more innings is a career-best stretch. He is in his fourth season as a member of the team's pitching staff.

RED HOT RUBNER: After going hitless in his two games with the Green and White, freshman Coltrane Rubner has been dialed in as of late. He has recorded hits in seven of his last nine games, including a season-best two knocks against Ball State in the final game of EMU's four-game set with the Cardinals, March 14.

KEEPING THE GLOVE DOWN: Eastern committed just one error in the three games at Butler, March 18-20. The Eagles have now recorded five games without an error thus far in 2022.

CALLED UP AND SHOWED OUT: Freshman Logan Hugo recorded his first collegiate hit, run scored, stolen base, and walk in his first career start versus Butler, March 20. Hugo finished the weekend series going 3-for-5 with an RBI, a walk, and three runs scored for the Green and White.

ALL-TIME AGAINST THE HORIZON LEAGUE: Eastern Michigan is 56-35 overall against the Horizon League. The last meeting versus a Horizon League opponent came against Youngstown State University, May 1, 2019. YSU defeated EMU, 4-10.

ALL-TIME AGAINST OAKLAND: EMU and Oakland will meet for the 65th time this Tuesday, March 22. Eastern leads the all-time series by a record of 46-18. Despite the series lead, the Eagles have lost two straight to the Golden Grizzlies and have won just one of the last five meetings.

LAST GAMES VERSUS OAKLAND: The two programs last met for a midweek matchup, April 10, 2019, at the Oakland Baseball Field. The Golden Grizzlies defetead the Eagles, 10-9, on a walk-off. single Then-freshman Taylor Hopkins paced EMU with two RBIs.

LAST TIME IN YPSI: Eastern and Oakland last played at Oestrike Stadium during the 2019 season. The Golden Grizzlies defeated th Eagles, 14-8. Eastern has not beaten Oakland at home since 2015. EMU has dropped four straight against the Golden Grizzlies at Oestrike.

HISTORY AT OESTRIKE: Opening in 1971, Oestrike Stadium will hold its 51st season of baseball inside the park in 2022. EMU holds a 544-407-2 all-time record at the venue, and has compiled just 12 losing seasons at Oestrike since its opening.
    The home of EMU baseball is named after legendary EMU baseball head coach Ron Oestrike, who led the Green and White from 1965-87, winning an NAIA national championship and four Mid-American Conference titles during his tenure leading the Green and White.

HOME OPENERS: In its last 11 debuts at home, Eastern has been successful in its home-openers, compiling a 7-4 record during the span. In their best stretch, the Eagles took four-consecutive home openers, winning their first game at Oestrike in each season from 2011-14.
    Most recently, EMU fell to Miami during its home opener in 2021, dropping the contest to the RedHawks, 4-3, April 2.

ON THE HORIZON: Eastern Michigan will return to Oestrike for its home-opening conference series versus Akron, March 25-27.

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Players Mentioned

Gabe Denton

Shane Easter

Taylor Hopkins

Thomas House

Logan Hugo

Matt Kirk

Coltrane Rubner

Frankie Volkers

Daniel Warkentin

Eastern Michigan Athletics