Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
10-10, 0
Ball State
17-6, 0
Baseball Drops Series Finale Against Ball State
3/26/2023 4:05:00 PM | Baseball
Russo delivers six strong innings in no decision effort
Re-Watch the Game | Series Highlights.
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YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University baseball team took a 3-2 lead into the eighth inning, but could not hang on and fell 7-3 to the Ball State University Cardinals Sunday, March 26, at Oestrike Stadium.
Junior Bobby Jones (Loveland, Ohio.-St. Xavier-Xavier) (0-2) took the loss on the mound for Eastern Michigan (10-10, 4-5 MAC). Senior Luke Russo (Howell, Mich.-Howell) started the ballgame and went six innings, surrendering one run on five hits, walking none and striking out eight.
Senior Glenn Miller (Pentwater, Mich.-Pentwater-Spring Arbor) led the way offensively for the Eagles, going 2-for-5 in the ballgame with a double, a home run and an RBI. Graduate Student Matt Kirk (Milford, Ohio.-Milford-Cypress-Toledo) put together a standout effort as well, going 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI. Junior Cory Taylor (Shelbyville, Ind.-Shelbyville) also contributed, going 1-for-2 for Eastern Michigan with two walks.
How it Happened
The Eagles got the scoring started early, putting one run on the board in the bottom the first inning with the game still scoreless. Eastern Michigan got an RBI-single from Kirk, scoring Miller from second base.
After the Cardinals rallied to tie the ballgame at one, the Eagles came back to retake the lead in the fifth inning. Junior Cole Wilcox (Shiocton, Wisc.-Shiocton-Lake County) came across to score the lone run of the inning for Eastern Michigan, which brought the score to 2-1 in favor of the Eagles.
Ball State clawed back to tie the ballgame at two before Eastern Michigan reclaimed a 3-2 advantage in the seventh inning. The Eagles notched a run on Miller's one-out solo home run off junior Ryan Brown. The Eagles were unable to hold the lead, as Ball State scored five times over the remaining two innings to grab the 7-3 win.
Game Notes
» Miller got the offense going for Eastern Michigan in Sunday afternoon's contest. The senior had a single and scored a run in the first inning. Miller has now scored 20 runs on the season in just 20 games, breaking his previous best mark of 19 runs in the 2022 season. The Pentwater, Mich. native scores an average of one run per game this season.
» Kirk had an RBI-double in the first inning for Eastern Michigan. Scoring Miller, it was Kirk's team-leading 13th double of the season, which also leads the Mid-American Conference. Furthermore, the reigning MAC Player-of-the-Year nabbed a stolen base in the first inning, marking his third stolen bag of the year and continuing his perfect steal percentage. Moreover, Kirk had three hits today, marking his fifth three-hit game this year. By also knocking three hits in both yesterday's and today's contest, the graduate student has tallied three hits in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.
» Taylor had his eyes peeled at the plate in today's contest. The Shelbyville, Ind. native walked twice, tying his career high. He also walked twice in the Eagles' 11-6 win over Towson University, March 5.
» Wilcox scored a run on a wild pitch to give Eastern Michigan the lead back 2-1 in the fifth inning. Wilcox has scored a run in 10 of the last 13 games he has played. Additionally, with a hit today, Wilcox has a six-game hit-streak.
» Russo had an outstanding start on the bump today for Eastern Michigan. In his third start of the 2023 campaign, Russo tossed eight strikeouts. The eight strikeouts tie a season-high for Russo as he also sat down eight in a 14-3 thrashing of Western Michigan University, March 19. Furthermore, Russo's eight strikeouts tie Nick Chittum (Grosse Ile, Mich.-Grosse Ile) and Thomas House (Ross, Ohio.-Ross) as the only EMU pitchers to throw eight strikeouts in a single game this season.
» With 11 strikeouts today, Eastern Michigan pitching has now tossed double digits strikeouts in six games this season.
» Miller took Ball State pitcher Ryan Brown deep on a solo shot to left field in the bottom of the seventh inning. The home run was the first of his Eastern Michigan career, and the third overall of his collegiate career (Spring Arbor, Eastern Michigan).
» The Eagles were aggressive on the base paths today as they set a new season high with five bags swiped in Sunday afternoon's game. Furthermore, EMU stole 11 total bases throughout the series, tying their series-high in stolen bags as the Green and White also nabbed 11 bases in their series sweep versus Towson, March 3-5. Today's game was the first for Eastern Michigan with five or more steals since the Green and White stole the same number at Northern Illinois, May 7, 2022.
Historical Notes
» Sunday afternoon's contest marked the 79th all-time meeting between Eastern Michigan and Ball State. Ball State now leads the all-time head-to-head matchups at 49-30.
Up Next
With the completion of their weekend series versus Ball State, the Eagles will head to Rochester, Mich. for a mid-week clash versus the Oakland Golden Grizzlies Tuesday, March 28, at 2:30 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Sam Klein (2-0)
L: Jones, Bobby (0-2)
Batting:
2B: Ryan Peltier 1 ; Logan Flood 1
HR: Hunter Dobbins 1
RBI: Zach Lane 1 ; Decker Scheffler 1 ; Logan Flood 1 ; Blake Bevis 1 ; Hunter Dobbins 2
SF: Blake Bevis 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Adam Tellier 1 ; Ryan Peltier 1 ; Decker Scheffler 3 ; Logan Flood 1 ; Hunter Dobbins 1
CS: Ryan Peltier 1
HBP: Ryan Peltier 1
Batting:
2B: Miller, Glenn 1 ; Kirk, Matt 1
HR: Miller, Glenn 1
RBI: Miller, Glenn 1 ; Kirk, Matt 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Miller, Glenn 2 ; Wilcox, Cole 1
SB: Kirk, Matt 1 ; Hopkins, Taylor 1 ; Taylor, Cory 1 ; Schroedle, Kyle 1 ; Wilcox, Cole 1
CS: Taylor, Cory 1 ; Wilcox, Cole 1
