Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
25-26, 0
Northern Illinois
10-41, 0
House's Nine Strikeout Performance Powers EMU Past NIU, 11-2
5/18/2023 5:36:00 PM | Baseball
The 2023 pitching staff now ranks first in strikeouts in EMU baseball history with 425 this season
Re-Watch the Game | Photo Gallery.
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- Senior Thomas House (Ross, Ohio-Ross) was dominant on Thursday, May 18, fanning nine Northern Illinois University hitters over eight innings of work to help propel the Eastern Michigan University baseball team past the Huskies, 11-2, in Mid-American Conference action at Oestrike Stadium.
In addition to his nine strikeouts, House (3-3) threw eight innings, giving up two runs, both of them earned, on five hits and walking eight for Eastern Michigan (25-26, 10-18 MAC). Sophomore Grant Reising (Canton, Mich.-Divine Child-Missouri) also made an impact on the mound for the Eagles, throwing one shutout inning while allowing no hits, with one walk and three strikeouts.
Offensively, the Eagles were paced by graduate student Kyle Schroedle (Redding, Calif.-University Prep-Crown College), who went 2-for-4 on the day with a home run and three RBI. Sophomore Logan Hugo (Essexville, Mich.-Essexville Garber) compiled a noteworthy performance as well, going 1-for-3 with a home run, a walk and three RBI. Sophomore Josh Kross (Brunswick, Ohio-Brunswick-Toledo) also helped out for Eastern Michigan, putting together three hits in five trips to the plate while adding two doubles and two RBI.
How it Happened
The Eagles got on the scoreboard first, starting in the second inning. Eastern Michigan scored three times, all of them coming across on a three-run homer off the bat of Schroedle.
The Eagles then lost some of their lead, expanding on their advantage in the fourth inning after the Huskies cut it to 3-1. The Eastern Michigan offense exploded for seven runs, highlighted by a three-run home run off the bat of Hugo and a two-run groundout from junior Cory Taylor (Shelbyville, Ind.-Shelbyville), which brought the Eagles lead to 10-1.
Northern Illinois narrowed Eastern Michigan's lead to 10-2 before the Eagles stretched the advantage to 11-2 in the seventh inning. The Eagles added a run on Kross' two-out RBI double. The score remained 11-2 for the rest of the game, as Eastern Michigan coasted to the win.
Game Notes
» Schroedle went deep to left field in the bottom of the second inning, marking his second time recording homers in back-to-back games, the first year Eagle did so first March 28, versus Oakland University, and April 1, versus Ohio University. The Redding, Calif. native is now up to six bombs on the season. Moreover, Schroedle has recorded three or more RBIs in consecutive games for the first time in his Division I baseball career, the graduate student drove in four EMU base runners in Eastern's previous game versus Oakland, May 16. Lastly, Schroedle finished the day with two hits for his 11th multi-hit display of the year.
» Kross smacked a double down the left field line for his 16th double of the season, and 30th overall extra-base-hit.
» Hugo crushed a three-run shot out to left field in the Eagles' massive seven-run fourth inning. The homer goes down as the sophomore's sixth of the season, bringing his RBI total to 25 for the 2023 campaign. The center fielder ended the day with three runs driven in, marking the third time he has tabbed three or more RBIs in a single contest this season, also doing so versus Western Michigan University, April 11, and Bowling Green State University, April 14.
» Taylor added two RBIs in EMU's big fourth inning, bringing his season total to 31, and marking his 10th multi-RBI performance of the season. The second baseman also drilled a double to kick off EMU's half of the sixth, it is the Shelbyville, Ind. native's 12th two-bagger of the season.
» Matt Kirk (Milford, Ohio-Milford-Cypress-Toledo) flied out to right field in the fourth, scoring Schroedle for the graduate student's 47th RBI of the regular season.
» Aaron Dolney (Plymouth, Mich.-Detroit Country Day-Nebraska-Hillsborough C.C.) registered two hits Thursday afternoon, marking the catcher's 13th time doing so this season.
» Eastern popped off for seven runs in the fourth inning today, blowing the game wide open and ending the inning with a 10-1 edge over the Huskies. The seven runs tied a season-high for runs in a single inning for the Eagles and marks their fifth time reaching the seven run mark in a single inning during the 2023 campaign.
» With nine strikeouts in his last start as an Eagle, House set a career-high in punchouts as well as innings pitched in a single game as the Ross, Ohio native went a full eight innings into his start Thursday afternoon, surpassing his previous career-high (7.0 IP) by a full inning.
» Reising set a career-high on the bump today as the sophomore left-hander struck out three NIU batters.
Historical Notes
» Thursday afternoon's contest marks the 135th all-time meeting between Eastern Michigan and Northern Illinois. After today's win, the Eagles hold an 81-54 record when facing the Huskies.
» With 12 combined strikeouts from EMU pitching today, the 2023 squad has surpassed last season's team for the top spot for the most strikeouts by a team in Eastern Michigan baseball history with 425 total punchouts this season.
» House's nine strikeouts puts him even with former Eagle Woody Mills (1970-73) for fifth in career strikeouts with 225 in his Eastern Michigan career (2018-Pres.)
» With one hit today, Taylor Hopkins (Mason, Ohio-Archbishop Moeller) is now up to 223 hits in his Eastern Michigan career. The shortstop is now just 10 hits away from tying former Eagle Lee Longo (2011-14) for fifth in career hits for the Eagles, as Longo recorded 233 in his time in the Green and White.
» Finishing the day with two RBIs, Kross moved in fourth place in single season RBIs in Eastern Michigan baseball history, 66 runs driven in this season. The switch hitter passed former Eagle Scott Kemp, who drove in 65 in the 1982 season.
» EMU earned its 25th victory of the season today, marking the most wins under Head Coach Eric Roof (2018-Pres.). With two games remaining, the Green and White could reach 27 wins this season, meaning the Eagles would post their first winning season since 2011, when Eastern went 37-22 with a 16-11 conference record.
Up Next
The Eagles and Huskies will run it back for the second game of their three-game set tomorrow, May 19. The first pitch is slated for 1 p.m. (notice the time change as it was originally set for 3 p.m.)
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: House, Thomas (3-3)
L: RUH, Mason (2-4)
Batting:
2B: HARPER, Aaron 1 ; SUMMERHILL, Colin 1 ; PETERS, Malik 1
RBI: SUMMERHILL, Colin 1 ; NELSON, Jake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: HARPER, Aaron 1 ; SUMMERHILL, Colin 1
CS: PETERS, Malik 1
HBP: SMART, Andrew 1
Batting:
2B: Kross, Josh 2 ; Taylor, Cory 1
HR: Hugo, Logan 1 ; Schroedle, Kyle 1
RBI: Kirk, Matt 1 ; Kross, Josh 2 ; Taylor, Cory 2 ; Hugo, Logan 3 ; Schroedle, Kyle 3
SH: Taylor, Cory 1
SF: Kirk, Matt 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Miller, Glenn 1 ; Kraft, Darren 1 ; Kross, Josh 1 ; Taylor, Cory 1 ; Dolney, Aaron 2 ; Hugo, Logan 2 ; Schroedle, Kyle 2 ; McRae, Blake 1
SB: Miller, Glenn 1
