Baseball Travels to SIUE for Four-Game Series

Eastern Michigan Baseball at SIUE
Date	Friday-Sunday \| Feb. 27-March 1
Venue	Simmons Baseball Complex \| Edwardsville, Ill.
Preview Info	EMU Notes \| Record Book (PDF).
Watch Live (ESPN+)	Game One \| Game Four
Live Stats	Game One \| Game Two \| Game Three \| Game Four
Social Media	X: @EMU _Baseball \| @EMUAthletics IG: @emu_baseball \| @emuathletics

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University baseball team continues its early-season road trip with a four-game series at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Friday-Sunday, Feb. 27-March 1, at the Simmons Baseball Complex in Edwardsville, Ill.

Fans can follow along using the watch and live stats links that can be accessed on the EMU baseball schedule page at EMUEagles.com. Also, stay tuned to EMU baseball socials including EMU_Baseball on X and emu_baseball on Instagram for live in-game updates and additional EMU baseball content.

FIRST PITCHES
» Following the departure of Robbie Britt to the Boston Red Sox, former assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Trevor Beerman was promoted to interim head coach for the 2026 season.
» At 30 years old, Interim Head Coach Trevor Beerman is the youngest known coach at the NCAA Division I level.
» Eastern and SIUE are meeting for the first time in program history.
» Eastern is 44-46 all-time against the Ohio Valley Conference as it will face an OVC team in a series for the second time this season and 91st-93rd times overall.
» Most recently, Eastern dropped a three-game series (2-1) at Austin Peay, Feb. 20-22.
» Eastern totals 22 newcomers, including seven freshmen and 15 transfers. The Eagles bring back 18 players from the 2025 season.
» Eastern returns key players in Devan Zirwas and Ty Stecko. Zirwas was named a top-150 outfielder by D1 Baseball and Stecko earned Preseason All-MAC honors from Perfect Game.

ALL-TIME AGAINST SIUE/THE OVC
Eastern and SIUE are meeting for the first time in each schools' respective history. The Eagles are 44-46 all-time against the OVC. Eastern is facing an OVC opponent for the second time this season after opening the 2026 campaign with a three-game set at Little Rock, Feb. 13-15, a series won by the Trojans, 2-1.

LAST TIME OUT: AT AUSTIN PEAY, FEB. 20-22
Eastern took one of three games from a Governors' team that won 45 games last season and won the Atlantic Sun Conference regular season, winning the opening game, 7-6, Feb. 20, and dropping the next two, 8-7 in 11 innings, Feb. 21, and 6-1, Feb. 22.

Game One, Friday, Feb. 20
Eastern picked up its second win of the season at Austin Peay by a score of 7-6. The Eagles were propelled to victory by an eighth-inning three-run homer by Ty Stecko.
» Eastern's three home runs are a season high and tie for the second most in the MAC by value in single-game standings.
» Eastern had a season-high nine walks, the third most by value from a MAC team in one game this season.
» Ty Stecko recorded multiple home runs for the first time this season and second time in his NCAA career with homers in the third and eighth innings. Devan Zirwas went back-to-back with Stecko in the third inning for his second homer of the year and sixth RBI of the season.
» Ty Stecko and Devan Zirwas' consecutive home runs in the third inning marked the first occurrence of back-to-back homers since Harrison Travis and Zirwas accomplished the feat against Northern Illinois, May 2, 2025.
» Ty Stecko is the first Eagle to hit two home runs in a game this season and first since Logan Hugo hit a pair against Kent State, May 16, 2025.
» John Carmichael tossed five innings and struck out eight. His eight strikeouts are the most from an individual Eagle in a single game this season and tie for the third most in the MAC.
» Fischer Hendershot recorded his first save of the 2026 season and fourth of his career, pitching a scoreless ninth inning to seal the one-run victory.

Game Two, Saturday, Feb. 21
Eastern fought back from two multi-run deficits and forced extra innings before falling 8-7 in 11 frames to Austin Peay Saturday, Feb. 21. Nathan Borchardt paced the Eastern offense with three hits and RBI. Ethan Davis excelled out of the bullpen, throwing a scoreless five frames while striking out two opposing batters.
» The 11-inning game was the Eagles' first extra-innings contest of the 2026 season.
» Eastern set season highs in hits with 11.
» In a combined 7.2 innings, the Eastern bullpen allowed just one run, marking the third time this season the pen allowed two runs or less.
» Walks came at a premium as EMU issued just three on the day, its third time this season with three or fewer.
» With two home runs in Saturday's game and three in Friday's, Eastern hit multiple homers in consecutive games for the first time since it hit three against Kent State, May 15, 2025, and two against the Golden Flashes the next day, May 16.
» Devan Zirwas hit his third home run of the year and second in as many days. He finished with two hits and two RBI for his second game with multiple hits and RBI this season.
» Nathan Borchardt set season highs with three hits, three RBI, one double, and his first home run as an Eagle. He led the team in all three categories and accounted for nearly half of EMU's runs.
» Keegan Knupp collected the first multi-hit game of his NCAA career with three hits. His three hits are the most from an Eastern freshman this season and the most since Nathan Ball had four hits at Miami, April 26, 2024.

Game Three, Sunday, Feb. 22
Austin Peay took control of the game early and led by five runs after four innings. The Eagles struggled offensively and tallied one hit on the day with its one run coming off an Austin Peay wild pitch in the seventh. The Governors added another run in the seventh which brought the score to a final 6-1 in favor of Austin Peay.
» Nathan Borchardt walked a career high three times and accounted for three of the four runners on base for the Eagles.
» Tommy Rose pitched a career-long three innings and recorded a pair of strikeouts, the most in his NCAA tenure. Rose allowed just one earned run in his second career appearance.

STECKO'S HOT STICK
Entering the SIUE series Ty Stecko's three home runs rank him third in the MAC by value and his eight RBI puts him at fourth in the conference by value. Stecko also ranks among the top-10 in the MAC for walks (4th - eight), and runs (T2nd - eight). Stecko added two home runs, four RBI, and four walks to his total in the last series at Austin Peay, Feb. 20-22. The senior leads an Eastern team that totals seven homers, tying for the third most by value in the MAC.

STECKO'S INCREASED DISCIPLINE
Eight games into the season, Ty Stecko has worked eight walks, leading the Eagles and ranking fourth in the MAC. The right-handed bat totaled just three walks in his first eight games in 2025 as it took him 15 games to reach eight walks in 2025. Stecko drew four base-on-balls in the Austin Peay series, Feb. 20-22, and paces an EMU squad that ranks third in the MAC with 39 walks.

ETHAN DAVIS SHINES OUT OF THE BULLPEN
Ethan Davis twirled five shutout innings in relief in game two against Austin Peay, Feb. 21. He allowed just three hits and struck out two batters. Davis' performance marks the first time an Eagle reliever went five scoreless since Bobby Jones tossed five scoreless in a 9-0 shutout against Towson, March 4, 2023. Additionally, his five innings are the most by an Eagle in relief since Tyler Kapa went five innings with six strikeouts out of the bullpen and allowed just one run, March 29, 2025, against Ohio. The last time an Eagle reliever went longer than five was when Drew Beckner went six innings against Toledo, May 4, 2024.

BULLPEN PRODUCTION
Outside of the Vanderbilt series, Feb. 17-18, the Eastern bullpen has allowed 13 earned runs in 29.1 innings of work. It had three games where it allowed less than two runs, including 7.2 innings of one-run ball in the second game at Austin Peay, Feb. 21.

BORCHARDT BATTING WELL
A newcomer to the NCAA Division I stage, Nathan Borchardt has excelled at the plate thus far. The catcher leads the Eagles with a .333 batting average with five hits, one double, and one home run, totaling to five RBI and nine total bases.
» Nathan Borchardt set season highs with three hits, three RBI, one double, and his first home run as an Eagle. He led the team in all three categories and accounted for nearly half of EMU's runs In the second game of the Austin Peay series, Feb. 21.
» Nathan Borchardt walked a career high three times and accounted for three of the four runners on base for the Eagles in the series finale at Austin Peay, Feb. 22.

ZIRWAS CLOSING IN ON 100 HITS
Senior Devan Zirwas is closing in on the 100 hits milestone as he totals 87 in his three-year collegiate baseball career. Zirwas recorded 13 hits as a VCU Ram in 2024 before leading the Eagles with 69 last season. Zirwas totals five hits this season and would be the first Eagle to reach the milestone in 2026.

NICK WEAVER BEHIND THE PLATE
Eastern newcomer Nick Weaver has excelled defensively behind the plate. The junior ranks highly in the MAC with four runners caught stealing this season as EMU paces the conference with five runners caught stealing. He recently threw out an Austin Peay Governor in the series' opener, an 8-7 EMU win, Feb. 20.

ON THE HORIZON
Eastern heads to South Bend, Ind., for a midweek contest against Notre Dame University Tuesday, March 3, at 4:30 p.m.

FOLLOW US
Keep up with all things Eastern baseball by following the team on X @EMU Baseball, and on Instagram @emu baseball.

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Players Mentioned

Drew Beckner

Nathan Borchardt

John Carmichael

Ethan Davis

Fischer Hendershot

Logan Hugo

Bobby Jones

Tyler Kapa

Keegan Knupp

Tommy Rose

Ty Stecko

Nick Weaver

Devan Zirwas

Eastern Michigan Athletics