Eastern Michigan Athletics
Sunday, April 19
Ypsilanti, Mich.
1 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
11-26, 6-15
3
vs
12
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Western Michigan
19-16, 14-7
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Runs R | Hits H | Errors E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Michigan | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 13 | 0 |
| Eastern Michigan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
Photo by: Steve King/KingStudios
Baseball Drops Rubber Match to Western Michigan
4/19/2026 5:02:00 PM | Baseball
Eagles turn their focus to a weekend series at Northern Illinois, April 24-26
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University baseball team fell to Western Michigan University, 12-3, Sunday, April 19, in the finale of a three-game Mid-American Conference series at Oestrike Stadium.
How it Happened
Western Michigan put the Eagles in an early hole with a four-run first inning, capitalizing on timely hitting and an Eastern error to set the tone. The Broncos added three more runs in the third, highlighted by a two-run home run from Avery Thielman, extending the deficit to 7-0 before Eastern Michigan could answer. EMU starter Michael Pfeiffer (Brownsboro, Ala./Brownsboro/Northwest-Shoals C.C.) struck out five in his 2.2 innings but was tagged for seven runs, with the early damage proving difficult to recover from.
The Eagles got on the board in the fourth as Bruce Jellison (Hartland, Mich./Hartland/Wabash Valley) doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Ty Stecko (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin/Mount St. Mary's). In the sixth, John Hale (Ashland City, Tenn./Sycamore/Motlow State C.C.) and Devan Zirwas (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny/VCU) came around to score on RBI singles from Stecko and Ben Schechterman (Aurora, Ohio/Aurora/Ohio State), trimming the margin to 8-3. However, the Broncos responded with two runs in both the seventh and eighth innings to put the game out of reach.
Tristan Crane (Berkley, Mich./Berkley/Texas A&M Corpus Christi) paced the Eagles' offense with a 2-for-3 day, including a double and a walk. Relief efforts from Fischer Hendershot (Flushing, Mich./Flint Powers) and Tommy Rose (Plymouth, Mich./Plymouth) kept Western Michigan in check during the middle frames, but the early deficit proved too large for an EMU comeback.
Game Notes
» Eastern's record dropped to 11-26 (6-15 MAC), and Western's improved to 19-16 (14-7 MAC).
» Senior right-hander Michael Pfeiffer struck out a season-high five batters for the second consecutive start as he also fanned five Toledo Rockets in the first game of a doubleheader, April 3.
» Fischer Hendershot struck out the nation's batting average leader, Tanner Mally, in the fourth inning, becoming just the fourth pitcher in the nation to strike him out. Along with batting average (.488), Mally also leads the country in on-base percentage (.589), and toughest to strikeout as he does just once every 38.7 at-bats. Brian Henson (Huntsville, Ala./Buckhorn/Northwest-Shoals C.C.) struck Mally out once more in the seventh, making Eastern the only team in the country to strike him out twice in one game.
» Ty Stecko recorded his seventh game with two or more RBI.
» Ben Schechterman drove in his fourth run of the season with a single to right-center field in the bottom of the sixth. The hit went down as his ninth of the season.
» Tristan Crane recorded a pair of hits for the third time this season and knocked his third double and sixth extra-base hit of the campaign.
» Bruce Jellison doubled for the fourth time this season, marking his sixth extra-base hit as he is one extra-base knock away from tying the seven he recorded in 2025.
» Tommy Rose worked a scoreless seventh inning in his 10th appearance of the season.
Historical Notes
» EMU and WMU met for the 201st time as it holds a 100-101 record against the Broncos.
» Western Michigan is EMU's most frequent opponent as the two programs have met 201 times, six more than the 195 meetings with Bowling Green.
Up Next
Eastern travels to DeKalb, Ill., for the final MAC series between EMU and Northern Illinois Friday-Sunday, April 24-26.
Follow Us
Keep up with all things Eastern baseball by following the team on X @EMU Baseball, and on Instagram @emu_baseball.
How it Happened
Western Michigan put the Eagles in an early hole with a four-run first inning, capitalizing on timely hitting and an Eastern error to set the tone. The Broncos added three more runs in the third, highlighted by a two-run home run from Avery Thielman, extending the deficit to 7-0 before Eastern Michigan could answer. EMU starter Michael Pfeiffer (Brownsboro, Ala./Brownsboro/Northwest-Shoals C.C.) struck out five in his 2.2 innings but was tagged for seven runs, with the early damage proving difficult to recover from.
The Eagles got on the board in the fourth as Bruce Jellison (Hartland, Mich./Hartland/Wabash Valley) doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Ty Stecko (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin/Mount St. Mary's). In the sixth, John Hale (Ashland City, Tenn./Sycamore/Motlow State C.C.) and Devan Zirwas (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny/VCU) came around to score on RBI singles from Stecko and Ben Schechterman (Aurora, Ohio/Aurora/Ohio State), trimming the margin to 8-3. However, the Broncos responded with two runs in both the seventh and eighth innings to put the game out of reach.
Tristan Crane (Berkley, Mich./Berkley/Texas A&M Corpus Christi) paced the Eagles' offense with a 2-for-3 day, including a double and a walk. Relief efforts from Fischer Hendershot (Flushing, Mich./Flint Powers) and Tommy Rose (Plymouth, Mich./Plymouth) kept Western Michigan in check during the middle frames, but the early deficit proved too large for an EMU comeback.
Game Notes
» Eastern's record dropped to 11-26 (6-15 MAC), and Western's improved to 19-16 (14-7 MAC).
» Senior right-hander Michael Pfeiffer struck out a season-high five batters for the second consecutive start as he also fanned five Toledo Rockets in the first game of a doubleheader, April 3.
» Fischer Hendershot struck out the nation's batting average leader, Tanner Mally, in the fourth inning, becoming just the fourth pitcher in the nation to strike him out. Along with batting average (.488), Mally also leads the country in on-base percentage (.589), and toughest to strikeout as he does just once every 38.7 at-bats. Brian Henson (Huntsville, Ala./Buckhorn/Northwest-Shoals C.C.) struck Mally out once more in the seventh, making Eastern the only team in the country to strike him out twice in one game.
» Ty Stecko recorded his seventh game with two or more RBI.
» Ben Schechterman drove in his fourth run of the season with a single to right-center field in the bottom of the sixth. The hit went down as his ninth of the season.
» Tristan Crane recorded a pair of hits for the third time this season and knocked his third double and sixth extra-base hit of the campaign.
» Bruce Jellison doubled for the fourth time this season, marking his sixth extra-base hit as he is one extra-base knock away from tying the seven he recorded in 2025.
» Tommy Rose worked a scoreless seventh inning in his 10th appearance of the season.
Historical Notes
» EMU and WMU met for the 201st time as it holds a 100-101 record against the Broncos.
» Western Michigan is EMU's most frequent opponent as the two programs have met 201 times, six more than the 195 meetings with Bowling Green.
Up Next
Eastern travels to DeKalb, Ill., for the final MAC series between EMU and Northern Illinois Friday-Sunday, April 24-26.
Follow Us
Keep up with all things Eastern baseball by following the team on X @EMU Baseball, and on Instagram @emu_baseball.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: KIDD, Ricky (5-1)
L: Pfeiffer, Michael (1-4)
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Batting:
2B: MALLY, Tanner 1 ; THIELMAN, Avery 1 ; POLUBINSKI, Josh 1
HR: THIELMAN, Avery 2 ; POLUBINSKI, Josh 1
RBI: MENNECKE, Mark 1 ; MALONEY, Michael 1 ; THIELMAN, Avery 5 ; POLUBINSKI, Josh 2 ; ZAJAC, Nolan 2
Base Running:
RUNS: MALLY, Tanner 1 ; HUMS, Cooper 1 ; MENNECKE, Mark 2 ; MALONEY, Michael 4 ; THIELMAN, Avery 2 ; POLUBINSKI, Josh 2
SB: HUMS, Cooper 1 ; MENNECKE, Mark 1 ; PILARSKI, Mason 1 ; ZAJAC, Nolan 1
HBP: THIELMAN, Avery 1 ; PILARSKI, Mason 1 ; ZAJAC, Nolan 1
Batting:
2B: Jellison, Bruce 1 ; Crane, Tristan 1
RBI: Stecko, Ty 2 ; Schechterman, Ben 1
SF: Stecko, Ty 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Hale, John 1 ; Jellison, Bruce 1 ; Zirwas, Devan 1
CS: Hale, John 1
HBP: Hale, John 2
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
UTIL
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
UTIL
/ Baseball
INF
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