Eastern Michigan Athletics
Wednesday, April 22
Rochester, MI
3 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
12-26
11
at
10
Oakland
10-26
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Runs R | Hits H | Errors E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Michigan | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 12 | 2 |
| Oakland | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 17 | 1 |
Baseball Outlasts Oakland in 11-10 Extra-Innings Win
4/22/2026 7:43:00 PM | Baseball
Ty Stecko and Landon Mueller closed out the victory
ROCHESTER, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University baseball team outlasted Oakland University in a thriller, claiming an 11-10 extra-innings non-conference victory Wednesday, April 22, at Oakland Baseball Field.
Ty Stecko (North Huntingdon, Pa./Nowin/Mount St. Mary's) hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the 10th while Landon Mueller (Fremont, Neb./Fremont/Omaha) (1-2) earned his first win of the season and sealed the deal, retiring the side in order in the bottom half of the frame.
Tristan Crane (Berkley, Mich./Berkley/Texas A&M Corpus Christi) led the EMU offense with a 4-for-6 showing at the dish, knocking one home run and one double for three RBI.
How it Happened
Eastern Michigan struck first in the top of the first inning, as Bruce Jellison (Hartland, Mich./Hartland/Wabash Valley) crossed the plate on an RBI single by Crane. Oakland quickly answered, and the teams traded early runs with John Hale (Ashland City, Tenn./Sycamore/Motlow State C.C.) driving in Nathan Borchardt (Stanley, N.C./East Lincoln/King) on a sacrifice fly to help EMU go up 2-1 in the second.
Oakland tied it again before the Eagles erupted for four runs in the third, highlighted by a solo home run from Stecko and a two-run double from Hale to make it 6-2.
Crane delivered a two-run homer in the fourth, extending the lead to 8-4. The Eagles kept pressing with two more runs in the fifth, fueled by a Stecko RBI single and an Oakland error that allowed Devan Zirwas (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny/VCU) to score. Oakland chipped away, scoring once in the fifth and three times in the sixth, capped by a two-run shot from Revere to close the gap to 10-8. The Grizzlies tied the contest at 10 in the bottom of the eighth with a pair of clutch RBI.
EMU's resilience shined in extras. In the 10th, Jellison reached and advanced before Stecko lofted a sacrifice fly to right, bringing home the decisive run. Mueller closed out 2.1 scoreless innings in relief to secure the victory, stranding the tying run as the Eagles held on for the dramatic win in the 70th all-time meeting between the programs.
Game Notes
» Eastern's record improved to 12-26 (6-15 MAC), and Oakland's dropped to 10-26 (5-10 Horizon).
» The Eagles struck out a season-low three times, improving their record to 6-1 when striking out five times or less. It's the fewest strikeouts in a game since EMU struck out just once against Western Michigan, March 14, 2025.
» EMU played its fourth extra-innings game of the year, improving to 3-1.
» Eastern improved to 8-2 in one-run games, its most one-run victories since it notched 12 in the 2011 campaign. The eight one-run wins tie Akron for the most in the conference.
» The Green and White homered twice in one game for the 10th time this season. It scored double-digit runs for the sixth time, recorded 10+ hits for the 12th occurrence, and struck out double-digit batters for the eighth game.
» Ty Stecko homered for the sixth time this season and first time since he did so in a 9-1 win at SIUE, Feb. 28. He notched his 10th multi-hit game of the season and third time with multiple extra-base hits. Stecko has 17 extra-base hits this season, two away from tying his 2025 total. He hit the go-ahead sacrifice fly in the 10th inning, bringing his season total to 25 RBI while marking his eighth game with multiple RBI.
» Landon Mueller earned his first win of the season, tossing 2.1 innings of shutout ball for his fourth scoreless appearance of the year.
» Tristan Crane extended his hitting streak to five games as he collected a career-high four hits for his fourth multi-hit day. The sophomore drove in a trio of runs, his fourth time with multiple RBI this season as all four of those occurrences have come in his last 10 games. Crane homered for the fourth time with a two-run bomb to left field in the fourth inning.
» John Hale drove in three runs off one two-run double and one sacrifice fly. The output is his fourth multi-RBI showing of the year. Hale continues to improve his power as his double marked his team-best 11th while serving as his 15th extra-base knock of the season, two more than he had last year.
» Nathan Borchardt recorded two singles for his sixth multi-hit game of the season and first since he went 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles at Ball State, March 15. He walked for a team-best 25th time, marking his seventh consecutive game with at least one walk as he has reached base in seven straight games, his longest streak of the campaign.
» Greg Kennedy (Ravenna, Ohio/Jonathan Alder/Lake Erie College) had an NCAA Division I career-long three-inning stint on the mound, striking out a career-best four batters with zero walks.
Historical Notes
» EMU and Oakland met for the 70th time as it holds a 49-21 record against the Golden Grizzlies and a 12-7 mark when facing them on the road.
» The game marked the 100th for Eastern against a Horizon League member. It holds a 60-40 record against the conference.
» Eastern was hit by seven pitches, tying for the most by an EMU team in the modern statistical era (1999-present). The total ranks second in the MAC single-game leaderboards this season and fifth in the nation.
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.
Ty Stecko (North Huntingdon, Pa./Nowin/Mount St. Mary's) hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the 10th while Landon Mueller (Fremont, Neb./Fremont/Omaha) (1-2) earned his first win of the season and sealed the deal, retiring the side in order in the bottom half of the frame.
Tristan Crane (Berkley, Mich./Berkley/Texas A&M Corpus Christi) led the EMU offense with a 4-for-6 showing at the dish, knocking one home run and one double for three RBI.
How it Happened
Eastern Michigan struck first in the top of the first inning, as Bruce Jellison (Hartland, Mich./Hartland/Wabash Valley) crossed the plate on an RBI single by Crane. Oakland quickly answered, and the teams traded early runs with John Hale (Ashland City, Tenn./Sycamore/Motlow State C.C.) driving in Nathan Borchardt (Stanley, N.C./East Lincoln/King) on a sacrifice fly to help EMU go up 2-1 in the second.
Oakland tied it again before the Eagles erupted for four runs in the third, highlighted by a solo home run from Stecko and a two-run double from Hale to make it 6-2.
Crane delivered a two-run homer in the fourth, extending the lead to 8-4. The Eagles kept pressing with two more runs in the fifth, fueled by a Stecko RBI single and an Oakland error that allowed Devan Zirwas (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny/VCU) to score. Oakland chipped away, scoring once in the fifth and three times in the sixth, capped by a two-run shot from Revere to close the gap to 10-8. The Grizzlies tied the contest at 10 in the bottom of the eighth with a pair of clutch RBI.
EMU's resilience shined in extras. In the 10th, Jellison reached and advanced before Stecko lofted a sacrifice fly to right, bringing home the decisive run. Mueller closed out 2.1 scoreless innings in relief to secure the victory, stranding the tying run as the Eagles held on for the dramatic win in the 70th all-time meeting between the programs.
Game Notes
» Eastern's record improved to 12-26 (6-15 MAC), and Oakland's dropped to 10-26 (5-10 Horizon).
» The Eagles struck out a season-low three times, improving their record to 6-1 when striking out five times or less. It's the fewest strikeouts in a game since EMU struck out just once against Western Michigan, March 14, 2025.
» EMU played its fourth extra-innings game of the year, improving to 3-1.
» Eastern improved to 8-2 in one-run games, its most one-run victories since it notched 12 in the 2011 campaign. The eight one-run wins tie Akron for the most in the conference.
» The Green and White homered twice in one game for the 10th time this season. It scored double-digit runs for the sixth time, recorded 10+ hits for the 12th occurrence, and struck out double-digit batters for the eighth game.
» Ty Stecko homered for the sixth time this season and first time since he did so in a 9-1 win at SIUE, Feb. 28. He notched his 10th multi-hit game of the season and third time with multiple extra-base hits. Stecko has 17 extra-base hits this season, two away from tying his 2025 total. He hit the go-ahead sacrifice fly in the 10th inning, bringing his season total to 25 RBI while marking his eighth game with multiple RBI.
» Landon Mueller earned his first win of the season, tossing 2.1 innings of shutout ball for his fourth scoreless appearance of the year.
» Tristan Crane extended his hitting streak to five games as he collected a career-high four hits for his fourth multi-hit day. The sophomore drove in a trio of runs, his fourth time with multiple RBI this season as all four of those occurrences have come in his last 10 games. Crane homered for the fourth time with a two-run bomb to left field in the fourth inning.
» John Hale drove in three runs off one two-run double and one sacrifice fly. The output is his fourth multi-RBI showing of the year. Hale continues to improve his power as his double marked his team-best 11th while serving as his 15th extra-base knock of the season, two more than he had last year.
» Nathan Borchardt recorded two singles for his sixth multi-hit game of the season and first since he went 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles at Ball State, March 15. He walked for a team-best 25th time, marking his seventh consecutive game with at least one walk as he has reached base in seven straight games, his longest streak of the campaign.
» Greg Kennedy (Ravenna, Ohio/Jonathan Alder/Lake Erie College) had an NCAA Division I career-long three-inning stint on the mound, striking out a career-best four batters with zero walks.
Historical Notes
» EMU and Oakland met for the 70th time as it holds a 49-21 record against the Golden Grizzlies and a 12-7 mark when facing them on the road.
» The game marked the 100th for Eastern against a Horizon League member. It holds a 60-40 record against the conference.
» Eastern was hit by seven pitches, tying for the most by an EMU team in the modern statistical era (1999-present). The total ranks second in the MAC single-game leaderboards this season and fifth in the nation.
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: Mueller, Landon (1-2)
L: Dillard, Tagertt (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Hale, John 1 ; Borchardt, Nathan 1 ; Crane, Tristan 1 ; Stecko, Ty 1
HR: Crane, Tristan 1 ; Stecko, Ty 1
RBI: Zirwas, Devan 1 ; Hale, John 3 ; Crane, Tristan 3 ; Stecko, Ty 2
SH: Thigpen, Phillip 1
SF: Hale, John 1 ; Stecko, Ty 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jones, Drew 1 ; Jellison, Bruce 2 ; Zirwas, Devan 1 ; Hale, John 1 ; Borchardt, Nathan 2 ; Crane, Tristan 2 ; Stecko, Ty 2
HBP: Thigpen, Phillip 1 ; Jones, Drew 2 ; Jellison, Bruce 1 ; Hale, John 1 ; Borchardt, Nathan 1 ; Weaver, Nick 1
Batting:
2B: Orr, Aidan 1 ; Griffith, Sam 1 ; Clark, Ben 1 ; Hain, Carter 2 ; Konopiots, Tony 1
HR: Revere, Kyle 1
RBI: Landis, Andrew 2 ; Lux, Jack 1 ; Clark, Ben 1 ; Hain, Carter 2 ; Konopiots, Tony 1 ; Revere, Kyle 2
SH: Lux, Jack 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Griffith, Sam 3 ; Lux, Jack 1 ; Clark, Ben 2 ; Hain, Carter 1 ; Konopiots, Tony 2 ; Revere, Kyle 1
SB: Lux, Jack 1 ; Patton, Sam 1
CS: Hain, Carter 1
Game Leaders
AB
6
R
2
H
4
RBI
3
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
2
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
C
/ BaseballUTIL
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INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
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