Eastern Michigan Athletics
Baseball Drops Low-Scoring Contest at Michigan State
5/12/2026 4:33:00 PM | Baseball
Eagles turn attention to MAC series against Ohio, Thursday-Saturday
EAST LANSING, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University baseball team fell 5-2 in a non-conference midweek contest against Big Ten Conference opponent, Michigan State University Tuesday, May 12, at McLane Stadium.
Henry Slaby (Avon Lake, Ohio/St. Edward) earned his second start of the season, pitching two innings, allowing zero runs off two hits with one walk and one strikeout for his most successful start of the campaign. Tristan Crane (Berkley, Mich./Brother Rice/Texas A&M Corpus Christi) led the offense with a three-hit day, including one RBI and one double.
EMU took a 1-0 lead into the fifth inning before an MSU three-run sixth put the host in the lead for good.
How it Happened
Strong Eastern pitching from Slaby and Michael Pfeiffer (Brownsboro, Ala./Huntsville/Northwest-Shoals C.C.) kept the Spartans scoreless as EMU struck first in the top of the fourth as Crane scored Devan Zirwas (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny/VCU) to put the Eagles ahead, 1-0.
Michigan State put up a crooked three runs in the sixth inning, leading off the frame with a solo home run before a pair of RBI singles made the score 3-1. A two-run triple in the eighth inning grew the MSU lead to four, 5-1.
Eastern scored one run in the ninth as Bruce Jellison (Hartland, Mich./Hartland/Wabash Valley) singled in Crane after leading off the inning with a double. Eastern would threaten to extend the contest, loading the bases in the frame but failing to push any more runs across as the game ended in a 5-2 decision in favor of the host Spartans.
Game Notes
» Eastern's record dropped to 17-33 (10-20 MAC), and Michigan State's improved to 20-30 (11-19 B1G).
» Eastern hitting put the ball in the air at a solid rate, recording 11 fly outs and three ground outs.
» Henry Slaby started for the second time this season, and first he got the nod at Oakland, April 22. Slaby went two innings, allowing zero runs off two hits with one walk and one strikeout for his most successful start of the campaign.
» Michael Pfeiffer tossed three shutout innings after entering to start the bottom of the third inning, marking his third consecutive scoreless bullpen outing.
» Bruce Jellison drove in his 28th run of the season with an RBI single in the ninth inning. He is one RBI away from tying his career-best total set in the 2025 season.
» Tristan Crane reached safely with a hit for the fourth straight game. He is up to 33 hits this season as he went 3-for-4 from the plate with one RBI, his 22nd of the season, recording his ninth game with multiple hits and his first of the season with exactly three hits. His third hit of the day was a double, his seventh of the season and 11th extra-base hit.
» TJ Williams (Racine, Wis./Racine Horlick/Kansas) notched his 41st hit of the season and sixth extra-base knock with his fourth double of the year coming in the third inning. Williams later singled in the ninth-inning rally for his 13th multi-hit game.
» Cole Egan (Pittsburgh, Pa./West Allegheny/George Mason) twirled his 11th scoreless outing and 15th without allowing a walk. Egan tossed 1.1 scoreless innings with two strikeouts. He is up to 22 strikeouts and just eight walks this season.
Historical Notes
» The Eagles and Spartans met for the 144th time. Eastern posts a 58-84-2 record when facing MSU and a 6-18 mark when facing it in East Lansing since 1999.
» The contest against Michigan State marked the 410th for Eastern against a Big Ten opponent. Overall, the Eagles post a 151-254-5 record when facing Big Ten teams. Additionally, the only four Big Ten institutions the Eagles have yet to face on the diamond are Maryland, Rutgers, USC, and UCLA. EMU is 0-4 against the conference this season.
Up Next
Eastern returns home to close out the regular season and conference schedule with a three-game series against Ohio University, Thursday-Saturday, May 14-16, at Oestrike Stadium.
Follow Us
Keep up with all things Eastern baseball by following the team on X @EMU Baseball and on Instagram @emu_baseball.
Henry Slaby (Avon Lake, Ohio/St. Edward) earned his second start of the season, pitching two innings, allowing zero runs off two hits with one walk and one strikeout for his most successful start of the campaign. Tristan Crane (Berkley, Mich./Brother Rice/Texas A&M Corpus Christi) led the offense with a three-hit day, including one RBI and one double.
EMU took a 1-0 lead into the fifth inning before an MSU three-run sixth put the host in the lead for good.
How it Happened
Strong Eastern pitching from Slaby and Michael Pfeiffer (Brownsboro, Ala./Huntsville/Northwest-Shoals C.C.) kept the Spartans scoreless as EMU struck first in the top of the fourth as Crane scored Devan Zirwas (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny/VCU) to put the Eagles ahead, 1-0.
Michigan State put up a crooked three runs in the sixth inning, leading off the frame with a solo home run before a pair of RBI singles made the score 3-1. A two-run triple in the eighth inning grew the MSU lead to four, 5-1.
Eastern scored one run in the ninth as Bruce Jellison (Hartland, Mich./Hartland/Wabash Valley) singled in Crane after leading off the inning with a double. Eastern would threaten to extend the contest, loading the bases in the frame but failing to push any more runs across as the game ended in a 5-2 decision in favor of the host Spartans.
Game Notes
» Eastern's record dropped to 17-33 (10-20 MAC), and Michigan State's improved to 20-30 (11-19 B1G).
» Eastern hitting put the ball in the air at a solid rate, recording 11 fly outs and three ground outs.
» Henry Slaby started for the second time this season, and first he got the nod at Oakland, April 22. Slaby went two innings, allowing zero runs off two hits with one walk and one strikeout for his most successful start of the campaign.
» Michael Pfeiffer tossed three shutout innings after entering to start the bottom of the third inning, marking his third consecutive scoreless bullpen outing.
» Bruce Jellison drove in his 28th run of the season with an RBI single in the ninth inning. He is one RBI away from tying his career-best total set in the 2025 season.
» Tristan Crane reached safely with a hit for the fourth straight game. He is up to 33 hits this season as he went 3-for-4 from the plate with one RBI, his 22nd of the season, recording his ninth game with multiple hits and his first of the season with exactly three hits. His third hit of the day was a double, his seventh of the season and 11th extra-base hit.
» TJ Williams (Racine, Wis./Racine Horlick/Kansas) notched his 41st hit of the season and sixth extra-base knock with his fourth double of the year coming in the third inning. Williams later singled in the ninth-inning rally for his 13th multi-hit game.
» Cole Egan (Pittsburgh, Pa./West Allegheny/George Mason) twirled his 11th scoreless outing and 15th without allowing a walk. Egan tossed 1.1 scoreless innings with two strikeouts. He is up to 22 strikeouts and just eight walks this season.
Historical Notes
» The Eagles and Spartans met for the 144th time. Eastern posts a 58-84-2 record when facing MSU and a 6-18 mark when facing it in East Lansing since 1999.
» The contest against Michigan State marked the 410th for Eastern against a Big Ten opponent. Overall, the Eagles post a 151-254-5 record when facing Big Ten teams. Additionally, the only four Big Ten institutions the Eagles have yet to face on the diamond are Maryland, Rutgers, USC, and UCLA. EMU is 0-4 against the conference this season.
Up Next
Eastern returns home to close out the regular season and conference schedule with a three-game series against Ohio University, Thursday-Saturday, May 14-16, at Oestrike Stadium.
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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