The Eastern Michigan University baseball team headed out west to Pullman, Wash., to take on the Washington State University Cougars in a four-game series, where the Cougars would begin their 8-game homestand.
However, due to snow, which has seemed to plague the Eagles so far this season, Friday’s matchup was canceled.
Instead of one game Friday, one Saturday and a doubleheader Sunday, Mother Nature forced the teams to endure back-to-back doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday.
The first game included a lot of offensive action, where the Cougars went on a five-run rally in the third inning to pull away with an 8-4 victory.
EMU trailed 3-1 in the second inning, but tied it up at three a piece after a RBI from sophomore shortstop John Rubino and junior designated hitter Lee Longo. The Cougars instantly responded with
five runs from five hits off Neil Butara to take back the lead.
Butara (0-2), in seven innings of work, gave up 12 hits, eight runs (six earned) and had one strikeout. EMU junior reliever Paul Schaak pitched in the eighth inning, getting one groundout and a strikeout.
There wasn’t nearly as much offense in the evening game, which was scoreless until WSU got a walk-off RBI double from catcher P.J. Jones for a 1-0 win.
Eagle Kendall Lewis (1-0) got the start of game two of the series and did not fail to impress. While only giving up four hits, Lewis didn’t allow a single run and totaled three strikeouts against the Cougars.
The bats never really seemed to wake up, as the Eagles only got six hits and no walks in this game.
Longo was the only player to have multiple hits in this ballgame, getting a single and a double. It was only a matter of time before the Cougars pulled through.
True freshman Devon Bronson (0-1) relieved Lewis at the start of the eighth inning, where he managed to get a pair of fly outs and a strikeout. The ninth inning, however, was a different story.
The Cougars started out with a single from third baseman Nick Tanielu, who advanced to second after a groundout by outfielder Jason Monda. The next batter, Yale Rosen, was intentionally walked to have the force out at third.
Jones came up with an RBI double to left-center field, bringing Tanielu across the plate for the walk-off victory.
WSU improved their record to 3-2 after the pair of victories on Saturday.
EMU centerfielder Daniel Russell had a noteworthy day at the plate, where he went 3-for-4 and had a walk in game one, and followed with another hit in the evening game, improving his on-base percentage to 0.444.
Jamie Simpson grabbed his second three-base hit of the season for the Eagles, and is now batting a .313 average and has a .563 slugging percentage.
The Eagles (1-3) had a doubleheader Sunday to complete the series, but game results were not available as of press time.
