Friday was a special day for redshirt senior Brian Hill and the Eastern Michigan University baseball team in its 7-1 win over Western Michigan University.
Hill (W, 5-1) took a no-hitter into the ninth inning for the Eagles (16-18), but with one out in the top of the ninth, he surrendered a single to Andrew Sohn, ending the no-no bid.
Hill went the distance for EMU, giving up one run (none earned) on two hits while walking four and striking out three.
For the Broncos (12-24), Steve Laudicina (L, 2-8) got the start. He pitched 6 2/3 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on five hits, walking three and striking out eight Eagle batters.
Monty Porter came into the game to get the final out of the seventh inning. He pitched to four batters in 1/3 of an inning, giving up one earned run on three hits.
Nick Bradley pitched the eighth for WMU. He gave up two earned runs on one hit, walking no batters and striking out two.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning.
Junior catcher Adam Sonabend led off the inning with a walk. Two batters later, freshman first baseman Mitchell McGeein knocked a one-out RBI double, scoring Sonabend.
EMU scored three more runs in the sixth, two in the seventh and one more in the eighth.
The real story was Hill.
He cruised through the first seven innings, only walking four batters to that point and stranding all of them on base.
With three outs left, things were looking great for Hill.
After striking out Theo Piccirilli to lead off the inning, Hill gave up the single to Sohn. Two batters later, Hunter Prince hit an RBI infield single, scoring the only run for Western. Brandon Cable flew out to Ott to end the game.
Two Eagles finished the day with a multi-hit game. McGeein and sophomore shortstop John Rubino each went 2-for-4 at the plate. Five other Eagles had one hit each.
