Eastern Michigan University’s wrestling team suffered its fifth consecutive loss Friday night after dropping their dual meet against Kent State University 25-9.
The night started off with Kent State and Eastern repeatedly exchanging victories. Kent State’s Ediberto Vinas defeated Eastern’s Blake Caudill in their 125 lb. match by one 6-4 decision to give their team the early 3-0 lead.
EMU would respond quickly in the 133 lb. match when Vincent Pizzuto went on to win in a 4-2 decision over KSU’s Mark McGwire to tie things up at 3-3 for the meet.
Kent State jumped out to another lead of their own shortly after, when in the 141 lb. match Tyler Small defeated Eastern’s Michael Shaw in a 9-1 major decision to put Kent State up 7-3.
Nicholas Barber would counter this move by claiming a victory for the Eagles of his own, gaining the decision over Michael DePalma 10-4 in the 149 lb. match. This win would bring the Eastern within one point of Kent State, with a score of 7-6.
This would be closest the Eagles would get on the night to making a comeback against the Golden Flashes.
Eastern went on to drop four consecutive decisions in the 157, 165, 174, and 184 lb. weight classes to go down 19-6 for the meet. EMU’s Anthony Abro defeated KSU’s Cole Baxter in the 197 lb. match to try and send things off on a good note for the Eagles, before Eastern’s Gage Hutchison was defeated by Kent State’s Mimmo Lytle in the Heavyweight bout with a 9-3 decision to end the night.
With the loss, the Eagles now have an overall record of 7-8 on the season, and Kent State improves to 7-10. This is the first time the Eagles have been under .500 since Nov. 15, when they lost to Northwestern at the EMU Duals.
After three tries thus far on the year, EMU has yet to defeat a MAC opponent.
Eastern’s next opportunity to put both losing streaks behind them will come Feb. 6 at 7 p.m., when they stay on the road to take on the Northern Illinois Huskies. The Huskies, who are 8-10 on the year, are most recently coming off of a loss of their own, being defeated 32-12 by Missouri on Jan. 25.
Results
125: Ediberto Vinas (KSU) dec. Blake Caudill (EMU), 6-4 (KSU, 3-0)
133: Vincent Pizzuto (EMU) dec. Mack McGuire (KSU), 4-2, SV (Tied, 3-3)
141: Tyler Small (KSU) maj. dec. Michael Shaw (EMU), 9-1 (KSU, 7-3)
149: Nicholas Barber (EMU) dec. Michael DePalma (KSU), 10-4 (KSU 7-6)
157: Ian Miller (KSU) tech. fall Brandon Zeerip (EMU), 19-4 (KSU, 12-6)
165: Tyler Buckwalter (KSU) dec. Devan Marry (EMU), 9-5 (KSU, 15-6)
174: Caleb Marsh (KSU) maj. dec. Kayne MacCallum (EMU), 12-2 (KSU, 19-6)
184: Jerald Spohn (KSU) dec. Mike Curby (EMU), 6-4 (KSU, 22-6)
197: Anthony Abro (EMU) dec. Cole Baxter (KSU), 21- (KSU, 22-9)
HWT: Mimmo Lytle (KSU) dec. Gage Hutchison (EMU), 9-3 (KSU, 25-9)
