The Eastern Michigan University baseball team has lost the last six out of seven games, with the team’s last win coming on April 24, and the misfortune continued Friday night with a 5-0 loss to Ohio University at Oestrike Stadium.
The Eagles dropped the first of a three game weekend series against the Bobcats on Friday, in a game that had MAC Tournament implications.
Eastern Michigan (18-30, 8-14 MAC) failed to score a run on Friday night against Ohio (28-18, 13-9 MAC) even though the team registered six hits, continuing the team’s trend of difficulty when it comes to scoring runs.
Starting pitcher Charlie Land (3-7) dropped his seventh decision of the season to the Bobcats. Land pitched for seven innings, giving up four runs on seven hits, striking out one that evening.
Ohio scored its first two runs of the night in the first inning when left-fielder Mitch Longo struck a two-run home run, putting the Eagles behind almost instantly.
The Bobcats added to its tally in the second inning, scoring its third run of the night on a wild pitch, bringing the score to 3-0 in favor of Ohio.
The Eagles were able to hold off the Bobcats’ attack for three innings before Ohio was able to find the score-sheet again in the sixth inning. Third baseman John Adryan singled to left-centerfield, and even though the Eagles were able to secure an out, a run scored bringing the game to 4-0.
Time ran out quickly for Eastern Michigan when Ohio added another run in the eighth inning. The Eagles’ offense weren’t able to get the bats going in the eighth or ninth, giving Ohio their 28th win of the season.
John Montgomery was one of the Eagles’ notable players who performed well at the plate on Friday, going 2 for 4.
There was a pre-game ceremony to honor late Eastern Michigan University baseball coach Ron Oestrike, who is the winningest coach in program history, and led the team to two College Baseball World Series appearances in 1975 and 1976.
MAC-Tournament Implications
In order for Eastern Michigan to qualify for the MAC Tournament it has to be amongst the top eight teams in a conference of 12 teams. The Eagles currently sit at 11th, with only State University of New York at Buffalo beneath them. As of Friday night’s game the Eagles are not in a position to qualify for this year’s tournament.
Eastern Michigan has two more games against Ohio, and then a weekend series against Toledo that will affect their position in the MAC standings.
Eastern Michigan has won the MAC Conference Tournament four times: in 1981, 1982, 2003 and most recently in 2008.
Looking Forward:
The Eastern Michigan University baseball team will face-off with the Ohio University Bobcats in two more games at Oestrike Stadium, Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. respectively. Both games are MAC conference match-ups and count towards the Eagles’ fight for the MAC Tournament.
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Follow Robert Sherman on Twitter: @r__sherman
