The Eastern Michigan baseball team kicked off its season over the weekend in Georgia against the University of Nebraska in Omaha and the New Jersey Institute of Technology at the Perfect Game Spring Swing tournament.
The Eagles (3-1) were unable to sweep Mavericks of Nebraska-Omaha (2-2) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday but picked up two wins in the three matchups. In the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday, the Eagles dominated NJIT (1-2) in a 8-0 shutout.
Friday: EMU 16, Nebraska-Omaha 3.
On Friday, the Eagles faced off against the Mavericks and junior Sam Delaplane (RHP) picked up his first win of the year. Through the first four innings the Mavs' hit two home runs to take a 3-0 lead, but they would be silent the rest of the game.
The Eagles would hit in the bottom of the fourth inning and light up the scoreboard as they scored ten runs to set the score at 10-3 going into the fifth inning. They added two more runs in each of the next two innings as well. The Eagles finished the day with another two runs in the eighth inning and won the game 16-3.
Senior Jackson Martin led the team with four RBI’s while producing three runs. Senior Austin Wilson hit two doubles on four hits while having three RBI’s that produced two scored runs. Sophomore Brennan Williams also had a great day with three RBI’s while also producing two scores.
Saturday Game 1: Nebraska-Omaha 2, EMU 1.
In the second matchup of the week, the Eagles were looking to win the second game of the weekend as they played against the Mavericks again. Sophomore Kyle Huckaby (LHP) allowed only one run but the Eagles lost 2-1 in the second matchup of the weekend.
The Mavericks scored in the first inning on an error that allowed them to take a 1-0 lead over Eastern Michigan. Sophomore Brennan Williams hit a RBI single to put the Eagles on the board and tie the score at 1-1. He finished the day with two hits and a RBI earning him the Mid-American Conference Western Division Player of the Week.
Both offenses struggled to get on the board the rest of the game until Grant Suponchick of UNO hit a double that allowed the Mavs' to take a 2-1 lead. The Eagles were unable to put any more runs on the board the rest of the game and gave them their first loss of the season.
Saturday Game 2: EMU 8, NJIT 0.
In the second game of the Saturday double-header, the Eagles faced off against the NJIT Highlanders. Senior Augie Gallardo (RHP) pitched a shutout in an 8-0 victory for the Eagles.
In the first inning, junior John Montgomery hit a double to get a run on the board for the Eagles. In the third inning, senior Mitchell McGeein hit a single to add another run to the board as the Eagles went up 2-0.
When the sixth inning hit, the Eagles decided to kick it up a notch while putting up six runs to take a 8-0 lead. Brennan Williams had himself another great game on the weekend with two RBI’s, two runs and a stolen base. This would have Eastern at 2-1 going into the final game of the series on Sunday against Nebraska-Omaha.
Sunday: EMU 8, Nebraska-Omaha 1.
The Eagles finished off their weekend with an 8-1 victory over the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks to finish at 3-1 for the weekend. Austin Wilson (RHP) picked up the win on the mound. In this matchup, every hitter for Eastern Michigan recorded a hit.
Eastern Michigan had an early explosion of offense in the first inning where they scored four runs to take the early advantage. At 2-0, Jackson Martin hit a home run to get two more runs and end the inning at 4-0 Eastern.
Mitchell McGeein picked up a pair of RBI’s as the Eagles closed out the weekend with the best record since 1994 as they kicked off their season at 3-1.
Brennan Williams was named MAC West Baseball Player of the Week honors. Williams, a designated hitter, hit .500 averaged as he went 7-for-14 at the plate while recording six RBI’s and his first home run of his career.
Looking Forward:
The Eagles will now head down to Gainesville, Florida to face off against the number one ranked University of Florida Gators in a two-game set on Tuesday and Wednesday.
