Despite two late rallies in the fifth and eighth innings, it wasn’t enough as the Eastern Michigan baseball team lost to the Michigan Wolverines, 12-4, Tuesday night in Ann Arbor.
Leading the way for the Eagles was Brennan Williams, who went 3-for-5 for his 14th multi-hit game of the season.
“We came here a few weeks back and really had a rough time with it on the mound and gave up a bunch of runs,” noted EMU manager Mark Van Ameyde after the game. “Today was better. Mattson’s been throwing well for us. He's beaten Purdue and Michigan State and Notre Dame last week so I was looking forward to him coming out here against Michigan. But it wasn’t meant to be. He didn’t have very good command.”
After a scoreless inning from the Eagles and Wolverines, Michigan singled two times to right field to put men on first and third with one out in the second. Michigan would score the first run on a wild pitch by Brent Mattson. Michigan grounded out to second base to end the second inning
Austin Wilson struck out and Marquise Gill grounded out to short to start the third inning for the Eagles. Willams reached on a single, but would be picked off at first base to bring up the Wolverines.
Michigan reached base on another single to start the bottom of the third and proceeded to steal second. Michigan would then hit a deep ball to left center field for a ground rule double, which scored another run for the Wolverines. Michigan then hit a single to short to get the second out, but another run would score, giving Michigan a 3-0 lead.
The game would come to a halt in the fourth, as a Michigan's Michael Brdar appeared to take a pitch to the face on a bunt attempt. He stayed in the game and took his base, and Michigan would follow up by hitting a deep single into left center, scoring two more runs to take a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth. A line drive down the third base line would score another run for the Wolverines. With the bases loaded, Mattson would walk the next batter, giving Michigan a 7-0 lead. Mattson was be taken out after pitching three and a third innings. Kyle Huckaby came in for the Eagles and close out the series with a groundout into a double play.
“That one inning got away from us,” noted Van Ameyde. “Defensively, we weren’t real strong.”
The Eagles got one back in the fifth when Drake Lubin reached on a walk and Alex Wolanski would hit him in with a drive down the third base line. Wilson hit a single to right field to bring in Wolanski and cut the lead to 7-2. Gill would continue the rally, hitting a ball to right to put men on first and third.
After a pitching change by Michigan, the rally was finally stopped with Gill picked off at first and Williams grounding out to first.
After two scoreless innings by both teams, the Eagles scored two more in the eighth, loading the bases on two consecutive singles and a walk with no outs. With two outs, EMU junior John Montgomery pinch hit for David Lett and delivered a clutch shot to deep left field, scoring two runs to bring the score to 7-4.
But the Wolverines stretched their lead in the bottom of the eighth, scoring five runs on five hits to take a 12-4 lead, going into the ninth. The Eagles were unable to rally back in the ninth, as Michigan would hold them down to seal the 12-4 defeat.
“Offensively we started to come alive at the end of the game, but it was tough to try to come back from that deficit,” Van Ameyde said.
