The Eastern Michigan baseball team hosted Concordia on Wednesday, March 27, at Oestrike Stadium. It was the second home game of the season for the Eagles and they have won both. EMU defeated Concordia 11-6, a day after a win over Northwestern Ohio. Thomas House started for Eastern Michigan.
In the top of the first inning, Concordia’s Blaine Milheim hit a single off House to keep the inning alive with two outs. The next batter, Grant Steinborn, knocked a home run past the right field wall to put Concordia up 2-0. However, the Eagles were able to answer back. Jeff Timko started the inning with a walk and was able to move over to third base. Gabriel Guevara’s wild pitch allowed Timko to score. The Cardinals led 2-1 after one inning.
In the bottom of the second, after holding Concordia scoreless in the top of the inning, EMU tied the game. Nate Jones earned a walk to start and then stole second base to get into scoring position. Two batters later, Stephen Karis hit an RBI single to score Jones and tie the game. Ryan Abenth would replace Guevara after he failed to record any outs in the second inning. The southpaw couldn’t stop Zachary Owings, though, as he hit a grand slam to put the Eagles up 6-2.
“We want to be able to score first. Today we weren’t able to score first, but it helps you to get into the game a little bit when you can take the lead,” head coach Eric Roof said. “We preach that offensively and defensively. Get the lead and then expand on it. It was good to see our guys come up in certain situations and be able to execute.”
Luke McGuire would come in to replace Thomas House in the top of the third inning. He got three straight fly outs to bring the Eagles back to the plate. McGuire stayed in to pitch the top of the sixth inning but gave up his first run of the game. Vann Acker connected for a home run to cut the EMU lead to 8-3.
Concordia’s Preston Sherman hit a two-run homer, which was followed up by a sacrifice RBI from Chris Lowe the next inning. Eastern responded with two runs in the next two innings and finished the game off with Holden Cook on the mound. He got Lowe to fly out to center field, ending the game, as the Eagles won their second straight home game behind 11 runs and 14 hits.
“It feels great coming back home and playing in our own ballpark. It’s really nice to be able to sleep in our own bed and relax a little bit,” Roof said. “It’s a little bit of a grind with the travel, the road trips, but it’s definitely nice being back at home and coming out here and getting two good wins. I think the guys did a good job today on building off of the day before.”
The Eagles will head to Oxford, Ohio for a three-game series against Miami (OH) beginning on Friday, March 29.
