Eastern Michigan baseball defeated Bowling Green 4-0 on Sunday, April 7 at Oestrike Stadium, its first shutout of 2019 and first series win against the Mid-American Conference this season. The Eagles beat BGSU 3-1 on Friday and lost 7-4 on Saturday.
Scott Granzotto pitched a complete game for Eastern Michigan (7-24-1, 2-7) in Friday’s win over Bowling Green (11-16, 5-4). He struck out eight and gave up six hits in his third win of 2019. In the first inning, Zachary Owings drove in Jeff Timko on a sacrifice fly.
Bowling Green’s Jake Wilson tied the game by scoring in the fourth inning off a fielder’s choice out by Anthony Smith, but the Eagles scored two unearned runs in the fifth and seventh innings to retake the lead. Cameron Cruz had a hit and an RBI, while Shane Easter had three hits and two runs scored.
Saturday’s game between the two teams was an offensive showcase. The Falcons’ Riley Minorik went 2-5 from the plate with two RBIs. Nate Jones had the same stat line for the Eagles. Bowling Green’s hitting had the edge over Eastern Michigan with four other players having a multi-hit game.
Tyler Hays was the winning pitcher and EMU’s Luke McGuire was given his first loss for the season. Freshmen Justin Meis started on the mound on Sunday for Eastern, not allowing a run through seven innings pitched. He struck out three batters and earned his first collegiate victory.
“For me, I can build off it, and try to string a couple wins together. Today was definitely something to remember,” Meis said.
Meis had family travel from his hometown of Pittsburgh to see him play.
Head coach Eric Roof was happy for his performance.
“I thought Justin was outstanding all day, getting a lot of ground ball outs, and a lot of lead contact. He handled the adversity tremendously,” Roof said. “Having runners in scoring position, you got to make some tough pitches. When you let the defense work and don’t walk guys, you’re going to give yourself a chance.”
The Eagles took an early lead in the second inning, where they scored two runs off a fielder’s choice and passed ball. Jared Kauffman hit a double down the third base line to set up runners on second and third with one out. Easter grounded out on the next play to bring Jones across home plate. Bowling Green’s starter Gage Schenk threw another passed ball, which led to Kauffman scoring from third base.
“That’s always our goal, to come out there and score early,” Roof said. “We did a good job with that in the second inning.”
In the fourth, Cruz hit an RBI single to center field to score Jones. Cruz had another RBI in the eighth when he hit a sacrifice fly to left field that brought home Jones once again. Jones had one hit, two walks and reached base on a hit by pitch. Cruz had two hits and two runs batted in.
Eastern Michigan will play at Oakland University on Wednesday, April 10 at 3:00 p.m.
“The big thing is taking the momentum from this series into next week. I think this weekend we played really well, in all aspects,” Meis said. “We pitched well, we hit well. If we use this momentum, I think we have a good chance to win the series.”
