Eastern Michigan kicked off the first of their doubleheader battle Saturday afternoon against the Cincinnati Bearcats, after being postponed from Friday due to brewing storms in the area. The Cats were roaring and scoring in this barn burner, resulting in an 8-1 loss for the guys in green.
The Eagles have fallen to 1-11 in conclusion, and are in search to obtain their second win of the season. Cincinnati snapped their six-game losing streak with a victory, while Eastern only further increased theirs to 11 games. The game stayed scoreless until the bottom of the second, when Griffin Merritt kicked off the scoring charade. Two more runs followed after a triple by Jeremy Johnson, leaving the end of the second with a 3-0 lead in the Bearcats’ favor.
The onslaught continued in the bottom of the fourth, as Cincinnati’s squadron proceeded to put up three . more on the board. This led to the pitcher, Davis Fieldman, being pulled for the remainder of the game. Luke McGuire stepped up to the pitcher’s mound to replace Fieldman, but even he could not tame the Bearcats, as the team kept up their great level of play.
The Eagles could not keep up with the offensive play that they were up against. With players like Eric Santiago, going 3-4 (.750) on the day and Jeremy Johnson ringing out a 2-2 in the match up, it made it quite difficult to make the climb back. The main struggle among the EMU players was their performance at home plate.
The bats were quiet this afternoon, only recording a mere two hits within the nine innings. The only two young studs to send one into the outfield this afternoon were Taylor Hopkins and Daniel Warkentin. Hopkins and Warkentin both went 1-4 on the day. Nearing the end of the game, the Eagles got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the ninth.
Eastern cashed in their only run on the day, as Jeff Timko was able to come home with the help of a hit down left field by Daniel Warkentin, resulting in a double. Thanks to the impeccable outing on display by Evan Shawver, the Bearcats were able to keep the game heavily in their favor.
Shawver only allowed one hit and a single run, while recording 12 strikeouts and only handing out two walks. His superstar run came to a conclusion in the final inning, as the left handed Chase Stewart went to the mound to seal the deal. At the end of the day, Eastern Michigan just could not generate enough offense to keep up with their opponent.
They were unable to answer back after a gut wrenching second and fourth inning. Mistakes such as fielding errors cost them some runs, only deepening the scoring gap. As the Eagles look to put this one behind and look toward their future schedule, they focus on cleaning up their game, maintaining a winning mindset and being more consistent in the batters box.
