The Eastern Michigan Eagles (1-12) baseball team fell in the second game in their double header against the University of Cincinnati on March 7. The Eagles came into today with a 1-10, while the Bearcats came into this game 5-7, winning five of their past six games.
Justin Meis had a strong pitching performance for the Eagles, recording seven strikeouts on 21 total batters faced. He finished the day with an ERA of 3.60. He struck out three of the first 10 batters through the second inning. Meis protected an Eastern lead through the fifth inning.
The Eagles first scored in the third inning after dominant pitching from Kroger. EMU scored twice in the third inning, a single from Daniel Warkentin brought Taylor Hopkins in from second base to score, and a hit from Jared Kauffman brought in Nick Jones to put the score at 2-0 in favor of the Eagles.
A wild pitch from Kroger in the fourth inning allowed Eastern Michigan’s Jeff Timko to make the score 3-0. The Bearcats’ first run came from a pair of runs batter in from Eric Santiago, who brought in Wyatt Stapp and Griffin Merritt to put the score at 3-2, going into the fifth inning.
In the fifth inning, Bearcats pitcher Nathan Moore put Kauffman on first base with a walk, bringing Drake Peggs to the plate. Kauffman stole second base to put himself in scoring position, which Peggs capitalized by hitting a single, scoring Kauffman and bringing Eastern Michigan's lead to 4-2.
The Bearcats flooded the Eagles with scoring in the sixth inning, scoring a combined seven runs off of pitching from Eastern Michigan’s Justin Reinkall and Holden Cook. EMU didn’t score another run until the ninth inning, putting two more runs on the board. This proved to be too little too late, though, as Cincinnati pulled away for a 13-6 victory.
Eastern Michigan’s next game is on Sunday, March 8 against Cincinnati again. After that, the Eagles will travel to Manhattan to face Kansas State from March 13 through March 15. The Eagles’ first home game will be against Findlay on March 17. They will also play at home the following day against Dayton before heading back on the road against Southern Illinois.
