In a four-game weekend series against Western Michigan, the Eastern Michigan University baseball team saw a split in the double header against the Broncos on Saturday, April 2, inside Oestrike Stadium.
It was a defensive battle in the first matchup, as the Eagles (10-14, 6-5 MAC), picked up a 3-2 victory. In the second matchup it was all WMU, as they ramped up their offense and scored runs in four consecutive innings to cruise to a 10-5 win against EMU.
In game 1, the Eagles trailed early, 1-0, as Western Michigan’s Gavin Doyle earned a single to bring in Jimmy Allen. EMU would then even the score at 1-1, as senior Shane Easter scored an RBI double with two outs.
The score would stay even at 1-1 until the third inning, where the Eagles got their spark. Junior Matt Kirk and senior Daniel Warkentin each hit back-to-back home runs to put EMU ahead, 3-1.
The Eagles kept their momentum throughout the matchup as the score remained 3-1 until the seventh inning. WMU’s Dylan Nevar led off the inning with a solo home run to put the score at 3-2, but the Eagles held on as the next three batters went down in order to secure the 3-2 victory for EMU in game one.
Starting on the mound in game one was freshman Adam Falinski, who picked up the win for the Eagles. Falinski went seven innings to earn his second complete-game of the season, while giving up only two runs on four hits, and striking out three.
Game Two
In the second game, the Eagles got on the board early in the first inning, as senior Brady Huebbe earned a run-scoring double.
Maintaining the lead until the fourth inning, suddenly the Broncos found their rhythm. WMU’s Will Morrison and Josh Swinehart hit back-to-back sacrifice flies to even the score at 2-2. Then Allen would step up to the plate and hit a single to center, which squeaked by the Eagles center fielder, to allow all three runners to score, and put the Broncos up, 5-2.
WMU would extend the lead to 7-4, shortly before the Eagles offense got back onto the field to reduce that lead to 7-5.
EMU was unable to capitalize, as the Broncos added three runs to their lead and closed out the game with a 10-5 victory over the Eagles.
Senior Thomas House started on the mound for the Eagles in game two, as he took the loss in the conclusion of the double-header. Freshman Brendan Alvord came out of the bullpen, to shutout the last inning without allowing a hit.
The Eagles finished up their four-game weekend set against Western Michigan on Sunday, April 3, 2022, inside Oestrike Stadium, where they fell to the Broncos, 4-6.
Next up, the Eagles will look forward to another four-game weekend against Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, on April 8-10. For more information and to stay up to date on EMU mens’ baseball, you can visit EMUEagles.com.
