The Eastern Michigan University baseball team traveled to the Bluegrass State to end a total of 19 consecutive games played away from home, losing the first three games but taking the last one Sunday afternoon, 9-8.
The Eagles lost the first game, 12-2. They held a 2-0 lead in the first game going into the fourth inning, but Morehead State would go on to score 12 unanswered runs to dominate Eastern Michigan.
Saturday saw the teams play each other in a doubleheader. The Green and White would go on to lose both games, which included 23-12 in the first game and 17-4 in the second game.
Because the first game of Saturday saw a lot of scoring, all nine of the starters on offense recorded at least two hits for the Eagles.
This was a game where Morehead State was able to keep their offense going too. They scored at least one run in every single inning of both games in the doubleheader.
Throughout these two games, Morehead State would go on to score 40 runs in 12 innings they stepped up to the plate.
The doubleheader also had a mercy rule in both games because of the lopsided scores.
Sunday afternoon saw the Eagles get back into the win column thanks to the offense. Giano Zuccaro (Middleburg Heights, Ohio) recorded four hits to lead the way for the Eagles.
Game One:
The first game was won by Morehead State, winning by a score of 12-2. Eastern Michigan struggled to find any kind of offense in this game.
Cooper Vance (New Waterford, Ohio) recorded the only extra-base hit for Eastern Michigan, hitting a home run over the right-center field wall.
The Eagles only had three hits in the game, finishing with a total of three hits in 26 at-bats.
Morehead State’s pitching was able to shut down Eastern’s offense in the first game, additionally, they only had one walk in the weekend series.
Game Two:
A doubleheader was played on Saturday, March 16, and it was all Morehead State in those games. Game one of the doubleheader saw Eastern Michigan have some sparks on offense.
Five players went yard for the Eagles, including Logan Hugo (Essexville, Mich.), Blake McRae (Armada, Mich.), Lucas Johnson (Hamilton, Ontario), Aidan Arbogast (Livonia, Mich.), and Drew Jones (Cleveland, Ohio). They contributed to 15 of Eastern Michigan’s hits in game one of the doubleheader.
Kyle Schroedle (Redding, Calif.) also added a double in the game to allow the Eagles to have six extra-base hits.
Game Three:
The Eagles struggled to add any offense over the course of game three. They did drive around four runs over three different innings, albeit they were when Eastern Michigan was already down by seven runs.
Schroedle added a home run in game two for his team-tying lead of four home runs on the season. He shares this with Hugo and Vance, but Schroedle is the only one with at least four home runs that has not played every game.
The graduate student has played in 16 of the 19 games for the Eagles.
McRae was the only other player to record multiple hits in the game for Eastern Michigan, as they went on to lose the game, 17-4.
Game Four:
The final game of the weekend finally saw the Eagles get a win. It was not pretty for Eastern Michigan though, as in the ninth inning, the game ended with Morehead State having runners on base and trailing by one in a 9-8 ball game.
Eastern had 13 hits on offense to go with the win Sunday afternoon. Jones, McRae, Zuccaro, and Brendan Kleiman (Olney, Md.) each recorded multi-hit games.
From the third inning on, with the exception of being tied in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Eagles played from ahead. 9-8, the final score, was the closest it got after Eastern Michigan took the win.
The last two innings of pitching highlighted the Eagles on the mound for the weekend.
Isaiah Lindsey (Nunica, Mich.) pitched two innings of one-run ball and stayed in until the ninth inning, but had trouble getting hitters out on Morehead State at the end.
It was Liam Baker (Cleveland, Ohio) who came in to get the final out in four pitches on a strikeout.
Up Next:
The Eagles finally return home from Kentucky to play the Michigan Wolverines on Tuesday, March 19, at Oestrike Stadium. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. It will be the first of seven straight played at home for Eastern.
For more information on the Eastern Michigan University Baseball Program, you can visit The Echo’s website.
