Another weekend on the road for the Eastern Michigan University baseball team as the Eagles traveled to Kent, Ohio, to take on Kent State University in a three-game weekend series that stretched from Friday, April 5, to Sunday, April 7.
The Golden Flashes would take game one on Friday with a 20-7 win while the Eagles answered back on Saturday with a 13-12 win. In the series decider on Sunday, Kent State would dominate to a 9-2 win to secure the series win, 2-1.
Game One
The Golden Flashes would hold the Eagles scoreless through four innings as Kent State produced an 11-0 lead before EMU would respond. The fifth inning would be where junior Logan Hugo (Essexville, Mich.) hit a fly ball to center that would score junior Giano Zuccaro (Middleburg Heights, Ohio) before graduate student Kyle Schroedle (Redding, Calif.) drilled a ground ball that would send in junior Brendan Kleiman (Only, Md.).
Graduate student Blake McRae (Armada, Mich.) would then step up to the plate and notch an RBI single that would cut the deficit to 11-3. Things would remain where they stood until the seventh inning when EMU tightened the Kent State lead, as they drove in two runs.
Kent State would then increase its lead to 14-5, until the eighth inning when senior Cory Taylor (Shelbyville, Ind.) would crush a two-run homer to left to bring the score to 14-7. Things wouldn't get any better for EMU though as the Golden Flashes tacked on more runs to secure a 20-7 victory.
McRae and Zuccaro would be the only Eagles on the day to collect three hits each as McRae finished with two RBIs and Zuccaro with a double and triple. Taylor would add a home run into the mix with two RBIs and one walk.
Game Two
The second game of the series consisted of a back-and-forth battle as EMU jumped out to an early 3-0 lead after the first inning as Kleiman was responsible for two of those runs. The Eagles would then turn things up in the second inning as they notched five runs in which Kleiman again would hit a two-run single to increase its lead, 8-0.
Over the next two innings, the Golden Flashes fought back with six runs of their own to bring the score to 8-6 before Zuccaro smashed a two-run homer in the fourth inning to increase EMU's lead to 10-6. In the eighth inning, EMU would tally two more ones as Kleiman would notch another RBI to bring the Eagles' lead to 12-6.
The Golden Flashes would then get hot as they held the Eagles to zero runs and scored six of their own to bring the game tied at 12 all. This would force extra innings as junior Lucas Johnson (Hamilton, Ontario) would hit a winning RBI single to bring the Eagles in front, 13-12, which would ultimately seal the victory.
Freshman Liam Baker (Cleveland, Ohio) would secure the win out of the bullpen for the Eagles. Baker went for a career-high 3.1 innings as he finished giving up two runs, two hits, and allowed two walks while striking out four batters.
Offensively, Kleiman would finish the day with career-highs with four hits and five RBIs, while Zuccaro went 1-for-4 with a home run, one walk, and two RBIs. Taylor would add three hits and two RBIs as well.
As the Eagles scored three runs in the first inning while finishing the day with 15 hits and 13 runs, the Eagles are now 6-2 this season when scoring in the first inning and 6-1 when scoring in the double-digits.
Game Three
The final game of the series saw the Golden Flashes run out to an 8-0 lead before the Eagles found its first points of the game in the fifth inning as Kleiman would score the lone run for EMU to give junior Aidan Arbogast (Livonia, Mich.) the RBI.
Kent State would extend its lead 9-1 to put things even more out of reach. EMU wouldn't back down without a fight as they would produce off an RBI single from Zuccaro to cut the deficit, 9-2.
EMU was unable to get anything else going as the Golden Flashes would hold on to win 9-2 to clinch the series win, 2-1.
Johnson would lead the Eagles at the plate on the day as he went 2-for-4 to produce his sixth multi-hit showing on the season.
After the weekend, the two sides have met 132 times all-time as the Golden Flashes pose an 83-49 record over the Eagles.
With a series loss to Kent State, EMU has failed to clinch a series win against Kent State since the 1986 season.
Next up, the Eagles will return to Ypsilanti, Mich., for the first of an eight-game homestand. They will take on Oakland University for a non-conference matchup on Tuesday, April 9, at 4 p.m.
