The Eastern Michigan University Baseball team opened its season on the road in a three-game weekend series against the University of Pittsburgh Panthers at Centennial Park in Port Charlotte, Florida.
The Panthers ended up sweeping the series against Eastern. Due to the seven-inning mercy rule, they won game one 9-8 in 12 innings, game two 11-8, and game three 17-2 in seven innings.
Highlights from the series include a 12-inning first game on Friday, February 14, in which the Eagles lost by a score of 9-8. The Eagles were led by three players who had multi-hit games: Cooper Vance from New Waterford, Ohio; John Hale from Ashland City, Tennessee; and Bruce Jellison Hartland, Michigan. The first two had three hits, and Jellison had four.
Vance and Hale each hit a home run and had multiple extra-base hits in a game where Eastern Michigan outhit the Panthers, 15-11.
Drew Beckner from Westerville, Ohio, was the starting pitcher for Eastern Michigan in the first game of the year. The ground-ball pitcher allowed just one earned run in five innings of work, striking out three batters.
Eastern Michigan's bullpen struggled. It allowed seven earned runs in six innings, and the Eagles lost the first game. Nick Keane, from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, helped the Eagles keep the game going for three innings. He struck out six batters, allowing two hits and no earned runs.
In the end, Jack Topolski from Seven Hills, Ohio, would allow a walk-off solo home run to end the Eagles’ bid of starting 1-0 on the season.
Game two was also offensively dominated. Eastern Michigan had 12 hits and went 12-for-37 as a team.
Four players recorded a multi-hit game for the Green and White, including Jellison, Harrison Travis from Soddy Daisy, Tennennese, Logan Hugo from Essexville, Michigan, and Kevin Krill from White Lake, Michigan. Together, they recorded two hits for the Eagles, totaling eight of the Green and White’s hits.
In game two, Eastern Michigan had two home runs, including another from Travis and one from left fielder Ty Stecko from North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.
The only other extra-base hit for the afternoon was by Hugo, who recorded a triple as he reached base safely four times in five plate appearances.
Tyler Kapa from Waterford, Michigan, took the ball for Eastern Michigan to start things off. In his first start as an Eastern Michigan Eagle, he pitched five innings and allowed four runs, six hits, and two walks.
The game was back and forth throughout the second game of the weekend. Eastern Michigan led 8-4 after five innings, and come the sixth inning, things went the other way for the Eagles.
Michael Pfieffer from Brownsboro, Alabama, and DJ Morand from Wilmette, Illinois, allowed seven combined runs out of the bullpen as the Eagles fell 11-8 in game two. The Eagles' bullpen allowed a combined 14 earned runs throughout the first two games.
Eastern Michigan had a rough game in game three. They lost 17-2. The Eagles had just four hits, one of which was a home run by infielder Connor Walsh of Mattawan, Michigan, his first hit of the season.
The bullpen once again struggled for the third game in a row. The Eagles gave up nine runs, and starting pitcher Bobby Jones from Loveland, Ohio, allowed eight runs, seven of which were earned. Eastern Michigan University dropped the third game of the series by 15 runs.
Up Next, Eastern Michigan will stay on the road for a four-game series next weekend, February 21-23, against the University of Central Arkansas Sugar Bears. The first pitch for game one on Friday is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET. Due to the cold temperatures in Michigan, the Eagles are not home until March 21, when they host the Miami University RedHawks at Oestrike Stadium at 3 p.m.
For more updates on the Eastern Michigan University Baseball team, visit The Echo’s Website.
