Eastern Michigan Athletics
Baseball Hosts In-State Rival Central Michigan in MAC Tournament Quarterfinals
5/23/2007 10:46:20 PM | Baseball
Eagles and Chippewas set to square off May 24 at 1 p.m.
EAGLES HOST CENTRAL MICHIGAN IN MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT: As a result of winning the MAC West Division title, the Eastern Michigan University baseball team will host the 2007 Mid-American Conference Tournament held May 23-26, at Oestrike Stadium in Ypsilanti, Mich. This marks the first time that Eastern Michigan University has hosted the tournament since its inception in 1981. The Eagles entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed and will take on No. 3 seed Central Michigan in quarterfinal action after defeating No. 6 seed University of Toledo, 6-5, (May 23). EMU enters the game with a 30-22 overall mark. CMU concluded the regular season with a 35-19 overall mark and finished second in the West Division standings with a 21-6 record. The Chippewas enter the game with a 35-20 record after falling to No. 4 seed Miami, 8-4, (May 23). The last time EMU and CMU met in tournament play was during the 2002 season with the Chippewas winning 15-9. Eastern leads the all-time series against Central 80-50.
SCOUTING THE CHIPPEWAS: Central Michigan is led by junior Tyler Stovall, the 2007 MAC Player of the Year, who ranked first in the conference regular season batting .409 tallying 88 hits, 57 runs scored, 59 RBI and six home runs. As a team, the Chippewas entered the tournament as the top ranked team in hitting with a .308 batting average and pitching with a 3.51 ERA. CMU is under the direction of head coach Steve Jaksa, who is in his fifth season.
THE LONG BALL DOWNS TOLEDO IN FIRST ROUND:
Behind three clutch home runs, the No. 1 seed Eastern Michigan University baseball team held off the No. 6 seed University of Toledo Rockets, 6-5, in first round action of the 2007 Mid-American Conference Tournament Wednesday afternoon (May 23) at Oestrike Stadium. The victory marked the first tournament win for the Eagles since the 2004 season. Junior Jeff Fischer (8-4) picked up the win tallying nine strikeouts giving him 92 on the season to move into second place all-time in EMU history with 258 career strikeouts passing Anthony Tomey. Fischer allowed four runs on six scattered hits in seven innings of work. Sophomore Matt Shoemaker picked up his 14th save of the season getting the final Toledo batter to ground out with runners on first and second in the bottom of the ninth inning. EMU (30-22) scored six runs on six hits using the long ball to earn a hard fought victory. The Eagles were led by sophomore Kyle Rhoad who went 1-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored off his home run in the sixth inning which drove in the eventual winning run. Junior Jeff Hehr hit 1-for-3 with two RBI while senior Derek Lehrman went 1-for-4 with a RBI. Both hits for each player came on back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning.EMU MAC TOURNAMENT HISTORY: Since the MAC tournament’s inception in 1981, the EMU baseball team has competed eight times: 1981-83, 2002-04 and 2006-07 accumulating a 15-9 overall record. The Eagles won the tournament in 1981 (3-0 record), 1982 (3-0 record) and 2003 (4-1 record) while finishing second in 1983 (2-2 record) and 2004 (3-2 record).
LAST TIME OUT AGAINST CMU, EMU SNAPS CHIPPEWAS’ 10-GAME WIN STREAK: The Eastern Michigan University baseball team took the weekend series against in-state rival Central Michigan two games to three at Oestrike Stadium (May 4-6). After a 10-0 loss, EMU (24-18, 16-3 MAC) recorded 3-0 and 4-3 victories to move into first place atop the MAC West Division based on a .842 winning percentage compared to CMU’s (30-15, 17-4 MAC) .810 percentage. Eastern also handed the Chippewas their first back-to-back conference losses this season. The series also marked the first time Central Michigan had lost a series to a MAC opponent this year.
SIX PLAYERS EARN ALL-MAC HONORS:
A conference-high six players from the Eastern Michigan University baseball team earned All-Mid-American Conference honors for their 2007 regular season performances, the conference office announced Tuesday night (May 22) in a vote by the league’s head coaches prior to the start of the 2007 MAC Baseball championships. EMU head coach Roger Coryell was also named MAC Coach of the Year. Junior pitcher Jeff Fischer (Farmington, Mich.-Farmington) was named first-team All-MAC for the second consecutive year while senior pitcher George Biddle (Newark, Ohio-Newark Catholic) and junior Steve Bradshaw (Lapeer, Mich.-Lapeer) earned first team honors for the first time. Senior catcher Derek Lehrman (Hoagland, Ind.-Heritage) and sophomore pitchers Sean Hoffman (Midland, Mich.-Midland) and Matt Shoemaker (Trenton, Mich.-Trenton) were named second-team All-MAC second team for the first time in their careers.EAGLES WIN WEST DIVISION TITLE: The EMU baseball team swept the weekend series over in-state rival Western Michigan to win its first MAC West Division title since 2003. The Eagles held on for a 5-4 victory Thursday, (May 17), notched an 8-4 win in game two Friday, (May 18) and nipped the Broncos, 5-4, in game three Saturday (May 19) to claim the school’s third Division title in program history.
EMU MAC MILESTONES: The EMU baseball team has reached Mid-American Conference milestones this season in the program’s history. The team finished the regular season with a 21-4 MAC record which set the all-time school record for MAC victories in a season eclipsing the 1990 team who went 20-12. Also, the four loses are the fewest since the 1982 team posted a 9-4-1 record. That team went on to win the MAC Tournament and finish NCAA tournament Central Region runner-up.
SHOEMAKER Named MAC West PITCHER of the Week: Eastern Michigan University sophomore pitcher Matt Shoemaker (Trenton, Mich.-Trenton) has been named Mid-American Conference West Division Pitcher of the Week for the period ending May 19. This marks the first time Shoemaker has won the weekly award in his career. Over the weekend, Shoemaker picked up his MAC-leading 12th and 13th saves of the season in EMU’s series sweep of in-state rival Western Michigan to move into sole possession of second place on the EMU all-time career saves list. In EMU’s 4-3 and 5-4 wins in game one and three, Shoemaker pitched 2.1 innings allowing only one run on three scattered hits with two strikeouts and a 0.00 ERA to help EMU to its first MAC West Division title since 2002. For the season, Shoemaker has a team-high 23 appearances which ranks eighth in the conference. He has tallied 23 strikeouts in 33 innings of work with a 4.09 ERA and 1-2 record. In EMU’s 7-4 victory over Olivet (May 1) earlier this season, Shoemaker tallied his ninth save of the season moving him into first place all time in EMU history for saves in a season.
SAVE MACHINE: In EMU’s 7-4 victory over Olivet (May 1) sophomore Matt Shoemaker tallied his ninth save of the season moving him into first place all time in EMU history for saves in a season, eclipsing Phil Kommer who tallied eight saves in 1998. In EMU’s 4-3 victory over Western Michigan (May 19), Shoemaker picked up his 12th save of the season which moved him into a second place on the EMU career saves list.
EMU Career Save Leaders:
1. Steve Herbst 23 1992-95
2. Matt Shoemaker 14 2006-Present
3. Ross Winiemko 11 2001-03
4. Brain Reynolds 10 1996-98
4. Phil Kommer 10 1998-2001
STRIKEOUT KING: Junior Jeff Fischer has 92 strikeouts on the season which ranks fourth in the MAC (8.52 per game). Fischer now has 258 career strikeouts which moved him into second all time in EMU history place passing Anthony Tomey (249).
EMU Career Strikeout Leaders:
1. Bob Owchinko 306 1973-76
2. Jeff Fischer 258 2005-Present
2. Anthony Tomey 249 2000-03
3. Woody Mills 225 1970-73
GRAND SLAMS: Junior Mike Boyd and senior Derek Lehrman recorded their first career grand slam home runs in consecutive games for the Eagles. Boyd hit a grand home run that in the bottom of the sixth inning that ignited an EMU rally from an 8-0 deficit against Michigan (May 9), which the Eagles eventually lost 8-6. Lehrman hit his grand slam in a 12-1 EMU victory over Toledo (May 11). Senior Brian Blackburn also hit his first career grand slam home run against Western Michigan in an 8-4 EMU win (May 18).
