Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
23-33, 14-10
Toledo
16-39, 9-15
Senior Day Spoiled in Tight 6-5 Defeat to Toledo
5/20/2017 3:51:00 PM | Baseball
EMU will be the three seed in the upcoming MAC Tournament
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University baseball team had its Senior Day spoiled in a 6-5 defeat to the University of Toledo Saturday afternoon, May 20 at Oestrike Stadium. The Eagles finished the regular season 23-33, and 14-10 in conference and will own the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Mid-American Conference Tournament.
The Eagles' offense was able to bang out eight hits on the day, led by a two-hit, two RBI day from freshman Nick Jones (Battle Creek, Mich.-Lakeview). In his final at bat at Oestrike Stadium, senior John Montgomery (Anaheim Hills, Calif.-JSerra) launched a solo home run, his team leading 12th of the season and 20th of his EMU career.
On the mound, a pair of seniors had great outings in relief, as Kevin Shul (Albuquerque, N.M.-Albuquerque Academy (College of Southern Nevada)) and Justin Thompson (Canton, Mich.-Plymouth (Concordia)) combined to go the final four innings, only allowing three hits and one run.
The Rockets struck first with an RBI groundout in the top of the first, but EMU had the immediate response. In the bottom of the first, EMU had runners on first and third with two outs for freshman Zachary Owings (Saline, Mich.-Saline), who tied the game with an RBI single. After a walk to load up the bags, Jones gave Eastern the lead with a two-RBI single to right, putting it at 3-1 early on.
Toledo kept chipping away in the second, tying it again at three with five hits in the frame. After two scoreless innings in the third and fourth, UT broke the tie in the fifth with a two-run homer to make it 5-3 midway through the game.
With the Eagle offense scuffling through six, UT took advantage and added onto the lead in the seventh, getting some insurance on an RBI groundout to put the deficit at three, 6-3, into the stretch.
EMU had a scoring chance in the eighth inning when it got runners to second and third with two outs, but a harmless pop out ended the threat, keeping the score the same into the ninth.
In the ninth, in a torrential downpour, EMU got to within one, first on a wild pitch to score one, and later on a solo home run from Montgomery, but the rally fell short, and EMU dropped the contest, 6-5.
Eastern will now prepare for the Mid-American Conference Tournament that begins next week, Wednesday, May 24, at Sprenger Stadium in Avon, Ohio. Stay tuned to EMUEagles.com for the full bracket to be released later today.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: PRECHTEL, Joey (2-4)
L: Harness, James (2-6)
S: SCHAEFER, Luke (2)
Batting:
2B: HANSEN, Matt 1 ; MONTOYA, AJ 1
3B: CAMPBELL, Riley 1 ; ADOLPH, Ross 2
HR: BOLLINGER, Dalton 1
RBI: HANSEN, Matt 1 ; BOSS, Brad 1 ; BOLLINGER, Dalton 3 ; MONTOYA, AJ 1
SH: BOSS, Brad 1 ; KRUPAR, Jake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: HANSEN, Matt 1 ; CAMPBELL, Riley 2 ; BOLLINGER, Dalton 1 ; ADOLPH, Ross 1 ; MONTOYA, AJ 1
SB: CAMPBELL, Riley 1
HBP: CAMPBELL, Riley 1
Batting:
2B: Peterson, Jordan 1
HR: Montgomery, John 1
RBI: Montgomery, John 1 ; Owings, Zachary 1 ; Jones, Nick 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Gill, Marquise 2 ; Montgomery, John 2 ; Owings, Zachary 1
SB: Gill, Marquise 1
CS: Owings, Zachary 1
HBP: Gill, Marquise 1 ; Schuemann, Max 1
