Baseball Splits Doubleheader at Oakland

Game One Box Score.

Game Two Box Score.

ROCHESTER, Mich. – The Eastern Michigan University baseball team split its doubleheader against the Oakland University Golden Grizzlies Tuesday afternoon, May 5, at OU Baseball Field, as the Eagles lost game one, 1-0, but rebounded for a 12-6 victory in game two.

The Eagles move to 18-31 on the year after the games, while OU goes to 17-28.

In game one, junior pitcher Steve Young (Port Huron, Mich.-Port Huron Northern-Jackson C.C.) had a no-hitter through four innings, until OU's Rob Merkle broke it up with a flare to center field with no outs in the inning. But Young got out of the inning with out any damage to keep the game scoreless.

But in the end, Merkle would prove to be the thorn in the Eagles' side, as his walk-off solo blast over the right field wall gave OU the win in game one, 1-0.

The Eagles wasted no time getting on the board in game two, as three RBI singles from junior Jim Gulliver (Allen Park, Mich.-Allen Park), sophomore Matt Skirving (Midland, Mich.-H.H. Dow) and freshman Johnny Crooks (Toledo, Ohio-Ottawa Hills) put EMU ahead, 3-0. The Eagles tacked on one more in the inning on a first and third pick-off attempt by OU to make it a 4-0 game.

Skirving extended EMU's lead in the top of the third, belting his team-leading 14^th home run of the season into the trees in left field to extend the Eagles' lead to 5-0. Senior Aaron Powell (Clarkston, Mich.-Clarkston) hit a sac-fly later in the inning to extend EMU's lead to 6-0.

The Golden Grizzlies got on the board in the bottom of the third, as back-to-back home runs by Dan Gliot and Justin Wilson made it a 6-2 game. OU tallied one more in the inning and one in the fourth to make it a 6-4 game.

After a two-run Skirving double down the right field line, junior Todd Graves (St. Mary's, Ohio-St. Mary's Memorial) drilled a three-run homer over the left field wall to make it a 12-4 game.Graves finished 3-for-4 with three runs scored and three RBI in the win, while Skirving went 3-for-4 with four RBI and four runs scored.

The Eagles hit the road for a key Mid-American Conference West Division series this weekend, as they travel to Toledo, Ohio for a three-game set with the University of Toledo Rockets, May 8-10, at Scott Park Field. The Rockets currently lead the MAC West with a 13-8 mark in the MAC (20-23 overall), while EMU stands with a 9-12 mark in-conference.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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