Eagles lose close one to rivals Western Michigan

Senior pitcher Charlie Land (2-4) took a tough loss on Friday afternoon when his Eastern Michigan University Eagles (10-18, 2-5 MAC) lost the first of a three game series to Mid-American Conference rivals, the Western Michigan Broncos (11-13, 4-3 MAC), by a score of 2-1.

Land was phenomenal on the mound pitching for 8 2/3 innings, giving up only four hits and walking two. Land also earned a new career best in strikeouts with seven. It took everything the Broncos had to score on Land this afternoon, but it was Brett Sunde who forced the game winning RBI in the ninth inning.

The game was a low scoring affair between the two rivals, but the Eagles earned eight hits while only scoring one run while also leaving six on base. The Broncos had five hits.

Western Michigan took lead of the game early in the first inning off of an RBI double that scored one. Land then took charge, earning two strikeouts to end the inning, void of any more trouble.

The Eagles fired back when Jordan Peterson sent a ball into a fielder’s choice, scoring David Lett, bringing the game to a tie at 1-1 at the end of the third inning.

Defense and pitching dominated the game until the ninth inning, when it was Sunde who hit the game winning run in the ninth inning, ending Land’s night with a loss.

Eastern Michigan’s best hitter on the afternoon was shortstop David Lett, who went 2-for-3 and also scored the only run for the Eagles. Six other batter earned one hit on the night, and Jordan Peterson had the team’s only RBI.

Looking Forward:

Eastern Michigan hosts MAC rivals Western Michigan in the second game of a weekend series at Oestrike Stadium on Saturday April 4. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.

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Follow Robert Sherman on Twitter: @r__sherman