The Eastern Michigan University baseball team will hit the road again for a weekend series in Kalamazoo to play Mid-American Conference rival Western Michigan. The first pitch for Friday’s game will be at 3 p.m. while the Saturday and Sunday games will start at 1 p.m.
Eastern Michigan (10-17, 3-3 MAC) comes home after losing a road series to Ohio. Sophomore Lee Longo is the team leader in batting average (.333). With Longo hitting in the clean-up spot, he leads the team in RBI (18).
EMU has two batters in the middle of hitting streaks heading into the Michigan State contest. Senior Bo Kinder has a 15-game hitting streak while senior Brent Ohrman has hit safely in 12 straight games.
The pitching continues to be a work in progress for the Eagles. Junior reliever Joe Battistelli has come out of the bullpen in four of the last six games. Junior right-handed starter Steve Weber (2-3) looks for his third win as a starter and to lower his 7.12 ERA.
One bright spot would have to be junior Neil Butara (2-2). Butara is 2-1 as a starting pitcher in four starts this season, and has a 1.68 ERA in that stretch.
With EMU holding a 3-14 record away from Oestrike Stadium, Coach Jay Alexander hopes the pitching can continue playing better in road games.
“We’re just going to have to take more pride and respect in our opponent,” Alexander said. “We need to be more focused on the task at hand, especially on the mound.”
Western Michigan (14-10, 5-0 MAC) sits atop the MAC West standings as the only winning team in the division. WMU started the season by getting swept by then 15th-ranked Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz., where the offense scored only two runs in the three game series.
The sweep was followed by a series loss to St. Bonaventure in Winter Haven, Fla.
Western Michigan is on a seven-game winning streak heading into Wednesday’s road game versus Oakland. The streak includes a perfect 5-0 in MAC play with wins against Bowling Green and Buffalo.
Senior Ryan McMillin is the team leader in batting average (.359) and tied for the team lead in RBI (19). McMillin also hit three home runs and leads the team in on-base percentage (.440) and slugging percentage (.533). Sophomore Vinnie Booker is a threat on the bases with nine stolen bases in 12 attempts.
The Broncos pitching staff has been very reliable, which has posted three shutouts throughout the season. Senior left-handed pitcher Casey Webber is the only starting pitcher to post a complete game in an 11-4 victory against Penn on March 8.
WMU has relied on a good bullpen to help win games. Sophomore right-hander Patrick Borlik comes in as the team’s best relief pitcher with a 4-2 record, three saves, a 1.53 ERA and has held his opponents to a .176 batting average.
The team’s balance of a good offense and clutch hitting that has won them four one-run ballgames is what impresses Broncos second-year Coach Billy Gernon.
“We lacked that clutch hit last, and this year it’s been an improvement,” Gernon said. “We’ve gotten better in that area, our batting average is up, and we’ve had success in that area.”
Eastern Michigan played Michigan State at home Wednesday while Western Michigan won 5-4 at home Tuesday against Valparaiso before playing Oakland Wednesday. EMU will play one more road game with a game April 11 at Michigan State before playing a home series versus MAC rival Central Michigan April 13-15. First pitch times are at 6 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
Material from Western Michigan’s athletic website was used for this article.
