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The Eastern Echo Sunday, May 4, 2025 | Print Archive
The Eastern Echo

EMU Baseball

EMU baseball triumphs in Albany road series

The Eastern Michigan University baseball team won a three-game Easter weekend series against the University at Albany Great Danes, two games to one, by scores of 15-6 on Thursday, 3-0 on Friday and 9-7 on Saturday, April 17-19, 2025 at Varsity Field.

Highlights from the series include Eastern Michigan scoring 15 runs in the first game on Thursday, during which they defeated Albany 15-6. The Eagles got 13 hits, four of them for extra bases, and 12 walks to go with their offense. Then, on Saturday, Eastern Michigan won 9-7 after Tyler Kapa (Waterford, Michigan) had 11 strikeouts in the 18 batters he retired.

Game one started with Albany getting on the board, leading 2-0 after the top of the first inning with two hits. Eastern Michigan did not score until the top half of the third inning, with Devan Zirwas (Imperial, Pennsylvania) having an RBI double to cut the lead to 2-1. In the next half inning, Logan Hugo (Essexville, Michigan) hit a grand slam to give Eastern Michigan a 5-2 lead for their fourth grand slam as a team.

It was a scoring affair as Albany returned in the bottom of the fourth to make the game 5-4. Zirwas hit a solo shot in the fifth inning to extend the Eagles’ lead to two. After getting two other batters on, Bruce Jellison (Hartland, Michigan) had an RBI single to give Eastern a 7-4 lead.

From then on, EMU continued to extend its lead. From the seventh inning until the end of the game, the Eagles outscored the Great Danes 7-2. Hugo hit his second home run to finish the day with six runs batted in.

In addition to Hugo and Zirwas, Ty Stecko (North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania) and Brendan Kleiman (Olney, Maryland) each had two hits to give the Eagles four players with a multi-hit game.

Drew Beckner (Westerville, Ohio) was Eastern Michigan's starting and winning pitcher in game one. He went five innings and struck out 10 batters. Ethan Davis (Brownstown, Indiana) pitched two scoreless innings and got the save.

Game two was a very different story from game one. The Eagles were shut out and had only six hits. Harrison Travis (Soddy Daisy, Tennessee) and Kleiman each had a multi-hit game for the Eagles. Eastern Michigan additionally had four walks in the second game. Albany scored all its runs in the fourth and fifth innings, with one in the fourth and two in the fifth.

Between Colin Milligan (Westerville, Ohio), Emmet Gillies (Columbus, Ohio) and Dom Anderson (Hagerstown, Indiana), Eastern Michigan only allowed five hits in the game despite the loss.

The series concluded on Saturday with Eastern Michigan winning by a score of 9-7. Eastern had 10 hits, including a three-hit day from Stecko and a two-hit day from Kleiman and Jellison. Of the 10 hits, three of them were for extra bases, all of them being doubles.

EMU starting pitcher Tyler Kapa was the winning pitcher and had a brilliant game. He went six innings, striking out 11 and issuing just two walks. The 11 strikeouts are the first time he has been over double-digits in the category with EMU. The bullpen struggled, allowing seven runs in four innings of work.

Winning 9-7, the score did not reflect how the game went in the first 6.1 innings. EMU took the lead early, leading 4-0 after the first three innings. The score remained this way until the top of the seventh, when Eastern busted its lead open to 8-0. Although Eastern won, the Eagles struggled at the end. Albany scored seven runs in the final three frames, while Eastern only scored one. However, that was still enough for EMU to get the win by two to improve to 16-18 for 2025.

Up next, the Eagles return to Ypsilanti, where they will take on the Youngstown State Penguins for a mid-week matchup on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. First pitch is at 3 p.m., and the game will be streamed live on ESPN+. Fans can also tune in to the Varsity Network for radio coverage.