While Eastern Michigan University may have lost on the scoreboard, their season will not be coming to an end just yet.
Courtesy of a Toledo victory over Central Michigan, the Eagles have secured the sixth and final spot in the season-ending Mid-American Conference Tournament, their first postseason berth since 2018.
Eastern Michigan’s miraculous come-from-behind victory in extra innings on Thursday against Kent State turned out to be the difference that punched their ticket into the dance. They finished with the same conference record as in-state foe Western Michigan, but EMU held the tiebreaker due to attaining a better overall winning percentage (.417 to .373) throughout the season.
The Eagles lost the final two games of the series to the Golden Flashes, 6-5 and 13-2 respectively.
On Friday, EMU's 1975 baseball team alumni returned to Oestrike Stadium to celebrate the 50th anniversary of competing in the 1975 College World Series.
With the pre-game ceremony being covered by Local 4 News, the then-named Hurons — not Eagles until 1991 — were the only northern-based school to make the CWS until Michigan did so in 2019, according to ClickonDetroit.
Eastern Michigan nearly took home a victory for the alumni in attendance and punched their ticket into the conference tournament a day early. However, they surrendered two runs in the ninth inning while failing to respond in the bottom of the frame, ending the game with a loss despite two home runs from Logan Hugo.
The final game in the series did not go nearly as well for the Eagles. While they were able to put the first run on the board thanks to Harrison Travis’ 11th homer of the campaign, Kent State scored 13 unanswered runs and ended the game after the seventh inning thanks to the 10-run rule.
A trip to Avon, Ohio now awaits Eastern Michigan, the No. 6 seed in the tournament. They will face off against Ball State, the No. 3 seed, for the right to keep their season and postseason journey alive on May 21, 2025, at 12:30 p.m. Viewers can stream all the action live on ESPN+.
