It was a tale of two games on Saturday, May 3, 2025 for Eastern Michigan University's baseball team.
Fresh off a loss in the opening game of the series against the Northern Illinois University Huskies on Friday, May 2, the Eagles bounced back in a big way in the first game of the day with a 13-3 victory, ending the game in the eighth inning thanks to college baseball’s 10 run rule.
However, the nightcap was all Northern Illinois. The Huskies destroyed the home team with a 17-1 win and left Oestrike Stadium with a series victory to boot.
Game 1 was smooth sailing for the Eagles, the victory powered by an eight run avalanche for Eastern Michigan in the fourth inning and the right arm of Tyler Kapa on the mound.
Kapa, a senior transfer from Davenport University, scored the win to improve his record to 4-5 on the season with a standout performance. He pitched just over six innings and posted eight strikeouts, only allowing two earned runs and four hits in the process.
Eastern Michigan’s offense also thrived in the early outing with 13 total hits and 12 RBIs recorded as a team. John Hale led the team in hits with three in his three at-bats along with two RBIs, while Logan Hugo and Cooper Vance topped the RBI stat sheet with three apiece for both players.
The Eagles also took the lead in the bottom of the second inning with two runs in the frame, extending their lead to 10-1 thanks to their red-hot fourth inning stretch and adding three more runs to cruise to the win.
However, Game 2 was the complete opposite for the green and white. This time, Northern Illinois set the tone early and did not let up.
Offense for Eastern Michigan was a complete no-show outside of a Ty Stecko solo home run in the bottom of the second inning. After posting 13 runs in the opening game, the Eagles only responded with one in the evening match.
Northern Illinois took advantage of this and made quick work of the Eagles with the Huskies scoring a combined 12 runs in the second, third and fourth innings to take a 12-1 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth and never looking back.
With the series win, Northern Illinois improved to 18-29 (7-17 Mid-American Conference) on the campaign, while Eastern Michigan fell to 18-23 (10-14 MAC). The Eagles are now sitting on the outside looking into the season-ending MAC Tournament with just a few weeks remaining.
Next time, the Eagles will return to action against Big 10 school Michigan State University. The Eagles will be making the trip to East Lansing and facing off against the Spartans on Tuesday, May 6, 2025 at 6 p.m.
