Baseball drops two of three games to Eastern Michigan

By Scott Sierzenga
Western Herald

(Nick Karebian / Western Herald) Sophomore pitcher Brian Stroud struck out nine in 6.1 innings of work, earning his first win of the season in WMU’s 7-6 victory over Eastern Michigan.

Wind was blowing out and tempers rose, which didn’t make for a good combination in baseball.

A recently struggling Western Michigan University (10-24, 5-10 Mid-American Conference) was pushed to the limits by Eastern Michigan University (11-27, 5-10 MAC) after a weekend of flaring tempers.

This led to ejections and caused tensions to reach a high that the Broncos weren’t going to stand for. In the top of the eighth inning in game three of the series, the Eagles hit two home runs, which caused the problem.

“We were losing by five or six runs at the time and the guy showboated,” senior pitcher Neal Miller said. “He pretty much carried his bat to first [base].”

Following that gesture, Miller hit the next batter of the game and eventually led to Miller’s and senior catcher Nate Marquardt’s ejection. The Broncos hit two batters in the eighth, as well as gave up seven runs en route to Eastern Michigan’s 18-6 win.

“They were talking a lot of trash,” Miller said. “It’s part of the game of baseball.”

Junior Kyle Galbraith kicked off the Broncos with his team-leading seventh home run in the first inning, but it would be the only homer for the Brown and Gold, compared to the six off of the Eagles’ aluminum.

Collectively, the Broncos struggled on the bump with 16 of the 18 runs in the game being earned. Sophomore Eric Heckaman started that second game on Saturday, allowing only five runs in 5.1 innings, giving up five hits. The Broncos led at one point in the game 6-4 after scoring five of its six runs in the fourth inning.

Zach Leonard went 4-for-6 for EMU with two runs and two RBIs and also picked up his second home run on the season.

The first game on Saturday was a different story for Bronco pitchers in a game that brought home the only win of the series for the Brown and Gold. Last year’s MAC Freshman Pitcher of the Year, Brian Stroud, went for 6.1 innings strong and struck out a career high nine batters, four of them looking. He also picked up his first win on the year (1-7). Stroud only gave up five runs on seven hits.

Junior John Navage earned his first career save for WMU, closing out the final 2.2 innings giving up only one run on two hits and striking out five batters.

The Eagles started off strong, hitting two solo home runs in the second inning to boost the team ahead, 2-0. WMU responded in the third, scoring four runs and never looking back. Senior Brent Gerlach and junior Chris Lewis each drove in a run and Marquardt knocked in two runs with a single through the left side.

The Broncos went up 6-2 in the fourth, thanks to an RBI single by senior Pedro Dager to score Galbraith. Dager and Gerlach both led the Broncos as they each went 2-for-3 with a walk and both recorded one RBI. Gerlach scored all three times he was on base, Dager came across home once for WMU, and it all led to a 7-6 win for the Brown and Gold.

In the first game of the series, the Broncos fell 15-11. EMU started out on fire, scoring five runs in the first, three in the second and two more in the third to take a 10-0 lead.
WMU battled back to square the game up at 10 in the fifth. The comeback came with the help of freshman Jamie Simpson’s first career home run and the Broncos’ first grand slam of the season. After pinch hitting for junior Matthew Abro, Simpson had himself a productive game going 3-for-4 with five RBIs and one run.

Dager also had a strong game, going 4-for-6 and scoring three runs to help keep the Broncos in the game.

Ultimately, things took a turn for the worse after junior Kevan Hess threw two scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth, keeping the Broncos within one run going into the ninth. The Eagles scored three runs (two earned) off junior Tim Mowry, securing its lead and the game.

Freshman Casey Webber took the loss for WMU (0-3), throwing well in 3.1 innings of relief work, allowing only one run.

The Broncos went down but are not out and are trying to right the ship and make it to the MAC Tournament at the end of the season. WMU is only four games behind the leader, the University of Toledo, for the top spot in the MAC West.

“Every win is so important because the MAC is all jumbled up,” Galbraith said. “Everyone is beating up on each other. If we start to win, we’ll have a chance to make the MAC Tournament.”

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Apr 20 2009. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
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