The Friday night starter for Arizona then induced a popout to bring the out total to two in the inning.
With runners at first and second, Schnabel fell behind in the count, 3-1, before walking Eagles leadoff hitter John Rubino to load the bases.
With the sacks packed, Arizona catcher Riley Moore went out and talked with his pitcher.
“Riley came out and told me to locate my pitches and to believe that I could beat these guys with my stuff,” Schnabel said. “He settled me down and got me to where I needed to be.”
After the conference, the 6-foot-5 right-hander struck out EMU’s John Montgomery on four pitches to end the side and prevent further damage.
“After that, I got my confidence back,” Schnabel said. “I think I was trying to do too much early on. I was excited, so I was really wild in the beginning.”
Down 1-0, the Wildcats answered with their own second inning attack.
Back-to-back basehits set the table for Bobby Dalbec, who drove in Arizona’s first run of the evening to tie the game at 1-1. With runners at the corners and no outs, redshirted freshman Jared Oliva dribbled a single through the left side of the infield to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead.
“On that at-bat, I was definitely ready to go.” Oliva said. “It was an executional at-bat. Coach (Andy Lopez) always talks about executing, so I got a middle-in fastball and tried to do that. I was just trying to come through for the team and get us the lead.”
With one out, Scott Kingery tacked on two more runs in one swing, rocketing a triple to centerfield, just out of the diving reach of Austin Wilson.
“The guys in front of me did a great job at getting on base,” Kingery said. “So, when my turn came, I just happened to have a good two-strike approach and capped off the inning.”
A wild pitch by EMU starter Ryan Lavoie scored Kingery, before the five-run, five-hit inning came to a close.
Carrying a 5-1 lead into the third inning, Schnabel went on to post zeros in the next four frames, before sacrificing a RBI triple to Rubino in the seventh.
The right-hander from Scottsdale, Ariz. posted a final line of three runs on six hits, one walk and eight strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings to record his first quality start of the season.
He also received the win on the evening, as the Wildcats beat the Eagles, 7-3, playing in front of a crowd of 3,280 at Hi-Corbett Field, on Friday.
“Being the Friday night starter is the moment I’ve been waiting for,” Schnabel said. “There was about six or seven guys in the preseason battling for that spot, and I wasn’t even on the list. But I told Coach in December that I wanted a spot, so he gave me the opportunity to win it. And so I was lucky enough to get it.”
