MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Jordan Patty has been very good throughout his career and particularly in the 2021 season.
 
On Friday, he was perfect, and he made Central Michigan baseball history.
 
Patty, a junior right-hander from Midland, set down all 21 batters he faced as the Chippewas topped Miami (Ohio), 14-0, in the opener of a four-game Mid-American Conference series at Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium. The game was called after seven innings on the run rule.
 
It was the 22nd no-hitter and the first perfect game in CMU's 115 seasons of baseball. The last Chippewa to throw a no-hitter was Joel Pelland on May 6, 2003, in an 8-1 win over Siena Heights.
 
"It was a good day to say the least," Patty said. "It was really fun. (My teammates) have all the energy in the world and to have them come charging out was pretty cool. It was just so surreal. It was a lot of fun today."
 
Patty (6-1) was magnificent, matching his career high with 11 strikeouts and extending his scoreless innings streak to a remarkable 38 2/3. He threw 77 pitches, 53 of them for strikes. He recorded seven fly-ball outs and three groundouts.
 
The program record for consecutive scoreless innings is 40, set in 1974 by Chris Knapp.
 
"It's been a really good run and hopefully I'll just keep it going," Patty said, adding that the key has been, and continues to be, command of his fastball. "Just having the command – fastball in, fastball out, fastball up, fastball down – it makes hitters really uncomfortable and then to break off a slider off of that. It's really tough on those guys.
 
"I know how hard hitting is. I was a shortstop my freshman year hitting a buck-40, so I know how hard it is. The guys didn't really say much to me (during the game). I'm not a big talker when I'm pitching, but I knew I had something going in the sixth with one or two outs."
 
The win was CMU's fifth consecutive and its eighth in its last nine starts. The Chippewas improved to 25-11 overall, 17-4 MAC. They remain tied with Ball State atop the league. The Chippewas and RedHawks are scheduled to play a doubleheader on Saturday (1 p.m.).
 
"It's been kind of like a broken record the last month or so with how he's pitched the first game of the series, and obviously he was just outstanding again today," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "We didn't need a ton of great defense behind him because he piled up some strikeouts.
 
"After four innings it kind of crept into my mind because he was really sharp, and he was really executing pitches and there was not much hard contact. He was really in command of the game the entire way."
 
As is seemingly always the case in such a game, there was a highlight defensive play that kept the perfecto intact. In this case, it came in the second inning when CMU third baseman Aidan Shepardson dove to his glove side to snag a hard grounder, then got to his feet and threw a strike to first to complete the out.
 
Both Patty and Bischel also credited catchers Nick Dardas and Griffin Lockwood-Powell. Dardas, a redshirt freshman, started behind the plate and was replaced in the second inning by Lockwood-Powell, who was playing his first game after sitting out for eight weeks with an injury.
 
"I can't thank Grif and Dardy enough because those guys have worked with me all year on trying to perfect some of my stuff, and today it just played out really well," Patty said. "Those guys have complete confidence in me, and I've got complete confidence in them. It's really nice having both of those guys back there."
 
The Chippewas gave Patty all the support he would need when Garrett Navarra drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the first inning. The Chippewas picked up another run in the third when Zach Gilles doubled, took third and then scored on an error, one of six committed by the RedHawks in the game.
 
CMU blew the game open with a 10-run fourth. The Chippewas sent 14 men to the plate and, aided by four Miami errors, scored all 10 of their runs with two outs in the frame.
 
Gilles and Jakob Marsee had two hits apiece and Justin Simpson drove in three runs to lead CMU at the plate.

Ball State 12, Bowling Green 0
Boxscore
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Last Sunday at home vs. Northern Illinois, the Ball State baseball team scored four runs in the 1st en route to a blowout win. In Friday's rout at Bowling Green, it took until the 2nd inning to put the game away. 

BSU (26-11, 17-4) run-ruled Bowling Green 12-0 on Friday afternoon in 138 minutes, scoring 11 runs over four innings to extend its win streak to six games.

FRIDAY'S QUARTER-MAIN MAN: Trenton Quartermaine went 3-for-4 and blasted two home runs with five RBIs in his best game as a Cardinal. The first baseman hit a solo homer in the 2nd inning as Ball State took a 2-0 early lead. In the very next inning, he added an RBI single. In the pivotal 4th inning, Quartermaine's 3-run homer made it a 9-0 game and the blowout was on.

CROOKED NUMBERS: BSU put up two runs in the 2nd, two in the 3rd, six in the 4th and another run in the 5th. A Justin Conant sac fly was the 12th run in the top of the 7th.

NO FLY ZONE: The Cardinals kept the Falcons (11-20, 9-12 MAC) on the ground behind John Baker. BSU's ace improved to 5-2 with a dominant start, allowing two hits and two runs in his second complete game in as many weekends. Baker has allowed two runs on eight hits over his last 18.1 innings. Only one BG batter reached 3rd base, and that didn't happen until the 7th inning.

Noah Navarro, who is batting .448 in MAC play, reached base four times and scored three runs. Ross Messina had two hits and two runs and Decker Scheffler tripled and drove in two more. The Cardinals have won six straight and 16 of the last 18. 

Ball State and Bowling Green have a doubleheader Saturday at noon. Sunday's final game is set for 1 p.m. The forecast looks free of rain for the weekend.

DeKALB, IL – The Northern Illinois University baseball team scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to rally for a 7-6 win over the Akron Zips at Ralph McKinzie Field Friday afternoon.
 
"This was a great character win," said head coach Mike Kunigonis. "Our guys just never gave up. They kept battling. We have to play cleaner on defense, but Akron scrapped too and they made us pay for every mistake."
 
NIU (8-27, 7-14 MAC) trailed 6-5 heading into the bottom of the ninth. Brendan Joyce (South Elgin, Ill./Parkland College) started the rally with a one-out double down the leftfield line. Matt Barnes (Bloomington, Ill./Heartland C.C.) then hit a liner that was grabbed by a leaping Brad Goulet at second base for the second out. Kam Smith (Colonial Beach, Va./The Steward School) tied the game with a single to centerfield, bringing in Joyce to make the score 6-6. Senior catcher Jake Dunham (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) then came up with the game-winning hit, a double to right field that scored Smith all the way from first to give the Huskies' the 7-6 win.
 
"We need our guys to step up and make plays and Jake did that today with a couple big hits," Kunigonis said.
 
After Akron (9-26, 3-22 MAC) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, Dunham quickly tied the game in the bottom of the second. The Huskies' backstop led off the inning with a home run over the left field fence to make the score 1-1. NIU took the lead in the top of the third when a Joyce RBI groundout and a Smith RBI triple put the Huskies ahead 3-1.
 
The Zips came back with two runs in the top of the fourth to tie the game at three runs apiece. Jordan Larson (Dodgeville, Wis./College of DuPage) broke the tie in the bottom half of the inning, grounding out to shortstop Justin Barr which allowed Brady Huebbe (Peru, Ill./Illinois Valley C.C.) to score from third and put NIU up 4-3. Akron responded with two runs in the bottom of the fifth, with a Tate Wargo RBI single driving home Zac Granger to give the Zips a 5-4 advantage. Larson drew NIU level in the bottom of the sixth with a run-scoring single, but Akron took the lead in the top of the seventh on another RBI single by Wargo that made the score 6-5.
 
Dunham had a game-high three hits and drove in two runs. Larson and Smith also each had two RBI. Kyle Seebach (Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle Twp.) struck out a career-high seven batters in six innings but took a no-decision after allowing five runs, of which only one was earned, on five hits and two walks. Tristan Michaels (Barrington, Ill./Triton College) got the win in relief, allowing one run on two hits in three innings with four strikeouts.
 
The Huskies and Zips will play two seven-inning games on Saturday, May 1 at Ralph McKinzie Field. First pitch of game one is at 12 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on Huskie All-Access on NIUHuskies.com.

TOLEDO, Ohio – Powered by a grand slam from senior Ethan Hajdukovic and seven RBIs from junior Connor Charping the Western Michigan baseball team defeated Toledo 16-13 in a slugfest on a windy Friday afternoon inside Scott Park.

Charping was 3-for-4 at the plate in the series opener against the Rockets and was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. The Trenton, Mich., native had one double with two runs scored while connecting on his third home run of the season. Charping registered a career-high seven RBIs against Toledo, marking the second most RBIs in a single-game in school history.

Senior Ethan Hajdukovic recorded a career day at the plate going 2-for-5 with one run scored with a career-high six RBIs. Hajdukovic also belted his third home run of the season, earning a grand slam over the right field wall in the top of the third inning. It was WMU's first grand slam since Nate Grys against Northwestern back in 2018. Hajudkovic's six RBIs was the third most in a single-game in school history.

Preseason MAC Player of the Year Blake Dunn had his best day at the plate of the season in the series opener. The junior outfielder went 2-for-3 with one double, one RBI, one walk and four runs scored. Dunn's four runs scored was tied for the second most in a single-game in program history.

Redshirt freshman Will Morrison collected his sixth multi-hit game of the season after a 2-for-6 performance with two runs scored. Rounding out the hitting for the Brown & Gold was Jimmy Allen and Justin McIntyre with one hit each.  

Overall Western Michigan boasted a season-high 16 runs on 11 hits with six players earning a hit and four earning RBIs. It was the Broncos sixth game this season scoring double digit runs and the 14th game with double-digit hits.

On the mound the Broncos used four different pitchers totaling 12 strikeouts. Earning the start senior LHP Brandon Petersen went 2.1 innings allowing just five hits while striking out three. Picking up his team-high fifth win of the season senior RHP Will Mullen threw 4.1 innings allowing three hits while striking out seven. Mullen is now a perfect 5-0 with a 3.05 ERA.

Western Michigan with the series opening victory improves its overall record to 14-17 and 13-8 in Mid-American Conference play. The Broncos and Rockets are back in action on Saturday, May 1 for a doubleheader beginning at 12:00 p.m.

Toledo got on the board first in the bottom of the first scoring one run on two hits to take an early 1-0 lead. The Rocket held the lead until the top of the third when WMU exploded for six runs on three hits. The top of the third for the Brown & Gold was highlighted by a grand slam from Ethan Hajdukovic to give WMU a 6-1 advantage.

Toledo responded quickly in the bottom of the third scoring four runs on three hits to cut the Bronco lead down to one. The Rocket big inning was highlighted by a three-run home run over the right field wall.

Western Michigan extended its lead in the top of the sixth scoring five runs on five hits to earn a 11-5 led. A bunt single by Blake Dunn scored the first run of the inning which was followed up by a two-RBI double off the left field wall by Connor Charping. With two outs, Hajdukovic roped a two-RBI single to centerfield to propel the Broncos to a six-run lead.

Toledo rallied with two runs in the bottom of the sixth before the Broncos offense exploded once again with four runs on one hit in the top of the seventh. In the top of the seventh Charping blasted a three-run home run over the left field wall for his third home run of the season.

Western Michigan held a 16-9 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth as Toledo scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh while the Broncos added a run in the top of the ninth. The Rockets looked to make a comeback in the bottom of the ninth scoring four runs on three hits to trim the WMU lead down to three.

However, the comeback effort faded away as freshman Ryan Watt recorded a fly out and a groundout to shortstop to secure the 16-13 victory.

KENT, OHIO-  In a match-up of two marquee starting pitchers, it was Kent State designated hitter Eric Wentz who stole the show, hitting a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh to lead Kent State to a 3-2 win over Ohio in the opening game of the four-game series. 

The series opener featured two of the top arms in the Mid-American Conference with Luke Albright going for Kent State and Joe Rock going for Ohio. While the two pitchers lived up to the billing, it was Wentz' first collegiate home run that was the game's biggest moment. Wentz came into the game 1-for-21 on the season and delivered a 2-for-3 night at the plate.

Both Rock and Albright went six innings on Friday night. Albright allowed two runs on four hits with three walks and a career-best 13 strikeouts. Rock was impressive as well, allowing a run on four hits with four walks and eight strikeouts. 

Ohio struck first on Friday with leadoff man Isaiah Peterson taking a 2-2 pitch over the right-center field wall for a solo home run. After the solo shot, Albright settled in and shutdown the Bobcats until the sixth inning. Kent State struck back in the second inning when Nick Elsen nearly gave the Flashes a 2-1 lead but settled for a triple high off the right-center field wall to score Michael McNamara and tied the game at one. 

Rock and Albright settled in after the first two innings, tossing scoreless frames despite a steady wind blowing out to right field. Ohio threatened in the fifth but Albright got a fly out to left and escaped trouble. He wasn't as lucky in the sixth, Aaron Levy served a two-out double down the left field line and gave Ohio a 2-1 lead. Kent State loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth but Rock struck out Elsen to end the inning. 

In the seventh, Jake Reifsnyder reached on a dropped third strike to lead off the inning. That set the stage for Wentz who sent a 3-1 hanging curve ball on a line over the right field wall. That was enough for Jack Zimmerman, who tossed three shutout innings to earn his third victory of the season. 

The victory sends Kent State to 18-18 overall on the season and 11-9 in the MAC. Ohio is now 20-14 and also 11-9 in conference play. The two teams will meet again tomorrow for the middle two games of the four-game set. First pitch of the two, seven inning games is set for 1 p.m.