Sunday’s MAC Baseball Results
Central Michigan 3, Miami 1
Akron 7, Northern Illinois 4
Toledo 16, Western Michigan 9
Bowling Green 8, Ball State 5
Ohio 12, Kent State 1
Stories courtesy of MAC Sports Information Departments
Central Michigan 3, Miami 1
Boxscore
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – A perfect start and a perfect ending, and Central Michigan is alone in first place in the Mid-American Conference baseball race.
Three Chippewa pitchers combined on a three-hitter, and CMU's offense did just enough on Sunday as the Chippewas defeated Miami (Ohio), 3-1, at Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium to complete a sweep of a four-game MAC series.
The series started on Friday with Jordan Patty's perfect game – the first in CMU baseball history – and ended with the Chippewas' second-consecutive league sweep as they improved to 28-11, 20-4 MAC.
The Chippewas are alone in first place after Ball State slipped to 19-5 in the league with an 8-5 loss on Sunday at Bowling Green.
CMU and Ball State open a four-game series at Theunissen on Friday, May 7 (3 p.m.).
"It should be fun," said CMU coach Jordan Bischel, whose team is the defending league champion. "I hope our guys enjoy the experience, and the biggest thing I tell them when they feel a little pressure is that a lot of teams would really give a lot to trade places with us.
"You can't put a bunch of pressure on yourself, you've just got to enjoy the experience. It's two good teams. Ball State, they do pretty much everything right. It should be a fun series."
Garrett Navarra started and went four innings for CMU on Sunday, and winning pitcher Grant Frazer (2-3) was outstanding in five innings of relief. They combined to strike out 10, and the Chippewas got a pair of standout defensive plays in left field from Chase Rollin.
"Garrett was tremendous, Grant was tremendous and the defense behind them – a couple of plays by Chase that were just remarkable," Bischel said. "Those were big-league plays."
As is CMU's Sunday custom, Navarra was slated to go anywhere from three to five innings and then the bullpen would take over. In this case, Bischel called upon Logan Buczkowski to start the fifth inning, but Buczkowski left with an apparent injury after hitting both batters he faced.
"He just didn't quite feel right, and obviously the ball wasn't coming out quite right," Bischel said. "We're going to err on the side of caution there and hopefully it's nothing major. He's been so good this year, but he just didn't feel quite right out there, and knowing that we had plenty of guys to pitch we weren't going to mess around and put him in harm's way."
The Chippewas, as they so often do, took full advantage of everything the Cardinals gave them in scoring all three of their runs.
Navarra singled to lead off the second, Chase Rollin followed with a bunt single, and Aidan Shepardson later walked with two outs to load the bases. Justin Simpson then drew a base on balls to force in a run, and Mario Camilletti, the next CMU hitter, was hit by a pitch to force in another run and make it 2-0.
Jakob Marsee singled leading off the CMU fourth, was bunted to second and then scored on Simpson's bunt single combined with a Miami error.
"Miami came into the weekend in third place and with arguably the best pitching staff in the league," Bischel said. "I think many would say (they have the) most talented staff in the league, and I think their numbers were the best.
"It's hard to beat anybody four times, but a program like Miami that year in and year out is always near the top of the standings, that was just a great job by our guys."
Akron 7, Northern Illinois 4
Boxscore
Toledo 16, Western Michigan 9
Boxscore
TOLEDO, Ohio – The University of Toledo baseball team wrapped up its weekend series with Western Michigan on high note, posting a 16-9 victory on Sunday.
Western Michigan took an early 5-0 lead, but Toledo used a six-run bottom of the fifth to grab its first advantage of the day. The Rockets held the Broncos scoreless from the fifth inning on, and scored five more insurance runs to earn a series split.
The Rockets and Broncos finished a wild weekend series, with both teams combing for 96 runs and 19 home runs in the four games at Scott Park. Sunday's game had the dubious distinction of tying the NCAA single-game record for hit batters in a game with 14, and Toledo hitters tied the NCAA single-game mark with being hit by a pitch 10 times.
Marcus Strother was hit a game-high three times, while Nicky Winterstein, Danny O'Reilly, and John Servello were all hit twice. Scott Mackiewicz was plunked once.
Nate Haugh was outstanding for Toledo on Sunday, throwing six scoreless innings in relief and striking out six, allowing just two hits. After entering the game in a precarious situation in the top of the fourth, Haugh had a 1-2-3 fifth inning and allowed just one batter to reach in each of the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings before sending the Broncos down in order in the ninth.
At the plate, Mackiewicz homered for the third straight game, hitting a go-ahead grand slam in the bottom of the fifth inning. Chris Meyers was 3-for-5, hitting his 13th home run of the year and driving in three runs to help the cause. Trace Hatfield also tallied three RBIs and Justin Diaz homered for the second straight game, driving in two runs. Darryn Davis hit his first homer of the season, a pinch-hit solo shot to lead off the bottom of the sixth.
Next up for Toledo is a midweek visit to Eastern Michigan on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m., one of the makeup dates from the previously postponed weekend series against the Eagles. The Rockets then visit ACC foe Virginia Tech next weekend for three games.
Bowling Green 8, Ball State 5
Boxscore
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University baseball team earned an 8-5 victory over first-place Ball State University on Sunday (May 2) afternoon. The Mid-American Conference weekend series was played at Steller Field at Gary Haas Stadium. The contest served as the program's Senior Day, as seniors Andy Gaytan, David Stopp and Nathan Lohmeier were honored in a pre-game ceremony.
The Falcons picked up their 10th conference win of the season, moving to 10-14 within the league. BGSU, with 16 conference games remaining on the schedule, has already reached double-digit MAC wins for the first time since 2015.
The Falcons struck first, as Jared Johnson's solo home run over the right-field scoreboard gave the hosts a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third. Ball State claimed a 3-1 lead in the top of the fifth, but Bowling Green changed the outlook of the ballgame in the bottom half with a six-run fifth inning.
Dylan Dohanos and Gaytan recorded consecutive RBI singles to knot the score at 3-3. After Tyler Haas walked with the bases loaded and Jack Krause plated another run with a ground out, Nathan Rose capped the rally with a two-RBI single into right field. Rose's knock put the Falcons on top by a score of 7-3.
Adam Fallon scored BGSU's final run of the game in the sixth. After a leadoff single, Fallon stole second. He then stole third, and was able to trot home on the play after the catcher's throw sailed into left field.
The Falcons received three strong performances on the mound. Gage Schenk moved to 4-0 in MAC play by battling through six innings of work. Lohmeier picked up the next four outs for BG, before Jeremy Spezia notched his first save of the season. Spezia struck out two and did not surrender a hit on his way to a five-out save.
Ohio 12, Kent State 1
Boxscore
KENT, Ohio -- Behind a monster effort at the plate by senior designated hitter Aaron Levy (Cincinnati, Ohio) and a masterful performance on the mound by senior right-handed starting pitcher Edward Kutt IV (Westlake, Calif.), the Ohio baseball team (22-15, 13-11 MAC) handled Kent State (19-20, 12-12 MAC), 12-1, on Sunday (May 2) at Olga A. Mural Field at Schoonover Stadium.
The victory allowed the Bobcats to finish with a split of the four-game Mid-American Conference series set against the Golden Flashes.
Levy led the hit parade for an Ohio attack that pounded out 12 runs on 12 hits. He accounted for four of those hits, going 4-for-5 with two home runs, a double, four RBIs and four runs scored. Redshirt junior right fielder Spencer Harbert (Middletown, Del.) went 2-for-4 with a double, four RBIs and a run scored while senior left fielder Sebastian Fabik (Lebanon, Ohio) finished 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, an RBI and three runs scored. The Bobcats finished the contest with eight extra base hits. Graduate student third baseman Trevor Hafner (Perrysburg, Ohio) homered while graduate student first baseman Harry Witwer-Dukes (Monmouth, Ore.) and redshirt senior shortstop Joe Weisenseel (Strongsville, Ohio) each doubled.
Kutt IV came up big for the Bobcats in his first start on the mound of the 2021 season, striking out 10 over eight innings while allowing just one earned run on eight hits en route to earning the win and improving to 6-3 on the season. He did not give up a walk. Senior right-hander Chace Harris (New Marshfield, Ohio) provided Ohio with a scoreless ninth inning of relief, giving up just one hit.
Ohio got the scoring started in the top of the first inning as Fabik led off with a double to left center and later scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Harbert.
The bulk of the damage done by the Bobcats occurred fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh frames as Ohio tacked on eight more runs to its total across the four innings. An RBI single by Fabik was followed up by a two-RBI double by Harbert in the fourth. Witwer-Dukes provided an RBI double in the fifth. The sixth inning was highlighted by an RBI single by Harbert and an RBI double by Weisenseel. Levy then hit the first of two two-run home runs in the seventh. He duplicated the feat in the ninth, and Hafner provided the 12th and final run courtesy of a home run to right.
Ohio will look to stay hot next weekend as it welcomes archrival Miami to Athens for a four-game MAC weekend series at Bob Wren Stadium. The rivalry series gets underway on Friday (May 7) with first pitch of game one set for 5 p.m. ET.
