Saturday's Baseball Results
Ball State 5, Akron 1
Ball State 16, Akron 0
Central Michigan 9, Bowling Green 1
Central Michigan 9, Bowling Green 4
Ohio 12, Eastern Michigan 4
Ohio 14, Eastern Michigan 8
Toledo 8, Kent State 7
Toledo 5, Kent State 4
Miami 4, Western Michigan 3
Western Michigan 2, Miami 1
Northern Illinois 9, Oakland 5
Stories courtesy of MAC Sports Information Departments
Ball State 5, Akron 1 -- Boxscore
Ball State 16, Akron 0 -- Boxscore
MUNCIE, Ind. – The Ball State baseball team claimed two victories over Akron on Saturday at the Ball Diamond at First Merchants Ballpark Complex. Tyler Schweitzer recorded a career-high 12 strikeouts in game one and Ty Johnson followed with eight strikeouts in game two.
Schweitzer and Johnson both earned the win in their respective starts, and both improved to 5-2 on the season. Schweitzer, Johnson, and Tyler Ruetschlecombined to strikeout 21 batters and held the Zips to a total of just seven hits across the two games.
Trenton Quartermaine produced back-to-back games with a home run as he hit two, one in each game. Zach Cole, Hunter Dobbins, Adam Christianson, and Zach Lane all hit homers on the day. The Cardinal offense rattled off 21 runs on 19 hits for the two games.
Wright has reached base safely in 32 of the 33 games this season and is currently on a six-game hitting streak. Cole has reached safely in 11 straight, while Quartermaine has reached safely in nine consecutive.
With the wins, Ball State improved to 21-12 overall and 15-2 in MAC play, while Akron fell to 10-24 overall and 8-15 in league contests.
Game One – Ball State 5, Akron 1
The Zips got on the board first in the top of the third inning on a Jackson Haas double down the left field line.
In the bottom of the third, Lane led off with an infield single to second base and advanced to third on two wild pitches. Quartermaine put the Cardinals on top with a two-run shot over the right field wall. Ball State led 2-1 after three innings of play.
Cole launched a solo shot down the right field line with one out in the bottom of the fourth. CJ Hornsingled down the left field line with two outs. Seth Wilson came in to pinch run for Horn and then stole second. Lane singled to right field and drove in Wilson. Aiden Hinds pinch ran for Lane and Wright tripled to right center to score Hinds from first. The Cardinals took a 5-1 lead into the top of the fifth.
The four-run cushion was all that Schweitzer needed as he kept Akron from adding a run to the score board. Schweitzer was dominant in a complete-game effort with a career-high 12 strikeouts. He improved to 5-2 as he allowed on a single run on just four hits.
Anthony Fett fell to 0-6 behind a complete-game performance with three strikeouts. He surrendered five earned runs on seven hits.
Game Two – Ball State 16, Akron 0
Wright singled through the left side to start things in the bottom of the first. Quartermaine followed with a line drive that left the yard for a two-run homer down the right field line. Nick Powell was hit by a pitch and Cole kept things rolling with a single to center field. Ryan Peltier reached on a fielder's choice as Cole was out at second. Peltier stole second and a throwing error by the catcher allowed Peltier to advance to third and Powell to score. Christianson reached on an error by the second baseman and Peltier was able to score on the play. Ball State led 4-0 after one inning of play.
Cole led off the home half of the third and was hit by a pitch. He then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by the catcher. Peltier drove a ball to left field and Cole was able to tag up for the sac fly. The Cardinals took a 5-0 lead into the fourth.
Justin Conant led off the bottom of the fourth with a single to left field. Lane belted a two-run home run over the wall in left center. After Quartermaine drew a walk, Powell reached safely on a fielder's choice. Cole tripled off the wall in right center to score Powell. Dobbins lined one off the top of the wall in left center for an inside the park home run and Cole scored to give the Cardinals a 10-0 lead. After Peltier reached on an error by the right fielder, Christianson blasted a two-run shot over the right field wall to give Ball State a 12-0 lead after four innings in the books.
Wilson reached on a throwing error by the third baseman and advanced to second to start the bottom of the sixth for BSU. Dobbins drew a four-pitch walk. Horn belted a double to left center that drove in Wilson and Dobbins. Conant singled up the middle to give Ball State runners on the corners with one out. Hinds singled through the left side to score Horn from third. Wright singled to center to load the bases for the Cardinals. Quartermaine grounded out to first, but Conant was able to score and extended the BSU lead to 16-0.
Johnson picked up the win with eight strikeouts, one shy of tying a career high. He went six innings and surrendered just two hits as he improved to 5-2. Ruetschle tossed a scoreless inning in relief and picked up one strikeout.
Jackson Hickert picked up the loss for the Zips and fell to 1-4 on the year. He struck out one batter and gave up seven runs, four earned, on five hits in three innings of work. Matthew Radtka threw one inning in relief and surrendered five runs, three earned, on three hits and struck out two. Grayson Phillips went the final two innings for Akron and gave up four runs, two earned, on four hits.
Ball State and Akron close out the four-game series on Easter Sunday. The game is scheduled for a 1 p.m. first pitch.
Central Michigan 9, Bowling Green 1 -- Boxscore
Central Michigan 9, Bowling Green 4 -- Boxscore
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Central Michigan baseball team swept its fourth consecutive doubleheader on Saturday, taking the second and third games of a four-game Mid-American Conference with Bowling Green at the Falcons' Steller Field.
Standout pitching from Chippewa starter Andrew Taylorhighlighted the Chippewas' 9-1 win in the opener, and a career game at the plate by Aidan Shepardson propelled CMU to a 9-4 victory in the nightcap.
The Chippewas improved to 16-1 in the MAC. They maintain their one-game lead over Ball State, which is 15-2 after sweeping a doubleheader from Akron on Saturday. Bowling Green is 9-23, 6-15.
CMU (22-10 overall) will attempt to complete its fourth consecutive MAC series sweep in the weekend finale on Sunday (1 p.m.). The Chippewas entertain Madonna in a nonleague game on Tuesday, April 19 (3 p.m.) at Theunissen Stadium.
Game 1
Taylor (5-2) struck out 12 and walked two across 6 1/3 innings in the seven-inning opener.
His no-hit bid was broken up in the fourth inning, during which the Falcons picked up two of their three hits. The final hit was a seventh-inning solo homer by pinch hitter Jared Johnson. Clayton Brock finished, getting a strikeout and a groundout.
"I would imagine (Taylor) feels good about (his performance)," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "The biggest thing with Andrew is that he doesn't really care what his stats show, he just wants to give his team a chance to win and when you shut out (Bowling Green) in the first six innings, you're going to give the team a great opportunity and I know he feels good about that."
The Chippewas continued to pound the ball at the plate as they collected a season-high 18 hits. They had 15, their previous season high, in their last two games.
Zach Lechnir and Adam Proctor each homered, and Shepardson and Jakob Marsee finished with three hits each.
CMU led 3-0 through four innings and then put the game out of reach with a six-run seventh. The homers by Lechnir and Proctor came consecutively in the seventh inning.
It was Lechner's second of the season and it was Proctor's fourth.
"(Zach's) been here for three years now and he really is a quality hitter," Bischel said. "We've got some depth so it's hard to get every good player on the field, but he hit a home run at Oakland this week and another one today. We know that's in there and it's great to see him succeeding."
Game 2
Garrett Navarra (5-2) struck out four across five innings for the win in the nightcap. He allowed four runs on nine hits and walked one. Ryan Palmblad went the final four frames, striking out six and allowing three hits for his second save of the season.
Shepardson kicked things off straight away for the Chippewas with a two-run double in the first and a two-run single during a four-run second. He finished with three hits and five RBI.
Shepardson is 7-for-12 in the series with seven RBI. He is third on the team with a .354 batting average.
"(Shepardson's) having an amazing senior year," Bischel said. "He's been awfully consistent all year and today he had a couple of really big hits for us and really, he's just been a great team leader for us this year."
CMU led 6-2 after 1 ½ innings and then added a run each in the sixth, seventh and eighth inning. Drew Lechnir and Shepardson delivered sacrifice flies and Danny Wuestenfeld drew a bases-loaded walk to drive in the runs.
Marsee, Morgan and Justin Simpson finished with two hits each for the Chippewas.
Ohio 12, Eastern Michigan 4 -- Boxscore
Ohio 14, Eastern Michigan 8 -- Boxscore
ATHENS, Ohio-- The Ohio baseball team (16-15, 10-9 MAC) continues to be dominant against Eastern Michigan (13-19, 9-10), winning both games in today's doubleheader (April 16). The Bobcats secured a 12-4 victory in game one, following it up with a 14-8 win in game two.
GAME ONE
Eastern Michigan struck first, scoring one run off a fielding error in the first. The Bobcats were trailing, 1-0, until the third; fifth year Colin Kasperbauer (Sioux City, Iowa) tied the game with a double down the left field line. Kasperbauer later scored when fifth year Spencer Harbert (Middletown, Del.) singled, giving Ohio a 2-1 lead.
Ohio broke ahead in the fifth, scoring seven runs and ending the inning with a 9-1 lead with three singles, two doubles, one triple. In the bottom of the inning, two Eastern Michigan home runs cut into the Bobcats' lead. The Bobcats wrapped up scoring in the sixth; senior Will Sturek (Minnetonka, Minn.) drove in senior Mason Minzey (Grand Blanc, Mich.) with a single up the middle, followed by a two-run home run by graduate student Cael Baker (Gahanna, Ohio) to put the final score at 12-4.
Individually, Baker went 2-for-2 with three RBIs, one double and one home run while Harbert, Kasperbauer and Minzey all went 2-for-4. On the mound, redshirt sophomore Jacob Tate (Louisville, Tn.) started, pitching 4.1 innings with four strikeouts.
GAME TWO
The Bobcats took an early lead, jumping ahead 2-0 with an RBI single from Minzey and a passed ball. In the second, Eastern Michigan got on the board with a bases loaded walk, putting the score at 2-1. Ohio bounced back the next inning, scoring their third run with a single from senior Michael Richardson (Cambridge, Md.) Baker extended the lead to 5-1 with a double before Richardson scored on a passed ball. A double from Minzey and a single from Richardson in the fourth extended Ohio's lead to 8-1 before the Eagles drove in their second run in the bottom of the inning.
Eastern Michigan cut into the Bobcat's lead in the fifth, putting the score at 8-4 with a double and a single. After the Bobcats scored two more runs in the sixth, two Eastern Michigan doubles in the bottom of the inning put the score at 10-7.
An RBI single from Harbert drove in Ohio's 11th run in the eight. The Bobcats tacked on three more insurance runs in the top of the ninth with two singles and an error. The Eagles hit a home run in the bottom of the inning, putting the final score at 14-8.
Overall, the Bobcats registered 15 hits and finished the game with a .952 on-base percentage. On the mound, freshman Hudson Boncal (Coronal, Calif.) got the start, pitching 4.1 innings with two strikeouts.
Toledo 8, Kent State 7 -- Boxscore
Toledo 5, Kent State 4 -- Boxscore
TOLEDO, Ohio – Saturday was an exciting day at Scott Park for the Toledo baseball team as it swept its doubleheader against Kent State, winning both games in walk-off fashion. The Rockets won game one, 8-7, before taking game two, 5-4, in 10 innings.
Toledo had just one hit through the first five innings of game one and trailed Kent State 4-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth. The Rockets' dry spell ended with a five-run sixth inning that gave them a 5-4 lead, but Kent State answered with three runs in the top of the seventh to go up 7-5. UT rallied in the bottom half of the inning to win in thrilling fashion; junior Mason Sykes doubled in a run to trim the deficit to one, then junior Kade Wroot ripped a liner down the line in left field to bring in the tying and game-winning runs.
The Rockets controlled game two from the get-go, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first to take an early lead. Sykes homered in the sixth to make it 3-0, but the Golden Flashes' bats woke up in the top of the seventh with back-to-back homers to take a 4-3 lead. A fortuitous wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth allowed freshman Garret Pike to score and tie the game, then in the bottom of the 10th Pike sent a ball deep into the gap in left-center field that scored Sykes and capped off a wild doubleheader.
"What a great day to be a Rocket Baseball fan," head coach Rob Reinstetle said. "I'm so proud of the team and how they battled all day long. Two walk-off wins is hard to do, but it's a credit to the guys in this program. Everyone on the roster had a hand in today's success. The starters played well and all the guys off the bench did their jobs. Even the guys who didn't get on the field played a big role in these wins. No doubt these were team wins today. In terms of MAC play, these wins put us in a favorable position, but we have one more hanging out there to get. Yesterday I talked to the team about this being a four-round boxing match. Round one went to Kent, we got rounds two and three, and tomorrow we go for the knockout."
Wroot, Sykes, and freshman Caden Konczak all drove in two runs in the first game, with sophomore Scott Mackiewicz tallying the other RBI. Sykes smacked the first of his two home runs on the day in the first contest. Four pitchers saw time on the mound in the first game, with redshirt freshman Yianni Skeriotis tossing a scoreless fifth and sixth to keep the Rockets in the game.
Pike had an excellent game two, going 3-for-4 at the plate with a pair of RBIs and two runs scored, touching the plate on the game-tying run an inning before driving in the game-winner. Sykes went 2-for-5 with his second home run of the afternoon, his 10th of the season. Junior Darryn Davis went 1-for-4 at the plate with an RBI. Senior Jordan Power threw 6.1 innings and struck out five, starting his outing off with six shutout innings. Redshirt freshman Patrick Dillon and sophomore Gavin Starcher both saw time out of the bullpen.
The series between Toledo and Kent State concludes on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. at Scott Park. Admission is free to Sunday's series finale.
Miami 4, Western Michigan 3 -- Boxscore
Western Michigan 2, Miami 1 -- Boxscore
KALAMAZOO, Mich.-- The Miami University baseball team split a doubleheader today with the Western Michigan Broncos. The RedHawks move to 14-20 (10-12 MAC), while the Broncos are now 10-21 (7-10 MAC).
In game one, the RedHawks picked up a 4-3 win behind strong pitching and timely hitting. Tyler Ronevich recorded his second win of the season, throwing five innings and allowing one earned run while striking out seven Broncos. Zach MacDonald's bat stayed hot, as the freshman blasted his third home run of the series.
Game two was a pitchers' duel that ultimately saw the Broncos pick up a 2-1 win. Zach Maxey threw 6.1 innings, allowing just one earned run while striking out five Broncos
Northern Illinois 9, Oakland 5
Boxscore
ROCHESTER, Mich. – The Northern Illinois University baseball team notched 17 hits Saturday afternoon and used two three-run innings to power its way to a 9-5 win over the Oakland Golden Grizzlies at Oakland Baseball Field.
"We had a great offensive weekend and finished it very strong on the mound," said head coach Mike Kunigonis following Saturday's victory.
NIU (7-27) got on the board first in the top of the second. Aaron Harper(Hemet, Calif./Mt. San Jacinto College) started the threat with a one-out single. After a flyout for the second out, Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech) kept the inning alive with a single to centerfield. Carlos Aranda (Santo Domingo, D.R./Ellsworth CC) drove home Harper with a double to left field that gave the Huskies a 1-0 lead. Matt Barnes (Bloomington, Ill./Heartland CC) then cleared the bases with two-run single to right field making the score 3-0.
Oakland (17-17) threatened to tie the game in the bottom half of the inning. The Golden Grizzlies loaded the bases on two singles and a two-out walk to Gabe Lux. Michael Lasiewicz (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) got out of the frame unscathed, getting Brad Goulet to pop out to Paddy McKermitt (Hampshire, Ill./Burlington Central) at second base to end the inning. Oakland got on the board in the third. After Jared Miller led off the inning reaching on a two-base error, back-to-back groundouts brought him in to score and cut the Huskies' lead to two 3-1.
The Huskies built upon their lead in the top of the fourth. NIU's first four batters all reached base with McKermitt leading off with a single followed by a Demetral walk. Aranda then laced a single to left field, his third of the game, to drive home McKermitt and make the score 4-1. After a walk to Barnes, Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) hit a groundball to Brad Goulet at second base who flipped to the shortstop Thomas Green for an out. Green's relay throw to first for a double play was wild, allowing both Demetral and Aranda to score and put the Huskies ahead 6-1.
NIU tacked on two more runs in the fifth. Harper led off with a single and advanced to second on a Chas Sagedahl wild pitch. McKermitt then hit a double to left field, scoring Harper to make the score 7-1. After a groundout and a walk, Barnes hit a sacrifice fly to right field to bring home McKermitt and give the Huskies a seven-run lead at 8-1. After allowing the Golden Grizzlies' run in the third, Lasiewicz allowed just one hit over the next two innings on a Goulet single in the fifth. The senior scattered five hits over five innings, allowing just one unearned run with a walk and three strikeouts before Matt Salomonson (Chicago, Ill./Notre Dame College Prep) entered the game in the sixth.
Oakland scored a run in both the sixth and seventh innings to make the score 8-3. NIU put a run on the board in the top of the ninth when a Scott Combs (Northville, Mich./Michigan State) sacrifice fly put the Huskies ahead 9-3. The Golden Grizzlies attempted a comeback in the bottom of the ninth, as back-to-back RBI singles from Goulet and Miller made the score 9-5. An infield single by Cam Post loaded the bases with two outs but Salomonson got Brandon Heidal to fly out to lock up the victory.
"It was great to get back in the win column to start the second half of the MAC season on a high note," Kunigonis said.
Aranda was 4-for-4 in the game with a pair of RBI. Harper had three hits and scored a pair of runs. Barnes was 2-for-4 with three RBI. McKermitt, Erato and Combs each had two hits as well.
The day started with the resumption of the seven-inning game from Friday's doubleheader in the fifth inning with the Golden Grizzlies leading 9-4. Oakland tacked on a run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the fifth to go ahead 10-4, which ended up being the final score.
NIU returns to Ralph McKinzie Field next weekend for a Mid-American Conference series against Ball State. The Huskies and Cardinals open the series on Friday, April 22 at 3 p.m.
