KENT- Mike McNamara sent a double into the left field corner, scoring Brody Williams and walking off the first-place Bowling Green Falcons 6-5 in front of a sold out Schoonover Stadium on Friday night. 

The back-and-forth game saw three ties and four lead changes and an atmosphere that felt more of playoff baseball than a regular-season affair in late April. The Flashes struck in the first inning with Josh Johnson scoring from second on a Brody Williams' infield single. The high-octane Falcons answered back with the next three, but Ciaran Caughey limited the damage in the third, getting out of a bases-loaded, nobody out jam with only two scoring. Williams struck again in the third, doubling home Kyle Jackson, the Flashes would have been on the verge of a big inning, but two stellar plays by the Falcons cut down two would-be runs at the plate. 

Kent State took back the lead in the fourth, using a walk and a pair of singles to plate two run and lead 4-3. The lead didn't last long as Bowling Green tied things in the fifth, it'd stay that way until the seventh when Bowling Green pushed across the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly. Peyton Cariaco limited that damage to the lone run, which proved critical down the stretch. In the eighth, the Flashes got some two-out lightning from the bottom of the order. Peyton Ebbing single and Bo Shinkle was hit by a pitch. Ripken Reese then hit a worm burner that snuck into the outfield, plating Ebbing and knotting the game at five. 
Cariaco quieted the bats in the eighth and the ninth, setting up the bottom of the ninth drama. Williams again got things rolling with a one-out single, his third knock of the game, Kibler worked a four-pitch walk, setting up McNamara. The senior took a 1-2 pitch into the corner to set up the dog pile in left field. 

The win pushes Kent State to 21-19 overall and 11-8 in the MAC, Bowling Green is now 22-13 and 17-2 in MAC play. The two teams will square off again tomorrow, first pitch is set for 3 p.m. 

ATHENS, Ohio – The Ohio baseball team (13-24, 8-14 MAC) opened its series versus Toledo (19-23, 12-10 MAC) with an exciting 6-3 victory at Bob Wren Stadium on Friday, April 26.
 
Ohio had a multitude of players step up and contribute to its offense today. Redshirt junior AJ Rausch (Powell, Ohio) led the Bobcats in scoring with two runs, one RBI and finished one-for-two at the plate. Redshirt junior Nick Dolan (Pittsburgh, Pa.) was perfect at the plate as he recorded three hits on three at bats. Dolan also scored a run, recorded an RBI and a double. Freshmen Caleb Karll (Fitchburg, Wis.), Pauly Mancino (Westlake, Ohio) and senior Gideon Antle (Licking, Mo.) scored one run each for Ohio. Fifth year Alex Finney (Oxford, Mich.) tallied two RBI's.
 
Junior Dillon Masters (New Albany, Ohio) started for Ohio on the mound. Masters allowed two runs, three hits, threw three strikeouts and faced 21 batters in five innings pitched. Junior Tyler Peck (Oak Creek, Wis.) relieved Masters and earned his second win of the season after holding back Toledo's offense so the Bobcats could take the lead. Senior Luke Olson (Granville, Ill.) earned his second-straight save after he prevented Toledo from earning any runs and hits during the eighth and ninth innings.
 
Toledo took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning and maintained it until the bottom of the third. Finney's single in the third earned him two RBIs as Dolan and Mancino scored for Ohio.
 
The Rockets took a short lived 3-2 lead in the top of the sixth before Antle tied the game again off Rausch's single in the bottom of the same inning. The Bobcats took a 4-3 lead, their first of the game, when Rausch reached home off a passed ball.
 
Ohio earned a two-run cushion on its lead in the eighth inning. An error by Toledo's catcher allowed Rausch to score another run for Ohio and Karll to advance to second. Dolan recorded his third hit of the game, a double to left field, and Karll was able to reach home and increase the Bobcats' lead to 6-3.
 
Ohio's defense was successful in holding off Toledo from scoring in the top of the ninth, finishing the game with a 6-3 victory over the Rockets.
 
The Bobcats will play game two of its series with Toledo on Saturday, April 27. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. ET. Tune in to Russ Eisenstein on the Varsity Network App for the radio broadcast starting at 1:45 p.m.

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The Northern Illinois University baseball team earned its first win at Central Michigan since 2017 on Friday afternoon, winning its series opener at Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium 2-1 behind a complete game from freshman pitcher Ty Brachbill (Shelbyville, Ill./Shelbyville).
 
"Today's game had a playoff feel with two desperate teams fighting to stay alive for postseason play and two really good arms on the mound there," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "Ty was as good as it gets. He got better as the game went on. It's a really good win on a Friday and what it's supposed to feel like when you playing baseball at a high level."
 
NIU (14-27, 8-11 MAC) and Central Michigan were tied 1-1 going to the eighth inning. Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech) led it off with a single to left center. He advanced to second on a Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College) sacrifice bunt. With one out Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) moved Demetral to third with a groundout to Drew Loikits at second base. Chippewas reliever Bryce Hellgeth then intentionally walked Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy) to bring CJ Cepicky (St. Louis, Mo./Missouri) to the plate. The NIU leftfielder ripped a single through the left side of the infield to drive in Demetral and make the score 2-1. The Huskies loaded the bases on a Cooper Cohn (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) walk but Hellgeth got out of the inning with a groundout.
 
"In a close game like this, someone has to step up and get the big hit," Copeland said. "We hadn't done it up until that point. CJ got a pitch up in the zone and was all over the barrel with it. He's cemented himself as an everyday player. We've always known the talent is there and he came up with the big hit after Summerhill got walked."
 
Brachbill retired the side in the bottom of the eighth to keep NIU up 2-1. Central Michigan (14-28, 5-14 MAC) got the game-tying and go-ahead runs on base in the bottom of the ninth on a Marquis Jackson walk and a Loikits single. Sandyn Cuthrell moved the runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Brachbill got Elijah Henning to lineout to Demetral and shortstop for the second out, then struck out Nick Dardas to finish off the complete game victory.
 
"Ty's always been good at holding velocity and his stuff seems to be very similar early in the game as it is late," Copeland said. "He found an extra gear in that ninth inning when they got the two guys on. I just felt that, on a Friday in a conference series, it was his game to win or lose. He deserved the opportunity to be out there and, fortunately, was able to finish it off with a strikeout."
 
The Huskies took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Cohn led off with a base hit, followed by another base hit from Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) that got Cohn to third. A double play ball allowed Cohn to score the first run of the game. Brachbill retired nine of the first 10 Chippewas batters he faced in the game. Central Michigan had two runners on base in the bottom of the fourth when Brachbill got Drew Prout to ground out to Nelson at third to keep CMU off the board. Brachbill left another runner in scoring position on base in the fifth with a groundout by Drew Wuestenfeld. CMU tied the game in the bottom of the seventh on a Dardas RBI groundout.
 
Brachbill is the first Huskie freshman to throw a complete game since Michael Lasiewicz when the distance in a 2-1 win over Miami on April 21, 2018. It's also the first complete game by any NIU pitcher since Lasiewicz's shutout of Miami in the 2019 Mid-American Conference Championship. Brachbill had six strikeouts while allowing just four hits and three walks on 119 pitches.
 
The Huskies and Chippewas play game two of this weekend's series on Saturday, April 27 at 12 p.m. CT.

OXFORD, Ohio— Miami defeated Eastern Michigan on Friday in a whole-team effort that included hits from six different players and 10 total strikeouts from four different pitchers. Miami moves to 20-19 (12-10 MAC) with the victory, while Toledo falls to 13-27 (8-11 MAC) with the loss.