Friday's Baseball Results
Bowling Green 8, Toledo 6
Ball State 11, Kent State 1
Central Michigan 9, Western Michigan 8
Ohio 2, Akron 1
Northern Illinois 15, Eastern Michigan 14
Stories courtesy MAC Sports Informaton Departments
Bowling Green 8, Toledo 6
Boxscore
TOLEDO, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University baseball team defeated the Toledo Rockets Friday Night (May 17) with an 8-6 final at Fifth Third Field. The win moved the Falcons to 31-18 on the season while being 23-6 in the MAC. The 23 MAC wins set a new program record for MAC wins in a season, one of three records the Falcons broke during the game. Additionally, the 31 wins for BGSU are the most since winning the same amount in 2010.
As a team, Bowling Green also broke the program record for strikeouts in a season, a record that had stood for 25 years, ending the night with 373 for the season. Nathan Archer broke an individual record as well, logging 229 at-bats this season, the most by a Falcon in a single season ever. BGSU and Toledo will conclude the series on Saturday (May 18) with a 3 p.m. first pitch at Steller Field.
Ball State 11, Kent State 1
Boxscore
The Ball State baseball team's offense was productive and the pitching was dominant throughout Friday afternoon's 11-1 win over Kent State at Schoonover Stadium.
The Cardinals (32-20-1, 18-11 Mid-American Conference) plated single tallies in each of the first three innings against the Golden Flashes (26-25, 16-13 MAC), and that was all they'd need as the trio of Keegan Johnson, Nate Blain and Owen Quinn combined to limit the hosts to one run on two hits.
With the win, Ball State clinched at least a No. 3 seed in next week's conference tournament with the possibility of getting a No. 2 seed if the Cardinals can win on Sunday or Western Michigan/Toledo lose one of their remaining games.
Nick Gregory led off the game with a triple before scoring on a Hunter Dobbins grounder. Blake Bevis followed that up with a solo home run to leadoff the second inning and give the Cardinals a 2-0 edge. In the third, Clay Jacobs singled, stole second and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
After Kent State scored in the bottom half of the third to cut the Ball State lead to 3-1, the visitors responded with sac flies by Jacobs in the fifth and Michael Hallquist in the sixth for a 5-1 advantage.
Dobbins and Hallquist went back-to-back in the eighth and the Cardinals got RBI singles from Bevis, Jacobs and Decker Scheffler and an RBI walk by Hallquist in the ninth for the day's final scoring.
Hallquist went 2-for-3 with three RBI including his 20th homer of the year, while nine different Cardinals collected hits and nine scored runs on the day in the balanced offensive attack.
Johnson (8-2) struck out six in 5.0 innings of one-run ball to earn the win before Blain (three strikeouts in 3.0 shutout innings) and Quinn (one strikeout in 1.0 shutout frame) closed the game out from there.
Kent State starter Benny Roebuck (1-2) gave up four runs in 4.1 innings to suffer the loss.
"Our boys played a solid game in all facets: excellent pitching, solid defense and timely hitting," head coach Rich Maloney said.
The Cardinals and Golden Flashes are set to conclude the regular season with a game at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Central Michigan 9, Western Michigan 8
Boxscore
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Senior Day and the final weekend of the season.
Tailor made for some drama.
Jacob Donahue homered with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning on Friday to lift the Central Michigan baseball team to a thrilling 9-8 victory over rival Western Michigan on Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.
The win evened the three-game Mid-American Conference series at a game apiece. The rubber match, and the Chippewas' season finale, is scheduled for Saturday (noon).
CMU will recognize its baseball alumni – and it's 2004 MAC championship team in particular – in a pregame ceremony at 11:15 a.m.
And while CMU baseball will pay tribute to its past on Saturday, Friday's finish is one that will go down as a sweet memory for 16 Chippewa seniors who were recognized in a pregame ceremony.
None, perhaps, will recall it more fondly than Donahue, a senior outfielder playing in his 164th career game.
Donahue turned on a 3-1 fastball in the ninth and deposited over the wall in left field, just inside the foul pole to give the Chippewas the win, one made all the sweeter by the fact that it came against their rival.
"I'm super excited to be a part of that, whether it's a single or a home run, glad to be a part of that, a walk-off with my teammates, especially on Senior Night," said Donahue, who collected four hits including a double in the game.
"I just happened to hit it on the right spot and to the right part of the park," he said. "Not the farthest part of the park; just happened that I squeaked it out there."
Donahue was mobbed by teammates as they greeted him at home plate and he got the customary Gatorade shower as the postgame celebration continued into left field.
"We needed that," said first-year CMU coach Jake Sabol, who several times this season has seen his team come out on the opposite side of a late-inning comeback. "We haven't had too many moments like that this year and on a day like today where you had a great crowd, you had all your seniors in there, they were all making a great impact …
"It's been a tough year and every day you come to the field and you ask them to stay prepared and keep working hard, be in the moment, and today they did that. They know the end is near, but they fought their tails off today to give themselves a chance."
Donahue's blast ended a roller-coaster game that saw the Chippewas score six runs in the third inning in building what became an 8-3 lead.
They took that five-run advantage into the ninth and then saw the Broncos, who are trying to wrap up the No. 2 seed for next week's MAC Tournament, score five runs on three hits and a CMU error to tie it.
That swung momentum in Western's favor and it appeared that the Chippewas were potentially headed for a heartbreaking loss.
But Donahue changed that with one swing. It was his third homer of the season and the fourth of his career.
"I told Donnie, 'I haven't seen you hit a ball like that all year,'" Sabol said. "He waited for the right time and was able to put a good swing on it and it got out of here."
It was the first win for Sabol, a former Chippewa pitcher, over Western. The Broncos took Friday's series opener, 3-2.
"Obviously if you play in this program, you know that that logo and that school doesn't sit well with you all that much," he said. "Regardless of where we are in the standings, you've got Western in the opposing dugout – rivalries are real and there is something about taking your game up a notch a little bit when you play someone like that.
"We want to play championship-caliber baseball all the time regardless of who we play, but I think there's times, there's moments throughout the year depending on who you play where we expect you to up your game and take it to another level. I challenged the guys this weekend (that) if you've got any Chippewa in you, when you play Western, it just means a little bit more."
Jack Bach (1-0), the sixth Chippewa pitcher, picked up the victory after entering the game with one out in the ninth.
CMU collected 13 hits including seven for extra bases, six of them doubles off seven Bronco pitchers.
Marquis Jackson, Ely Stuart and Jack Eichler had two hits each for CMU. Jackson extended his hit streak to eight games and his reached-base streak to 20.
Ohio 2, Akron 1
Boxscore
ATHENS, Ohio – The Ohio baseball team (18-32, 13-17 MAC) wrapped up their 2024 season with a 2-1 walk-off win against Akron (15-39, 10-20 MAC) to win the series.
In their final game of the season, the Bobcats honored the following nine seniors: Cole Williams (Charlotte, N.C.), Bryce Smith (Virginia Beach, Va.), Alex Finney (Oxford, Mich.), Luke Borer (Perrysburg, Ohio), Gideon Antle (Licking, Mo.), Carson Denham (Cape May Court House, N.J.), Clay Cutter (Centennial, Colo.), Luke Olson (Granville, Ill.) and Tim Knapschaefer (Maria Stein, Ohio),
Overall, Ohio scored two runs on four hits with no errors, while Akron finished with one run on five hits and one error.
Individually, redshirt junior AJ Rausch (Powell, Ohio) went 2-for-3 at the plate, scored one run and earned one RBI, highlighted by a walk-off double. Junior Jackson Cauthron (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) scored the game winning run along with one hit. Redshirt junior Nick Dolan (Pittsburgh, Pa.) finished with one run and one RBI.
Junior Blake Gaskey (Davenport, Iowa) got the start on the mound, allowing one run on five hits, walked three and struck out four in 6.2 innings pitched. Senior Luke Olson (Granville, Ill.) was given the win, holding Akron to no runs or hits along with one strikeout in 2.1 innings pitched.
Akron struck first with one run in the sixth, but the Bobcats answered in the bottom of the seventh. Rausch singled to center to get on base, then advanced to third off a throwing error. Dolan hit a one-RBI single to tie, setting the score at 1-1 after seven innings.
Strong pitching from Olson had the game tied heading into the bottom of the ninth inning. Cauthron opened with a double, then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Rausch doubled to right center to bring Cauthron racing across home plate for the walk-off win to end the season.
Northern Illinois 15, Eastern Michigan 14
Boxscore
DeKALB, IL – Senior Aaron Harper’s (Hemet, Calif./Mt. St. Jacinto CC) single in the bottom of the 11th inning Friday afternoon gave the Northern Illinois University baseball team a 15-14 victory over the Eastern Michigan Eagles at Ralph McKinzie Field at Walt and Janice Owens Park.
“Early on we played good baseball but too many mistakes let Eastern Michigan back in it,” said head coach Ryan Copeland. “We bounced back from a six-spot to tie the game in the seventh. It felt like once it got to extras everyone was playing for the solo home run. We found a way to win and that matters. This program has been through a lot, and to win a game like this that we’ve lost so often is encouraging for the future.”
NIU (20-33, 13-16 MAC) got two runners on base in the 11th on back-to-back one-out walks by CJ Cepicky (St. Louis, Mo./Missouri) and Charlie Parcell (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West). Jake Nelson (Altoona, Wis./Madison College) ripped a liner right at Eastern Michigan third baseman Glenn Miller for the second out. Harper then stepped up to the plate and hit a ball that took an in-between hop that went off second baseman Drew Jones. Cepicky rounded third and headed home, beating Jones’ throw to the plate to give NIU the 15-14 win.
“They were shifted on me to the left side, so I was trying to stay up the middle to the right side knowing a single would probably win it,” said Harper. “I was little out in front and got a little lucky with the bounce. In a game like that, you just have to kind of win every inning you can. It was a good team effort.”
The Huskies trailed 14-10 going into the bottom of the seventh. Mason Kelley (Mt. Washington, Ky./Schoolcraft College) started the comeback with a leadoff walk. JP Gauthier (De Pere, Wis./Illinois State) then launched a two-run home run, his third hit of the day, over the left field fence to make the score 14-12. After a strikeout, Andre Demetral (Rochester, Mich./Florence Darling Tech) reached on a single to right field. With two outs in the inning, Cepicky hit his second home run in as many days over the left centerfield wall to tie the game at 14-14.
“JP and CJ have been up and down this season but they were great today,” Copeland said. “CJ has solidified himself as our everyday leftfielder because he’s shown a knack for getting big hits like that. Both of those guys deserved that moment to give us a chance to get back in the game.”
NIU led 1-0 in the bottom of the first after Eric Erato (Sussex, Wis./Sussex Hamilton) hit the second pitch he saw over the right field fence for a leadoff home run. Eastern Michigan (14-37, 9-20 MAC) answered with three runs in the top of the second to go up 3-1. The Huskies tied the game on RBI doubles from Gauthier and Erato to make the score 3-3. The Eagles scored five unanswered runs in the third and fourth innings, capped by a Brendan Kleiman two-run home run, to take an 8-3 lead.
The Huskies scored a run in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings to get within two runs at 8-6. NIU took back the lead in the bottom of the sixth with a four-spot. Gauthier and Erato drew walks to start the inning. After a Demetral sacrifice bunt moved the runners into scoring position, Colin Summerhill (Chicago, Ill./Troy) cleared the bases with a two-run single through the right side to tie the game at 8-8. Cepicky beat out a fielder’s choice to keep the inning alive, getting to second on a Parcell base hit. Nelson put NIU back in front with a double down the left field line, scoring both runners to give the Huskies a 10-8 lead.
The NIU bullpen trio of Reagan Klawiter (Verona, Wis./Madison College), Dominic Hann (Washington, Mich./Michigan State) and Ryan Linkletter (McHenry, Ill./Iowa Central CC) held the Eagles scoreless over the last four innings. Klawiter retired all four batters he faced in the eighth and ninth innings. Hann got a strikeout and groundout to end the ninth. Linkletter retired the side with two strikeouts in the top of the 10th, but made the game interesting in the top of the 11th. After getting the first two outs of the inning, Linkletter walked the next three EMU batters to load the bases. He got out of the jam by getting Logan Hugo to fly out to Cepicky in left field.
“We want our best guys out there late in games, guys we can trust with the baseball who will compete and not be afraid of the moment,” Copeland said. “We found a way to get it done today. Linkletter made the big pitch in the 11th and gave us a chance to win it by putting the zero on the board.”
Linkletter earned the win for his first of the season and first as a Huskie. Demetral, Nelson and Gauthier each had three hits for NIU on the day. Gauthier was 3-for-4 with three RBI and three runs scored, reaching base five times. Harper’s game-winning hit was his third walk-off hit in his career. He has had one in each of the last three seasons.
NIU and Eastern Michigan wrap up the series, and the 2024 season, on Saturday, May 18 at 1 p.m. Prior to first pitch, NIU Athletics will honor the 2024 baseball senior class with a Senior Day ceremony at 12:15.
