Sunday’s Baseball Results
Kent State 9, Tennessee 5
Ball State 11, Merrimack 6
Miami 5, Illinois 3
Northern Illinois 9, Wofford 6
Western Michigan 5, UC San Diego 2
Western Illinois 10, Akron 6
Jacksonville State 12, Toledo
Austin Peay 6, Eastern Michigan 1
Tennessee Tech 6, Ohio 3
Stories Courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications Departments
Kent State 9, Tennessee 5
Box Score
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Kent State baseball team captured a 9-5 victory over #13 Tennessee on Sunday afternoon at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, clinching their first series win over a ranked opponent in the Jeff Duncan Era and their first since 2012.
The Flashes (5-2) wasted no time getting on the board in the first inning. Grady Mee walked, stole second, and advanced to third on a passed ball. After Sawyer Solitaria struck out, Luke Matthews reached on a fielding error by Tennessee shortstop Manny Marin, allowing Mee to score the game's first run.
Tennessee (5-2) responded in the second inning when a pitch hit Levi Clark and eventually came around to score on a groundout by Stone Lawless that resulted in a double play, tying the game at 1-1. The Volunteers took the lead in the third when Jay Abernathy singled, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on a Henry Ford single.
Kent State broke the game open with two runs in the fourth inning. Hunter Klotz doubled to left field, and Brody Williams walked. After a sacrifice bunt by Brady Marshall moved both runners into scoring position, Max Humphrey delivered a two-run double to right-center, giving the Flashes a 3-2 lead.
The Flashes extended their advantage to 6-2 in the fifth inning with three runs. Solitaria walked, and Matthews was hit by a pitch. Ripken Reese also walked to load the bases. Micah Rienstra-Kiracofe was then hit by a pitch, forcing in a run. Williams reached on a fielder's choice that scored Matthews, and Reese later scored on a throwing error by Tennessee catcher Stone Lawless.
Tennessee mounted a comeback in the bottom of the fifth, scoring three runs to cut the deficit to 6-5. Finley Bates singled, and Abernathy followed with another single. Ford singled to load the bases, and Blaine Brown hit a sacrifice fly to score Bates. After an error by Luke Matthews allowed Ford to score, making it 6-3, Jay Abernathy and Ford both scored on the throwing miscue.
Evan Holewin entered in relief of Ben Rabatin in the fifth inning and was stellar, allowing just two unearned runs over 4.2 innings while striking out three batters to earn the win.
Kent State added crucial insurance runs in the eighth inning. Mee singled, and a pitch hit Solitaria. Matthews was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. After Mee scored on a wild pitch, Reese walked to reload the bases. Rienstra-Kiracofe delivered a clutch two-run single to right field, extending the lead to 9-5.
Mee led the Flashes offense, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two stolen bases. Solitaria added a double and two runs, while Rienstra-Kiracofe finished with three RBIs. Humphrey contributed a key two-run double and went 1-for-4.
Ford paced Tennessee with a 3-for-4 performance, including a double and an RBI, while Abernathy went 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
The series victory marks Kent State's first over a ranked opponent in the Jeff Duncan Era and its first since 2012. The Flashes outscored the Volunteers 14-10 over the three-game series, taking two of three games in Knoxville.
Kent State will travel to play Wright State on Wednesday before returning home for its next series versus Rhode Island.
Ball State 11, Merrimack 6
Box Score
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Big games at the plate for Jacob Gillis and Charlie Keller powered the Ball State baseball team to a 14-6 win over Merrimack on Sunday morning in the final game at the Swig & Swine College Classic at Shipyard Park.
Keller hit an RBI triple that scored Max Kalk in the second inning, but Merrimack (1-3) scored two runs each in the first and second frames for a 4-1 lead. Ball State (4-3) plated another run in the fourth when Gavin Balius drove in Kalk on a sacrifice fly. Kenskey Thomas followed with an RBI single that scored Keller, and Gillis blasted a 3-run home run to left field to give the Cardinals a 6-4 edge.
Ball State built on the five-run fourth inning with a four-spot in the sixth, as Brett Griffiths scored on a wild pitch before Keller blasted a three-run homer to right field to extend the advantage to 10-4. Gillis hit a solo shot in the seventh for his second home run of the day, and Keller matched him with a two-run blast in the eighth to put the Cardinals ahead 13-6. Ryan Muizelaar brought home Balius on a double later that inning for the day's final scoring.
Gillis went 4-for-6 on the day with the two home runs and four RBI, while Keller went 3-for-4 with two homers and six RBI. Griffiths and Kalk had three hits each, as Kalk crossed home plate four times. Thomas also notched a pair of hits on a day Ball State collected 19 hits as a team.
In three games at the Swig & Swine Classic, Gillis went 7-for-14 with three home runs and eight RBI. Balius rapped out five hits and stole eight bases in eight attempts.
Jeremy Jones (1-0) struck out six in 4.1 innings of two-run ball as the first man out of the bullpen for the Cardinals to earn the win, while Zander Bretza, Joe Lafkas and Luke Reed followed that up with one shutout frame each to slow down a Merrimack offense that scored twice in both of the first two innings on the day.
Zach Broderick (0-1) got only two outs and gave up five runs to suffer the loss for the Warriors, who had starter James Borsari get through 3.0 innings allowing one run.
Miami 5, Illinois 3
Box Score
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – Miami emerged from the Snowbird Baseball Classic with a 3-1 record after beating Illinois State 5-3 on Sunday. Ryan Novak hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning that helped propel the RedHawks to victory. Miami improves to 6-1 with the win, while ISU falls to 5-2.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The RedHawks scored first, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. Tommy Harrison singled and Marcus Dierks took an HBP. Matthew Buffington walked and Diego Cruz delivered a sac fly to score the run.
- Illinois State responded with two runs of their own in the second on a two-run blast.
- After four scoreless innings, Novak broke the silence with a three-run homer in the top of the seventh. The home run scored Dominic Krupinski, who had singled, and Evan Appelwick, who had walked, to make it 4-2.
- The Redbirds pulled within one in the bottom of the seventh on a sac fly after a walk and a double.
- The RedHawks scored one more run in the top of the ninth to cap off a 5-3 victory. Appelwick walked and Harrison singled, allowing the run to score on a fielder's choice by Dierks.
Northern Illinois 9, Wofford 6
Box Score
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Northern Illinois University baseball team trailed the Wofford Terriers 5-0 and was hitless through five innings Sunday at Russell C. King Field, then rallied for a 9-6 victory in the final game of the One Spartanburg Inc. Baseball Classic.
"Good programs find a way to navigate the game in front of them and not get so caught up in any kind of identity," said head coach Ryan Copeland. "We've got to be able to win close games, low scoring games as well as slugfests. A lot of guys have gotten opportunities to be in big moments and we're learning a lot about our roster. We did a really good job today just sticking with it and continuing to have good at-bats. We found a way to chip away and eventually landed that knockout punch."
NIU (4-3) had drawn three walks in the first five innings but did not have a hit until Cooper Cohn's (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) leadoff single in the top of the sixth. Cohn advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on a Cole Smith (Dubuque, Iowa/Bradley) base hit. After a flyout, Marcus Romero (Brighton, Colo./South Mountain College) and Will Couchman (Edina, Minn./NIACC) hit back-to-back RBI singles to make the score 5-2. Caden Robertson (Magnolia, Texas/Central Oklahoma) drove in those two runners with a single to left to get the Huskies within a run, 5-4.
The Huskies put four more runs on the board in the top of the seventh to take the lead. Smith led off with a double to left, scoring on a Romero single that made the score 5-5. With two outs and the go-ahead run at second, Gavin Baldwin (Nashville, Ill./SEMO) launched his first home run of the year over the left field fence to give NIU a 7-5 lead.
"Gavin did a really good job staying closed and hitting the ball to the pull side," Copeland said. "He got a really good pitch to hit and he's been close a few times and finally got it. You could feel the momentum of the game take a turn there with that home run."
NIU tacked on one more run in the seventh. Robertson singled followed by a walk to Nolan Sandee (Glendale, Wis./Nicolet). Wyatt Wawro (Darien, Ill./Downers Grove South) laced a single to centerfield to bring home Robertson and extend the lead to 8-5.
Wofford (5-2) got a run back in the bottom of the eighth. Harrison Campi led off with a single to right field. After a one-out walk to Logan Tribble, Andrew Mannelly hit a single to right that scored Campi and made the score 8-6. Nick Bassi (Zionsville, Ind./St. Charles CC) entered the game from the NIU bullpen and struck out Hunter Herndon and Lucas Manning to quell the Terriers' threat.
The Huskies put another insurance run on the board with two outs in the top of the ninth. It started with a Robertson double, his third hit of the game. Sandee walked to bring Wawro to the plate. The freshman delivered another base hit to centerfield, scoring pinch runner Austin Wiegand (Eureka, Ill./John A. Logan College) to put NIU up 9-6.
Wofford got its first two hitters on base in the ninth on a walk and a hit by pitch. John Lyman (Minneapolis, Minn./NIACC) got Niko Brini to ground out back to the mound for the first out, moving the two runners into scoring position. The NIU lefty struck out Campi swinging and Ben Timblin looking to lock up the save and a 9-6 NIU victory.
Sunday's game was the first time since March 28, 2025 at Butler that NIU came back from a deficit of five runs or more to win. Robertson and Wawro both had three hits and two RBI in the game. Romero was 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI and Smith had two hits as well.
"We just needed somebody to be a spark once we got to Wofford's bullpen," said Copeland. "The bottom of the order did that and once we got on the board there in the fifth it led to a really good offensive day. That's the benefit of having a dangerous offense. It just takes one guy to get it going and everyone follows and that's what happened today."
For the second straight game NIU pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts. Max Vaisvila (Villa Park, Ill./Wabash Valley College) had nine in 4.1 innings, allowing five runs on four hits with four walks. Gavin Micklinghoff (McHenry, Ill./McHenry County College) earned the win in relief, throwing 2.1 innings of scoreless relief. Lyman got his first save of the season.
Western Michigan 5, UC San Diego 2
Box Score
LA JOLLA, Calif. – The Western Michigan baseball team got a strong start from Ricky Kidd and four scoreless innings from its bullpen in a 5-2 victory at UC San Diego on Sunday.
After a pair of scoreless frames to start the contest, the Broncos broke the ice in the third. Mason Pilarski bunted his way aboard, and then advanced into scoring position on an error. After moving to third on a Drew Howard single, a second UCSD error allowed Pilarski to score the contest's first run.
UC San Diego hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning to grab a 2-1 edge.
Connor Ostrander responded for the Brown and Gold in the next half inning, launching a solo shot to even the contest at 2-2.
The Broncos then tallied three in the fifth to go back in front. With one out, Western Michigan notched four consecutive singles, with Michael Maloney bringing the go-ahead run around in the form of Tanner Mally. Jacob Rowold followed with an RBI base hit the other way, and Josh Polubinski capped the three-run outburst with a sacrifice fly.
The third-inning home run was all of the offense UC San Diego was able to muster on Sunday. Exactly a week after the Tritons upset #1 UCLA in Los Angeles, the Western Michigan pitching staff limited the home team to two runs on four hits.
Ricky Kidd got the staff started, giving up two runs on two hits over 5.0 innings to pick up his first victory for the Brown and Gold. Following the UCSD home run, Kidd retired the final seven batters he faced.
A quartet of relievers got the Broncos over the finish line, blanking the Tritons over the final four innings. With the bases loaded and one out in the sixth, DJ Thompson buckled down and got the next two hitters to quash the threat.
Matt Hoover was then able to get Western Michigan out of another bases loaded jam unscathed in the seventh. With two on and one out in the eighth, the Broncos turned to Turner Doran, who struck out back to back hitters to end the threat. Adam Lehmann then closed it out with a scoreless ninth to collect his first save of the year.
