Sunday, March 28
Athens, OH
1 P.M.
Central Michigan University
10-8, 2-2
14
at
3
Ohio
9-9, 3-5
1
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5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Central Michigan
2
0
3
0
1
4
0
2
2
14
18
0
Ohio
0
2
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
3
4
2
Chase Rollin hit his first career home run and drove in a career-high six runs on Sunday in CMU's win at Ohio.
Baseball Storms By Ohio, Earns Series Split
3/28/2021 4:59:00 PM | Baseball
ATHENS, Ohio – It's not how you start, but how you finish.
The Central Michigan baseball team tied its season high with 18 hits – the biggest blow a three-run home run by Chase Rollin – on Sunday in topping Ohio, 14-3, in the finale of a four-game Mid-American Conference series at the Bobcats' Bob Wren Stadium.
The Chippewas won the final two games of the series to earn a split, improving to 10-8, 2-2 MAC. They collected 27 hits in outscoring the Bobcats, 26-5, in the final two games of the series.
"I really challenge the team to go into these weekends not with a goal or an expectation of how many you want to win," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "The goal is to win the next one no matter who you're playing or how many you're playing or whatever.
"I've got to challenge myself to do the same thing and really just look at how we played and what was good to see was that we played our style of baseball in games 3 and 4 and when we do that, we're usually pretty tough."
They're pretty tough too when they get the kind of pitching they got from J.T. Rogoszewski (1-1) on Sunday. The senior right-hander, a transfer from North Carolina, turned in his best performance of the season, allowing three runs on four hits, walking two, and striking out five over six innings.
"The box score may not show it, but that game was won with pitching and defense," Bischel said. "It was a really, really hard day to pitch and defend and we did those two things extremely well.
"(Rogoszewski) was outstanding. Three runs on a day like today is like throwing a shutout on a normal day. The wind was impacting the movement on the ball and the ball was carrying. He really, really pitched a nice ballgame for us."
Grant Frazer and Ian Leatherman finished up. The lone blemish in their combined three innings was one walk.
Rollin, a junior, hit a three-run homer in the third inning to break a 2-2 tie and put the Chippewas ahead for good. He also doubled twice and finished with a career-high six RBI. The homer was the first of his career.
"Chase gave us a really big lift," Bischel said. "He's a guy who does everything right for our program and he's played a somewhat limited role this year. He's been an awfully good player for us and I probably should have him in the lineup more. He took advantage when he had the opportunity."
Zach Gilles led the Chippewas with four hits, while Justin Simpson had three. Zach Heeke, Colton Cocoa and Jakob Marsee added two apiece.
A season-high seven of the Chippewas' hits went for extra bases and they had a combined 10 in the final two games of the series. The Chippewas entered the series as the MAC's scoring leader.
"We were scoring some runs without (extra-base hits), but that's tough to sustain," Bischel said. "Eventually you've got to drive the ball a little bit. We know we don't have the personnel to just sit back and wait for the three-run homer, but at the same time we've got guys who are capable of hitting it in the gaps a little bit and it's good to see some guys step up and do that."
The Central Michigan baseball team tied its season high with 18 hits – the biggest blow a three-run home run by Chase Rollin – on Sunday in topping Ohio, 14-3, in the finale of a four-game Mid-American Conference series at the Bobcats' Bob Wren Stadium.
The Chippewas won the final two games of the series to earn a split, improving to 10-8, 2-2 MAC. They collected 27 hits in outscoring the Bobcats, 26-5, in the final two games of the series.
"I really challenge the team to go into these weekends not with a goal or an expectation of how many you want to win," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "The goal is to win the next one no matter who you're playing or how many you're playing or whatever.
"I've got to challenge myself to do the same thing and really just look at how we played and what was good to see was that we played our style of baseball in games 3 and 4 and when we do that, we're usually pretty tough."
They're pretty tough too when they get the kind of pitching they got from J.T. Rogoszewski (1-1) on Sunday. The senior right-hander, a transfer from North Carolina, turned in his best performance of the season, allowing three runs on four hits, walking two, and striking out five over six innings.
"The box score may not show it, but that game was won with pitching and defense," Bischel said. "It was a really, really hard day to pitch and defend and we did those two things extremely well.
"(Rogoszewski) was outstanding. Three runs on a day like today is like throwing a shutout on a normal day. The wind was impacting the movement on the ball and the ball was carrying. He really, really pitched a nice ballgame for us."
Grant Frazer and Ian Leatherman finished up. The lone blemish in their combined three innings was one walk.
Rollin, a junior, hit a three-run homer in the third inning to break a 2-2 tie and put the Chippewas ahead for good. He also doubled twice and finished with a career-high six RBI. The homer was the first of his career.
"Chase gave us a really big lift," Bischel said. "He's a guy who does everything right for our program and he's played a somewhat limited role this year. He's been an awfully good player for us and I probably should have him in the lineup more. He took advantage when he had the opportunity."
Zach Gilles led the Chippewas with four hits, while Justin Simpson had three. Zach Heeke, Colton Cocoa and Jakob Marsee added two apiece.
A season-high seven of the Chippewas' hits went for extra bases and they had a combined 10 in the final two games of the series. The Chippewas entered the series as the MAC's scoring leader.
"We were scoring some runs without (extra-base hits), but that's tough to sustain," Bischel said. "Eventually you've got to drive the ball a little bit. We know we don't have the personnel to just sit back and wait for the three-run homer, but at the same time we've got guys who are capable of hitting it in the gaps a little bit and it's good to see some guys step up and do that."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Rogoszewski, J.T. (1-1)
L: J. Tate (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Gilles, Zach 1 ; Rollin, Chase 2 ; Coca, Colton 2 ; Preston, Kade 1
HR: Rollin, Chase 1
RBI: Gilles, Zach 1 ; Rollin, Chase 6 ; Coca, Colton 3 ; Heeke, Zach 1 ; Simpson, Justin 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Camilletti, Mario 1 ; Marsee, Jakob 3 ; Gilles, Zach 4 ; Lechnir, Zach 1 ; Rollin, Chase 3 ; Heeke, Zach 1 ; Preston, Kade 1
SB: Simpson, Justin 1
HBP: Camilletti, Mario 1 ; Heeke, Zach 1 ; Dardas, Nick 1
Batting:
2B: I. Peterson 1 ; H. Witwer-Du 1 ; S. Fabik 1
RBI: S. Fabik 2 ; T. Hafner 1
SF: S. Fabik 1
Base Running:
RUNS: H. Witwer-Du 1 ; S. Harbert 1 ; S. Fabik 1
HBP: A. Levy 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
6
R
4
H
4
RBI
1
AB
6
R
3
H
3
RBI
6
AB
5
R
0
H
3
RBI
2
AB
4
R
3
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
/ BaseballOF
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INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballOF/INF
/ BaseballINF
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