Friday, April 2
DeKalb, IL
3 P.M.
Central Michigan University
11-8, 0
11
at
0
Northern Illinois
5-15, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Central Michigan
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
3
7
11
11
0
Northern Illinois
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
3
Patience, Patty And The ’Pen
4/2/2021 8:12:00 PM | Baseball
Chippewas shut out NIU in series opener
DeKALB, Ill. – They chipped away with vintage Chippewa baseball. And then the floodgates opened.
Garrett Navarra had three hits and drove in three runs and Jordan Patty and the bullpen spun a gem as the Central Michigan baseball team defeated Northern Illinois, 11-0, on Friday in the first of a four-game Mid-American Conference series at NIU's Ralph McKinzie Field.
It was CMU's first shutout since February, 2020 as it improved to 11-8, 3-2 MAC. NIU is 5-15, 4-5. The teams are scheduled to play a doubleheader on Saturday (1 p.m.).
On the Mound
Patty (2-1) allowed five hits, walked one and struck out four over 6 2/3 innings and then Ian Leatherman, Ben Vitas and Grant Frazer set down all seven hitters they faced, combining to strike out four in holding NIU hitless over the final 2 1/3 innings.
Leatherman came on with two out and two on in the seventh and got a strikeout to end the inning and preserve CMU's 1-0 lead.
"It was a day where conditions were pretty tough," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "The wind was blowing in and it was pretty chilly and what you have to do on those days is attack the strike zone and get the ball in play and they did a great job of that.
"We had one hit by pitch and one walk, which over the course of nine innings is really, really good and we've got a nice defensive team this year and we played nice defense again today. You come to expect with Jordan that if he's going to get beat it's because they hit him. He's not going to give you much and he didn't today."
Patty was the starter and winner in both of the Chippewas' last two shutouts, the first on Feb. 15, 2020, at UNLV and the second over Jacksonville State on Feb. 22, 2020.
At the Plate
NIU starter Michael Lasiewicz (1-2) did not surrender a hit until Garrett Navarra singled with two out in the sixth.
The Chippewas finally broke through against Lasiewicz in the seventh and they did it without a ball leaving in the infield. The Chippewas got an infield single, a sacrifice bunt, a bunt single, and a squeeze, by Mario Camilletti, to manufacture a run for a 1-0 lead.
Navarra had an RBI double in the eighth to extend the lead to 2-0, and then the Chippewas picked up two more runs, one on a Zach Heeke groundout and the other on a Nick Dardas squeeze.
CMU broke it open with a seven-run ninth as Dardas had a two-run double, Chase Rollin and Navarra both had two-run singles, and Zach Gilles drew a bases-loaded walk.
Justin Simpson and Rollin had two hits apiece as the Chippewas collected 11 hits, drew six walks, and took advantage of three NIU errors.
"Scoring 11 on a day like that, I don't care what inning you score them in, that's a pretty nice accomplishment offensively," Bischel said. "We didn't swing the bats well early, and they pitched well. There's a reason (Lasiewicz) is pitching the first game of the series. He's been very good for them for a couple of years.
"We just hung in there, didn't panic and then when we got in a spot where we could put pressure on with the short game we did and once we were able to break through, we were able to string together some big hits, which was great to see."
Garrett Navarra had three hits and drove in three runs and Jordan Patty and the bullpen spun a gem as the Central Michigan baseball team defeated Northern Illinois, 11-0, on Friday in the first of a four-game Mid-American Conference series at NIU's Ralph McKinzie Field.
It was CMU's first shutout since February, 2020 as it improved to 11-8, 3-2 MAC. NIU is 5-15, 4-5. The teams are scheduled to play a doubleheader on Saturday (1 p.m.).
On the Mound
Patty (2-1) allowed five hits, walked one and struck out four over 6 2/3 innings and then Ian Leatherman, Ben Vitas and Grant Frazer set down all seven hitters they faced, combining to strike out four in holding NIU hitless over the final 2 1/3 innings.
Leatherman came on with two out and two on in the seventh and got a strikeout to end the inning and preserve CMU's 1-0 lead.
"It was a day where conditions were pretty tough," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "The wind was blowing in and it was pretty chilly and what you have to do on those days is attack the strike zone and get the ball in play and they did a great job of that.
"We had one hit by pitch and one walk, which over the course of nine innings is really, really good and we've got a nice defensive team this year and we played nice defense again today. You come to expect with Jordan that if he's going to get beat it's because they hit him. He's not going to give you much and he didn't today."
Patty was the starter and winner in both of the Chippewas' last two shutouts, the first on Feb. 15, 2020, at UNLV and the second over Jacksonville State on Feb. 22, 2020.
At the Plate
NIU starter Michael Lasiewicz (1-2) did not surrender a hit until Garrett Navarra singled with two out in the sixth.
The Chippewas finally broke through against Lasiewicz in the seventh and they did it without a ball leaving in the infield. The Chippewas got an infield single, a sacrifice bunt, a bunt single, and a squeeze, by Mario Camilletti, to manufacture a run for a 1-0 lead.
Navarra had an RBI double in the eighth to extend the lead to 2-0, and then the Chippewas picked up two more runs, one on a Zach Heeke groundout and the other on a Nick Dardas squeeze.
CMU broke it open with a seven-run ninth as Dardas had a two-run double, Chase Rollin and Navarra both had two-run singles, and Zach Gilles drew a bases-loaded walk.
Justin Simpson and Rollin had two hits apiece as the Chippewas collected 11 hits, drew six walks, and took advantage of three NIU errors.
"Scoring 11 on a day like that, I don't care what inning you score them in, that's a pretty nice accomplishment offensively," Bischel said. "We didn't swing the bats well early, and they pitched well. There's a reason (Lasiewicz) is pitching the first game of the series. He's been very good for them for a couple of years.
"We just hung in there, didn't panic and then when we got in a spot where we could put pressure on with the short game we did and once we were able to break through, we were able to string together some big hits, which was great to see."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Patty, Jordan (2-1)
L: LASIEWICZ (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Navarra, Garrett 1 ; Dardas, Nick 1
RBI: Camilletti, Mario 1 ; Gilles, Zach 1 ; Rollin, Chase 2 ; Navarra, Garrett 3 ; Heeke, Zach 1 ; Dardas, Nick 2
SH: Camilletti, Mario 1 ; Dardas, Nick 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Camilletti, Mario 1 ; Marsee, Jakob 1 ; Gilles, Zach 2 ; Rollin, Chase 2 ; Navarra, Garrett 2 ; Donahue, Jacob 1 ; Lechnir, Drew 1 ; Dardas, Nick 1
SB: Gilles, Zach 1 ; Rollin, Chase 1
HBP: Marsee, Jakob 2 ; Heeke, Zach 1
Base Running:
SB: BARNES 1 ; SMITH 1
CS: BARNES 1
HBP: LARSON 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
2
H
3
RBI
3
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
2
AB
5
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Baseball
C/INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballLHP/OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballOF/INF
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
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