Baseball Drops Series Finale; Remains Tied For First In MAC

Sunday, May 16

Kalamazoo, MI

1 P.M.

Central Michigan University

32-16, 23-9

Western Michigan

20-22, 19-13

Central Michigan

Western Michigan

Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw

5/16/2021 6:15:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Western Michigan did all of its scoring in its final two turns at bat on Sunday as the Broncos handed Central Michigan a 6-1 loss in the finale of a four-game Mid-American Conference baseball series at the Broncos' Robert J. Bobb Stadium.

The Chippewas dropped three games in the series, marking it the first time this season they have lost a MAC series. They are 32-16, 23-9 MAC and share first place with Ball State, which is also 23-9 in league play after splitting a four-game set at Kent State.

The Chippewas play host to Eastern Michigan in a MAC series next weekend at Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium and then are scheduled to go to Toledo the following weekend for their final MAC series.

Ball State goes to Ohio next weekend and then entertains Miami (Ohio) on the final weekend of the regular season.

"I don't really care about the standings," said CMU coach Jordan Bischel, whose team opens the series with Eastern on Friday (3 p.m.). "Obviously we're aware of them, but we've spent three years talking about a process and doing things the right way and preparing to play good, quality Chippewa baseball, and that's all we're going to talk about this week.

"I'm not going to change anything based on standings and things like that. We're looking for a good week of preparation, we're going to play hard on Friday, and see where it leads us."

The Broncos broke a scoreless tie with two runs in the seventh inning off CMU reliever Ian Leatherman (3-2). Western used two singles and a hit batter to load the bases, and then Jimmy Allen delivered a two-run single.

Western added four runs in the eighth, the big blow being a three-run homer by Ethan Hajdukovic. CMU scored its lone run on a Zach Heeke RBI single in the ninth.

Leatherman allowed six runs on eight hits over 2 2/3 innings. Garrett Navarra started for the Chippewas and surrendered three hits over five scoreless innings.

"Garrett pitched well and Ian actually threw the ball pretty well too," Bischel said. "Credit Western Michigan; they did a great job. Really can't fault our guys' effort or focus or energy or anything like that, we just got beat.

"Our guys competed well, we were in the game and we did a lot of things right today. We hit a few balls hard early that were right at people. I thought as the game went on, we just pressed a little bit, tried to do too much. That happens in baseball, you're going to have ebbs and flows."