Baseball Sweeps Its Way Back Into Sole Possession Of First Place

Saturday, May 22

Mount Pleasant, MI

1 P.M.

Central Michigan University

34-16, 25-9

Eastern Michigan

20-25, 14-20

Eastern Michigan

Central Michigan

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

Baseball Sweeps Its Way Back Into Sole Possession Of First Place

5/22/2021 7:46:00 PM | Baseball

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Chippewas ride fantastic pitching in taking two from Eastern Michigan

By: Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – A sweep, and the Chippewas are alone in first place.

The Central Michigan baseball team got a pair of outstanding pitching performances on Saturday and produced enough at the plate in sweeping Eastern Michigan, 1-0 and 4-2, in a Mid-American Conference doubleheader at Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.

The wins lifted CMU to 26-9 in league play. The Chippewas hold a one-game lead over Ball State (25-10), which split a twin bill at Ohio on Saturday.

CMU and Eastern close their four-game series on Sunday (10 a.m.) and the regular season ends next weekend with the Chippewas going to Toledo for a four-game set. With no league tournament in 2021, the regular-season champion receives the MAC's bid to the NCAA Tournament.

"As a team we don't really pay that much attention to it," CMU senior catcher Griffin Lockwood-Powell said of the standings. "We notice it and we know what's happening, but we don't carry that on to the field and bring that with us."

Andrew Taylor (10-3) threw a complete-game three-hitter in Saturday's opener and Garrett Navarra (4-0) went five strong innings in the nightcap. Coupled with a 14-0 win in Friday's series opener, the Chippewas held Eastern Michigan scoreless for 17 consecutive innings until the Eagles scored twice in the fourth inning of game two on Saturday.

"Our pitching's been picking us up the entire year, especially the past couple of weeks," Lockwood-Powell said. "The pitching has done an unreal job."

Game 1
Taylor, a redshirt freshman, pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning and then was dominant the rest of the way, striking out nine and walking three.

The Eagles' only threat after the first inning came in the fifth when they put runners at first and third with one out. CMU third baseman Aidan Shepardson made the play of the day when he snagged a liner and then tagged third base to complete an unassisted double play and end the threat.

Taylor retired the final six Eagles in order and he struck out nine, bringing his season total to 110, the third-highest total for a single season in Chippewa baseball history.

"When (Taylor) struggles, he just finds a way to make a pitch," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "It's pretty incredible for a 19-year-old to compete the way that he does. When he's in a tough spot you just feel like he's the one that needs to have the ball in his hands."

The Chippewas scored the game's only run when Mario Camilletti led off the third inning with a double, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a Navarra grounder to second.

Game 2
Navarra, a junior left-hander, allowed five hits, struck out five, and walked one over five innings. He surrendered two solo homers in the fourth inning, but then set down the Eagles in order in the fifth.

Ian Leatherman allowed just an infield single in two innings of relief for his fifth save.

"Two runs in three games, we'll take it," Bischel said, "and Garrett, two runs in five innings, that's a good outing. Tough act to follow sometimes when you're going after Andrew Taylor, but (Navarra) did a great job competing. He probably could have stayed in there, but we've got a lot of confidence in our bullpen too and (Leatherman) obviously did a tremendous job behind him."

Navarra is normally CMU's Sunday starter and generally pitches three-five innings per start. Bischel elected to start him on Saturday and save Cameron Brown, the usual No. 3 starter, for Sunday's series finale.

"Just kind of a gut feeling, a hunch, whatever you want to call it," he said. "All four (starting pitchers) have been pitching well and we just had a feeling that it was a little better order for us. No real big reason for it."

The Chippewas staked Navarra to a 3-0 lead in the first inning when Zach Heeke was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to drive in the first run, and then Lockwood-Powell chopped a two-out, two-run single through the hole between third and short.

CMU added an insurance run in the fifth on a Justin Simpson RBI single.

Hitting Star
Camilletti, CMU's junior second baseman and leadoff hitter, finished with four hits, including two doubles, on the day. He also drew a walk, bringing his season total to a best-in-the-nation 57 and his on-base percentage to .506, which ranks among the top 25 in the country.

His 57 walks are two shy of Zavier Warren's program record of 59 set in 2019.

Looking Ahead
Bischel, in a familiar refrain, said the Chippewas are not scoreboard watching. That may be the case, but fans are, and with five games remaining and a one-game lead, CMU is in good position to repeat as the MAC champion.

Still, it's a slim lead that leaves little room for error, and the Chippewas are concerning themselves only with what transpires on Sunday at Theunissen Stadium and next weekend at Toledo.

"You've got 11 teams in the league, and 40 league games (each)," he said. "The percentages say the vast majority (of those teams) are playing for something other than first place down the stretch. It's hard to stay in the race for 35 games. I'm proud of the guys. There's ups and downs and you're not going to have a perfect weekend every weekend, but on the whole these guys have really stuck together and I thought we played really good baseball today.

"Tremendous pitching, tremendous defense, and I thought we swung the bats pretty well and we had a lot of guys on base, which usually means you're going to score eventually. I thought we came out ready to go. I'm excited for us to go again tomorrow."