Baseball Completes Sweep Of NIU To Remain Atop MAC

Sunday, April 10

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

Noon

Central Michigan University

Northern Illinois

Photo by: Keara Chaperon '22

4/10/2022 8:35:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

By: Katherine Schultz, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The win streak continues.

The Central Michigan baseball team extended its Mid-American Conference unbeaten streak to 13 on Sunday, completing a four-game sweep of Northern Illinois with a series-ending doubleheader sweep, 12-0 and 8-5, on Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.

The Chippewas, 18-10, 13-1 MAC, will play a nonconference game at Oakland on Tuesday, April 12 (3 p.m.). They resume conference play on Friday, April 15 (3 p.m.) with the opener of a four-game series at Bowling Green.

"I think what you're starting to see is the depth showing up and coming through," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "I think because we're pretty well rounded and pretty deep, you can be pretty consistent and string things together; that's neat to see."

Game 1
CMU starter Garrett Navarra, a junior left-hander who also doubles as the Chippewas' designated hitter, threw a complete-game, seven-inning, two-hitter, striking out eight and walking one in improving to 4-2. Navarra's last five decisions have been wins after an 0-2 start.

His eight strikeouts were a season high and after surrendering a one-out single in the second inning, he set down 12 of the next 13 batters he faced. The lone blemish was a one-out walk in the fifth.

"After a little bit of a rough start, (Navarra's) had a lot of really good outings for us," Bischel said. "That was great to see; he's a very versatile player and he's really worked hard. It's not easy being a two-way guy, and he really works at it which is great."

The Chippewas wasted no time in providing Navarra ample support as Danny Wuestenfeld smacked two-run double and Drew Lechnir delivered a three-run triple to highlight a seven-run first inning.

Lechnir finished with four RBI as he and Justin Simpson led the Chippewas' 11-hit attack with two each. Wuestenfeld totaled three RBI.

Game 2
Logan Buczkowski (1-1) got the start in the nightcap and allowed one run on three hits over four innings. He struck out four and walked two.

As was the case in the opener, the Chippewas scored early and often, staking Buczkowski to a 5-1 lead after two innings. Mario Camilletti's two-run single in the second highlighted CMU's early output, and Lechnir added a two-run single in the fifth as CMU went up, 8-2.

Ryan Insco, Jake Jones and Ryan Palmblad all spent at least an inning at the mound in relief of Buczkowski. The Chippewas committed four errors. Two of NIU's final three runs unearned.

Wuestenfeld finished with three of CMU's seven hits and drove in two runs.

The Chippewas swept their third consecutive MAC series and remain in first place in the league. They posted shutouts in the second and third games of the series, marking the first time this season they have won back-to-back MAC games by shutout. They accomplished the feat twice last season en route to their second straight league title.

CMU outscored the Huskies by a combined 39-7 in the four games.

"It wasn't the prettiest game, but beating a team four times is not easy," Bischel said. "It's really difficult to do, and what I thought was really good was that (NIU) scored a run early and we bounced right back and got the lead back.

"I thought that showed a lot. We were a little bit sloppy defensively, but it's hard to play four great games in a weekend. At the end of the day, we got four wins and we're going to be happy about that."