Baseball Hammers NIU For 11th Straight MAC win

Saturday, April 9

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

2 p.m.

Central Michigan University

16-10, 11-1

Northern Illinois

6-23, 6-10

NIU

Central Michigan

CMU's Danny Wuestenfeld rounds third on his home run trot on Saturday.

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

4/9/2022 6:45:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Katherine Schultz, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – In the numbers game, 11 was it for the Central Michigan baseball team on Saturday.

The Chippewas got 11 strikeouts from starter Andrew Taylor and collected 11 hits in posting their 11^th consecutive Mid-American Conference victory as they downed Northern Illinois, 11-0, on Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.

The Chippewas improved to 16-10 overall and lead the MAC at 11-1. They close the four-game series with the Huskies (6-24, 6-11) with a doubleheader on Sunday (12 p.m.).

Eight of the Chippewas' hits went for extra bases and Taylor (4-2) was superb in allowing just two hits and walking two over five innings. His 11 punchouts are a season high.

"That was a really good ball game by our guys," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "(Taylor) threw outstanding and we played good defense behind him. We had good at-bats early, took free passes but then hit some balls hard when the opportunity was there; I thought that was a really complete game.

"(Taylor) struggled a little bit last week (at Ohio) and he settled in the last couple of innings, today he was just really sharp. He had his good stuff working and it was really nice that we were able to get him out with a low pitch count. We had a nice lead to get a couple of other guys in there."

The Chippewas gave Taylor ample support, building a 4-0 lead through two innings and then Danny Wuestenfeld ripped an 0-1 pitch over the left field fence for a three-run homer to make it 7-0 in the fourth. It was Wuestenfeld's third homer of the season and his second in his last three games.

The Chippewas batted around in scoring four runs on five hits in the fifth to make it 11-0. The game was called on the run rule after 6 ½ innings.

Jakob Marsee led CMU's offensive onslaught with four hits including two doubles and a triple, while Wuestenfeld (four RBI) and Zach Lechnir added two hits each.

Marsee, the Chippewas' right fielder and No. 2 hitter, remained red hot in extending his hit streak to five games. He has had four multi-hit games and is 11-for-17 over that span.

The Chippewas will attempt to complete their third consecutive league series sweep on Sunday and remain ahead of second-place Ball State in the conference standings. The Cardinals, who are playing a nonleague series at Oregon this weekend, are 12-2 in MAC play.

"I think the big thing is, you've got to hit that reset button," Bischel said. "Today went our way, but (NIU) is going to come out and play hard (on Sunday) and we're going to have to really reset our minds. It's going to be a tough, hard-fought game and if we can do that, it should be OK. But we've got to come out ready to go."