Baseball Strikes Early in 8-4 Win Over San Jose State

Monday, March 6

San Jose, Calif.

4:05 p.m.

Central Michigan University

6-5

San Jose State

4-5

Central Michigan

San Jose State

Nick Dardas had a hit, drew three walks, and drove in two runs on Monday in CMU's 8-4 win at San Jose State.

Photo by: Keara Chaperon '22

3/6/2023 9:34:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score

Chippewas break over .500 mark; California trip continues on Wednesday at Saint Mary's

By: Andy Sneddon

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Keegan Batka delivered six solid innings on the mound and Marquis Jackson hit a two-run homer on Monday as the Central Michigan baseball team topped San Jose State, 8-4, in a nonconference game at Excite Ballpark.

It was the second straight win for CMU (6-5), which broke through with five runs in the fourth inning and never trailed.

Cole Prout brought home CMU's first run with a one-out RBI double and then Ely Stuart bunted in a run to make it 2-0.

Nick Dardas then delivered a run-scoring single and Jackson followed with a two-run homer down the right-field line. It was Jackson's second round-tripper of the season.

It marked the second straight game that CMU erupted for a five-run inning early to establish a lead it never relinquished. The Chippewas had nine hits against San Jose State after collecting 12 in winning the second game of a doubleheader on Sunday at Saint Mary's (California).

"The last couple of games we've definitely swung with more intent and had a little bit more aggressive mentality at the plate," said CMU coach Jordan Bischel, whose team drew nine walks, its second-highest total of the season. "That's led to more hard-hit balls and obviously to more runs. Then you start to see the free passes show up after you've done that a little bit because you've put a little bit of fear into pitchers."

The Chippewas added two runs in the sixth on a Justin Simpson RBI single and a Danny Wuestenfeld RBI groundout. Dardas drew a bases-loaded walk in the ninth to drive in the final run.

Batka (2-1), a junior right-hander in his first year at CMU after transferring from Kellogg CC, allowed three runs on four hits, walked three and struck out three over six innings.

He allowed one single in each of the first two innings and a Spartan reached on an error in the fourth. San Jose State broke through with three runs in the fifth, when the Chippewas committed two errors and Batka threw two wild pitches and walked two batters.

"The first four innings he was really outstanding," Bischel said. "He did a great job of commanding the game until our offense could get going a little bit.

"He had a couple of free passes there in the middle innings and then we did a poor job behind him once we issued those and that let them back in the game. But he did a great job setting the tone the first four innings."

Michael Conte and Nate Ross pitched in relief. Ross retired the final five San Jose batters in order for his third save.

"Nate was really good on the back end," Bischel said. "He came in and was in pretty good command of it. We pitched well today for the most part outside of a few free passes."

The Chippewas are scheduled to play at Saint Mary's (Calif.) on Wednesday (5 p.m.), and then open a four-game series at Sacramento State on Thursday.

"In the big picture, we've played pretty good competition, it's all been on the road, we've had some odd things happen with the schedule, and at the end of the day we have more wins than we have losses with a fairly new team," Bischel said. "Probably more positive than negative. The thing we've got to look to is that there's just a lot of upside to get better.

"I think the big key for this team is they have to decide how much better they want to get as the year goes; how much they want to put into it and if they do that, we should be pretty successful as we go, but we've got some ground to cover yet."