Thursday, March 9
Sacramento, Calif.
1 p.m. (ET)
Central Michigan University
7-6
8
at
4
Sacramento State
8-5
1
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3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
R
H
E
Central Michigan
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
0
0
4
8
11
0
Sacramento State
0
0
0
2
0
1
1
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0
4
11
1
Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw
Timely Big Hits Lift Baseball to 8-4 Win at Sacramento State
3/9/2023 5:49:00 PM | Baseball
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Robby Morgan IV and Danny Wuestenfeld delivered timely hits on Thursday as the Central Michigan baseball team topped Sacramento State, 8-4, in 10 innings in a nonconference game at John Smith Field.
The Chippewa win evened the series at a game apiece. CMU (7-6) and Hornets (8-5) are scheduled to play on Friday and then close the series on Saturday. The start time for both games is to be announced.
Down 3-0, the Chippewas came to life in the seventh inning when Ely Stuart singled with one out and then pinch hitter Kade Preston doubled. Justin Simpson drew a two-out walk to set the table for Wuestenfeld, who drilled the first pitch over the left field wall to put CMU in front, 4-3.
"The box score will tell you that Danny's hit was the big one, but I think Kade Preston's double was really the biggest key to the game," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "We were doing virtually nothing offensively and he's a guy who hasn't played a whole lot and he comes off the bench and hits a double off the wall.
"Sometimes that's all it takes is one hard-hit ball. That's what sparked the whole thing, and then obviously Danny did a great job cleaning it up and hitting the ball out of the park."
The Hornets tied it, 4-4, with a run in the bottom of the seventh off Ryan Insco. The Hornets used a double, a single, and an RBI groundout to score the run. Insco got the final two outs on fly balls, stranding the potential go-ahead run at second base.
Wuestenfeld and Marquis Jackson hit back-to-back singles to start the 10th. Morgan doubled to left center to put CMU in front, 5-4.
The Chippewas batted around in the inning, adding three more runs in on a Hornet error, a Jake Brill sacrifice fly, and a Stuart RBI single.
"What I thought was nice is that (Jackson's) hit was with two strikes," Bischel said, "(Morgan's) hit was with two strikes, Jake Brill had a sac fly with two strikes. That's something we harp on.
"That's something we're learning, at times, the hard way as a team with a lot of new faces. Early in the season we've not been as consistent as we would like, but today was a nice step in the right direction."
Ben Vitas started for the Chippewas and allowed two runs on three hits over 3 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out two. Evan Waters and Insco pitched in relief before Nate Ross came on to start the eighth.
Ross (1-1) went the final three innings for his first win. He allowed three hits and induced a game-ending 4-6-3 double play with the bases loaded.
In six appearances this season, Ross has three saves and a 2.00 earned run average.
"He wants to be out there in those spots," Bischel said. "Sacramento State's a really good program and obviously they weren't going to go quietly, and they did a good job fighting back. He got the groundball, and our middle infield did a great job turning it."
Stuart, a junior transfer from UC Riverside, finished with a career-high four hits to lead CMU's 11-hit attack. Jacob Donahue, batting leadoff, also had two hits, walked twice and stole a base.
"Jake Donahue hadn't started in a few games and had a great game in the leadoff spot; Ely Stuart's been struggling a little bit and comes through with four base hits," Bischel said. "Really good team win. Same with the pitching. Saw several guys come in there and help us out."
The Chippewa win evened the series at a game apiece. CMU (7-6) and Hornets (8-5) are scheduled to play on Friday and then close the series on Saturday. The start time for both games is to be announced.
Down 3-0, the Chippewas came to life in the seventh inning when Ely Stuart singled with one out and then pinch hitter Kade Preston doubled. Justin Simpson drew a two-out walk to set the table for Wuestenfeld, who drilled the first pitch over the left field wall to put CMU in front, 4-3.
"The box score will tell you that Danny's hit was the big one, but I think Kade Preston's double was really the biggest key to the game," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "We were doing virtually nothing offensively and he's a guy who hasn't played a whole lot and he comes off the bench and hits a double off the wall.
"Sometimes that's all it takes is one hard-hit ball. That's what sparked the whole thing, and then obviously Danny did a great job cleaning it up and hitting the ball out of the park."
The Hornets tied it, 4-4, with a run in the bottom of the seventh off Ryan Insco. The Hornets used a double, a single, and an RBI groundout to score the run. Insco got the final two outs on fly balls, stranding the potential go-ahead run at second base.
Wuestenfeld and Marquis Jackson hit back-to-back singles to start the 10th. Morgan doubled to left center to put CMU in front, 5-4.
The Chippewas batted around in the inning, adding three more runs in on a Hornet error, a Jake Brill sacrifice fly, and a Stuart RBI single.
"What I thought was nice is that (Jackson's) hit was with two strikes," Bischel said, "(Morgan's) hit was with two strikes, Jake Brill had a sac fly with two strikes. That's something we harp on.
"That's something we're learning, at times, the hard way as a team with a lot of new faces. Early in the season we've not been as consistent as we would like, but today was a nice step in the right direction."
Ben Vitas started for the Chippewas and allowed two runs on three hits over 3 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out two. Evan Waters and Insco pitched in relief before Nate Ross came on to start the eighth.
Ross (1-1) went the final three innings for his first win. He allowed three hits and induced a game-ending 4-6-3 double play with the bases loaded.
In six appearances this season, Ross has three saves and a 2.00 earned run average.
"He wants to be out there in those spots," Bischel said. "Sacramento State's a really good program and obviously they weren't going to go quietly, and they did a good job fighting back. He got the groundball, and our middle infield did a great job turning it."
Stuart, a junior transfer from UC Riverside, finished with a career-high four hits to lead CMU's 11-hit attack. Jacob Donahue, batting leadoff, also had two hits, walked twice and stole a base.
"Jake Donahue hadn't started in a few games and had a great game in the leadoff spot; Ely Stuart's been struggling a little bit and comes through with four base hits," Bischel said. "Really good team win. Same with the pitching. Saw several guys come in there and help us out."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ross, Nate (1-1)
L: Lucchesi, Noah (2-2)
Batting:
2B: Morgan IV, Robby 1 ; Preston, Kade 1
HR: Wuestenfeld, Danny 1
RBI: Wuestenfeld, Danny 4 ; Morgan IV, Robby 1 ; Brill, Jake 1 ; Stuart, Ely 1
SF: Brill, Jake 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Simpson, Justin 1 ; Wuestenfeld, Danny 2 ; Jackson, Marquis 1 ; Morgan IV, Robby 1 ; Mitchelle, Christian 1 ; Stuart, Ely 1 ; Sefcik, Luke 1
SB: Donahue, Jacob 1
Batting:
2B: Bojorquez, Jorge 1 ; Vincelli-Simard, M 1 ; Heard, Jeffery 1 ; Blatnick, Carson 1
3B: Gouldsmith, Gunner 1
HR: Aloy, Wehiwa 1
RBI: Aloy, Wehiwa 3 ; Blatnick, Carson 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bojorquez, Jorge 1 ; Gouldsmith, Gunner 1 ; Aloy, Wehiwa 1 ; Heard, Jeffery 1
SB: Rolling, Josh 1
HBP: Heard, Jeffery 1 ; Blatnick, Carson 1
PO: Gouldsmith, Gunner 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
1
H
4
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
4
AB
1
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF
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RHP
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OF
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RHP/1B
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INF
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LHP
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