Mrakitsch Magnificent, Chippewa Bats Hot in Series-Opening Win Over Ball State

Friday, April 14

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

3 p.m.

Central Michigan University

19-13, 8-5

Ball State

23-10, 10-3

Ball State

Central Michigan

CMU's Garrett Navarra (left) and Danny Wuestenfeld (25) greet Christian Mitchelle as Mitchelle crosses the plate after his second-inning two-run homer on Friday at Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.

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

Mrakitsch Magnificent, Chippewa Bats Hot in Series-Opening Win Over Ball State

4/14/2023 6:54:00 PM | Baseball

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Three-game series concludes with Saturday (noon) doubleheader at Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium

By: Andy Sneddon

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Adam Mrakitsch was absolutely dynamite on the mound and he got plenty of early run support on Friday as the Central Michigan baseball team downed Ball State, 9-1, in the opener of a three-game Mid-American Conference series at Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.

It was the sixth win in the last seven games for CMU, which improved to 19-13, 8-5 MAC. The MAC-leading Cardinals are 23-10, 10-3. The teams are set to play the final two games of the series on Saturday with a noon doubleheader.

Mrakitsch (5-2), a sophomore left-hander, surrendered just two hits, struck out a career-high 10, and walked none.

It was the Chippewas' first complete game since Garrett Navarra went the distance in a seven-inning 8-2 victory over Toledo on May 20, 2022, and their first nine-inning complete game since Jordan Patty accomplished the feat in a 1-0 win over Bowling Green on April 10, 2021.

"We came in preparing pretty much the same no matter who we play, but we know (Ball State is) always going to put up a good fight against us so we just make sure we bring our A game every time we play them and execute what we want to do," said Mrakitsch, who threw 102 pitches. "Each inning I just kept going out there trying to execute pitches and let my defense work behind me and that's what it took today."

Mrakitsch surrendered a leadoff double in the third inning and a leadoff homer in the fourth. After that, he retired 15 consecutive Cardinals before the leadoff man reached on an error leading off the ninth.

Mrakitsch then induced a tailor-made 6-4-3 double play and then got the final out on a grounder.

"Sometimes when pitchers only give up a run, people say they made one mistake and it's not always true," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "There's other mistakes, but I don't know that he made more than one or two today. He was sharp and the biggest thing was no free passes and the defense behind him.

"We finally made one defensive mistake in the ninth and we back it right up with a really nice double play. The defense we played behind him makes it easy to pound the strike zone."

Christian Mitchelle hit a two-run homer in the second inning and the Chippewas added two more runs in the third on a Marquis Jackson homer and a Navarra two-out RBI single.

Danny Wuestenfeld hit a two-run blast in the sixth to extend the lead to 6-0 in his first game since March 15, when he was injured.

It was the fifth homer of the year for Jackson, who shares the team lead with Robby Morgan IV. It was the third each for Mitchelle and Wuestenfeld.

The Chippewas tacked on insurance runs in the seventh on a Morgan RBI single and in the eighth on a Nick Dardas RBI double and a run-scoring single by Jake Brill.

The Chippewas collected 10 hits, six of them for six runs off Ball State starter Trennor O'Donnell (2-2).

It marked the fourth time in five games that the Chippewas have posted a double-digit hit total after accomplishing the feat only seven times in their first 27 games. Their three homers matched their season high (Feb. 18 at Baylor).

"The last six ball games before this I thought we were rounding into form a little bit," said Bischel, whose team fell, 6-5, last Sunday at Northern Illinois when the Huskies scored twice in the bottom of the ninth. "We lost a close game at Northern Illinois where they had a couple of big hits late, but I thought we were starting to play really good baseball and that showed up today.

"Baseball's a funny game. Sometimes there's no reason your confidence goes; you just don't get any hits for a couple of games. We've got some young guys in there and it just takes a little bit of time to build that consistent confidence. Everybody goes through lulls in a season. You hit a few balls hard, score a few runs, and you start to feel some of that. And then you get some experience … and then obviously you throw one bat back in there with (Wuestenfeld) today and that makes a difference too."

Bischel, as is his custom, was reluctant to put too much importance on one game. After all, the Chippewas aren't quite to the halfway point of the conference slate and there is, obviously, plenty of baseball to play.

But Ball State came into the series in first place, finished first in the preseason coaches poll, and is the defending regular season league champion. The Chippewas, facing elimination, defeated the Cardinals in back-to-back games to win the conference tournament a year ago in Ball State's home park.

"I don't know that's it's a bigger win than any other except you have to play well to beat good teams and they're obviously a good team and the score shows we played really good baseball," Bischel said. "That's what I'm excited about; no matter who we're playing, if we play really good baseball, that's what I feel good about and that's what we did today."