A Sweep and a Sweep

Saturday, April 15

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

Noon

Central Michigan University

20-13, 9-5

Ball State

23-11, 10-4

Ball State

Central Michigan

CMU's Justin Simpson celebrates his three-run homer in the nightcap of Saturday's sweep of Ball State at Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.

Photo by: Sydney Kline '26 - @sydney.kline.photography

4/15/2023 9:22:00 PM | Baseball

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Baseball takes twinbill to sweep big three-game series from Ball State

By: Andy Sneddon

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Early and then late.

Whatever and whenever, it all came together at the right time for the Central Michigan baseball team in its big Mid-American Conference series with Ball State.

The Chippewas got a three-run homer from Marquis Jackson in the opener and a three-run shot from Justin Simpson in the nightcap on Saturday in sweeping the Cardinals, 13-5 and 9-6, in a doubleheader at Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.

The Chippewas won Friday's series opener, 9-1, and swept a series for the first time this season.

The sweep could not have come at a better time as the Chippewas, who have won eight of their last nine games, improved to 21-13, 10-5 MAC. The Cardinals came into the series in first place in the MAC and are now 23-12, 10-5.

"I think a big thing is we just have not played a full weekend all year," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "To me, that's the big thing. We put together three straight really clean, productive all-around baseball games."

The Chippewas built an 8-1 lead through three innings of the opener to give starter Garrett Navarra (3-2) plenty of cushion.

Navarra allowed two runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings. Ryan Palmblad went 2 1/3 innings in relief and Ryan Insco worked a perfect ninth to finish it.

Robby Morgan IV gave the Chippewas a 1-0 lead in the first with a sacrifice fly and then CMU upped its lead to 3-0 with two runs in the second as Drew Stengren had an RBI single and then scored on an error.

The Chippewas broke it open with a five-run third, highlighted by Jackson's towering three-run blast down the right field line. It was Jackson's team-leading sixth homer of the season and his second of the series.

Ball State struck for three runs in the first inning of game two against Chippewa starter Keegan Batka. It marked the first time CMU trailed in the series.

Down 3-1, the Chippewas broke through with a six-run sixth. Walks to Navarra and Luke Sefcik and then a bunt single by Christian Mitchelle loaded the bases for Nick Dardas, who drilled the first pitch through the hole between third and shortstop to score two runs and tie the game 3-3.

Freshman Cole Prout then singled to right on an 0-1 pitch to score Mitchelle with the go-ahead run. Then the switch-hitting Simpson, batting from the left side, delivered a two-strike, two-out, three-run blast to left-center, making it 7-3 and swinging momentum entirely to CMU's side. It was Simpson's first homer of the season.

The Chippewas had just one hit, a Simpson single leading off the fourth, until the sixth.

"You can't walk your way to a bunch of runs," said Bischel, whose team drew 10 walks off four Ball State pitchers in the nightcap. "It just doesn't happen.

"What really helped us is we hit a lot of balls hard the first two games (of the series) which created pitchers that didn't want to give in and pitched around the zone and that led to some free passes. But at some point you've got to get the big hit to break through.

"Two, three weeks ago we weren't getting that hit for whatever reason. We were just trying a little too hard; we had some young guys and were pressing a little bit. It's trusting themselves; you do that, and it doesn't mean you're always going to win the game, but good things are generally going to happen."

Overshadowed by the sixth-inning fireworks was a sensational out-of-the-bullpen performance by freshman left-hander Evan Waters (3-0), who relieved Batka with one out in the third and struck out three over 4 2/3 innings for the victory.

It was Waters' 11^th appearance in a Chippewa uniform as he continues to establish himself as a reliable arm in his longest outing of the season. He went 4 1/3 innings 11 days ago in notching the win at Oakland, proving that he was capable.

"He was ready for the moment," Bischel said. "I really like that though we got down 3-0 and our starting pitcher has been really good for us but didn't have his best stuff today, and we bring a freshman out of the pen and we didn't blink.

"We just kept playing and there's no guarantee you're going to come back and win, but there was no fear, there was no apprehension. Guys just want to be out there and compete and see where it leads us."

The Chippewas used two walks and a hit batter and then Navarra bunted in a run in the seventh to extend the lead to 8-3.

Bischel then turned to Mitchelle, who moved from third base to the mound, to finish the game.

Mitchelle, also a freshman, allowed six hits – but just one run – over the final two frames. The Cardinals got back-to-back singles in the ninth inning bringing the potential tying run to the plate in leadoff man Nick Gregory, who had already had two hits in the game.

Mitchelle got Gregory on a chopper back to the mound to end it.

"Christian did give up a few hits, but there was not a lot of hard contact," Bischel said. "He threw great."