Central Michigan University Athletics
Friday, April 21
Akron, Ohio
11 a.m.
Central Michigan University
5
at
3
Akron
Danny Wuestenfeld singled, doubled and drove in the tying run in the ninth inning with a sacrifice fly on Friday in the Chippewas' 5-3 victory at Akron.
Photo by: Sydney Kline '26 - @sydney.kline.photography
Baseball Rallies in 9th to Win Series Opener at Akron
4/21/2023 2:44:00 PM | Baseball
AKRON, Ohio – Central Michigan rallied for three runs in the ninth inning on Friday in taking a 5-3 victory from Akron in the opener of a three-game Mid-American Conference baseball series at the Zips' Skeeles Field.
It was the Chippewas' seventh consecutive win and their 11th in their last 12 games. CMU (24-13, 11-5 MAC) and Akron play game two of their series on Saturday (2 p.m.).
Jacob Donahue started the Chippewa ninth-inning rally when he was hit by a pitch with one out. Justin Simpson singled on a one-ball, two-strike pitch, sending Donahue to third.
Danny Wuestenfeld hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game, 3-3, and then Luke Sefcik doubled off the left-field fence to score Simpson with the go-ahead run.
Robby Morgan IV singled to score Sefcik to make it 5-3.
Prior to the ninth, the Chippewas had just five hits.
"The positive is when you're struggling to get something going offensively, you have to have a lot of self-confidence and faith in yourself that you can turn it at any point," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "A few weeks ago in that situation, I don't think we really believed that we had the ability to turn a game like that and we did.
"It was one after another of hard contact which we hadn't had much of, so it was awfully good to see."
Evan Waters went the final 1 2/3 innings in relief of starter Garrett Navarra for the win.
Waters, a freshman left-hander, struck out two and walked one. He set down the Zips in order in the ninth, improving to 4-0 and lowering his earned run average to 1.54 in 13th appearance of the season.
Navarra allowed three runs on five hits, walked two and struck out six over 7 1/3 innings.
"They pitched well," Bischel said. "We had a couple of little things where defensively we didn't make a couple of plays, but Garrett did a nice job.
"They had one inning where they hit balls hard; he made the adjustments he had to make. Anytime your pitcher pitches into the eighth you're going to have a good chance to win.
"Evan was really impressive late. He came in ready to go and when we got the lead, that turned it into a situation he hadn't been in, and he threw it awfully well in the ninth."
The Chippewas opened the scoring on Nick Dardas' two-out RBI single in the fourth and they added a run in the fifth on a Wuestenfeld RBI double.
Akron scored all three of its runs in the fourth, using two singles, a double, a walk, and a Chippewa throwing error.
It was the Chippewas' seventh consecutive win and their 11th in their last 12 games. CMU (24-13, 11-5 MAC) and Akron play game two of their series on Saturday (2 p.m.).
Jacob Donahue started the Chippewa ninth-inning rally when he was hit by a pitch with one out. Justin Simpson singled on a one-ball, two-strike pitch, sending Donahue to third.
Danny Wuestenfeld hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game, 3-3, and then Luke Sefcik doubled off the left-field fence to score Simpson with the go-ahead run.
Robby Morgan IV singled to score Sefcik to make it 5-3.
Prior to the ninth, the Chippewas had just five hits.
"The positive is when you're struggling to get something going offensively, you have to have a lot of self-confidence and faith in yourself that you can turn it at any point," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "A few weeks ago in that situation, I don't think we really believed that we had the ability to turn a game like that and we did.
"It was one after another of hard contact which we hadn't had much of, so it was awfully good to see."
Evan Waters went the final 1 2/3 innings in relief of starter Garrett Navarra for the win.
Waters, a freshman left-hander, struck out two and walked one. He set down the Zips in order in the ninth, improving to 4-0 and lowering his earned run average to 1.54 in 13th appearance of the season.
Navarra allowed three runs on five hits, walked two and struck out six over 7 1/3 innings.
"They pitched well," Bischel said. "We had a couple of little things where defensively we didn't make a couple of plays, but Garrett did a nice job.
"They had one inning where they hit balls hard; he made the adjustments he had to make. Anytime your pitcher pitches into the eighth you're going to have a good chance to win.
"Evan was really impressive late. He came in ready to go and when we got the lead, that turned it into a situation he hadn't been in, and he threw it awfully well in the ninth."
The Chippewas opened the scoring on Nick Dardas' two-out RBI single in the fourth and they added a run in the fifth on a Wuestenfeld RBI double.
Akron scored all three of its runs in the fourth, using two singles, a double, a walk, and a Chippewa throwing error.
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