Baseball Tops Miami, Runs Win Streak to 11

Friday, April 28

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

1 p.m.

Central Michigan University

28-13, 14-5

Miami (Ohio)

14-30, 9-13

Miami (OH)

Central Michigan

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

4/28/2023 5:14:00 PM | Baseball

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Brill, Jackson homer; Mrakitsch solid again on the mound

By: Andy Sneddon

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Jake Brill doubled and homered and Adam Mrakitsch turned in yet another solid start on Friday as the Central Michigan baseball team topped Miami (Ohio), 6-3, in the opener of a three-game Mid-American Conference series at Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.

It was CMU's 11^th consecutive win and its 15^th in its last 16 games. The Chippewas are 28-13 and remain in first place in the MAC at 14-5.

Game two of the series is scheduled for Saturday and the finale is set for Sunday. Both games begin at 1 p.m.

Mrakitsch (7-2) allowed one run on five hits, struck out nine and walked three over six innings. Ryan Palmblad went the final three innings for his team-high sixth save.

Mrakitsch threw 60 pitches in the first two innings when the RedHawks got a run on four hits.

The sophomore left-hander weathered the storm and allowed just one hit over his final four frames, setting down the RedHawks in order from the third-fifth frames. It marked his fourth consecutive victory. He has pitched at least six innings in each of his last eight starts.

"Early it looked like it would be a short day for him, and he ended up doing what he's been doing every week," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "I thought he was fine early; they just had really good at-bats and put some good swings on good pitches.

"We adjusted the pitch calling a little bit, he adjusted what he was doing. That was really impressive; really showed some maturity."

Brill homered in the second to tie the game, 1-1, and the Chippewas went ahead on Danny Wuestenfeld's two-out RBI single in the fifth.

The Chippewas struck for three runs in the sixth. Christian Mitchelle led off with a double and moved to third on Nick Dardas' bunt single. Brill then delivered an RBI double to make it 3-1 and then Donahue drew a bases-loaded walk to up the lead 4-1.

Justin Simpson's sacrifice fly upped the Chippewas' lead to 5-1.

After Miami picked up two runs in the eighth off reliever Ryan Palmblad, Marquis Jackson answered with a solo homer in the bottom half of the inning.

It was Jackson's seventh homer of the season and his third in his last eight games. Brill's homer was his second of the season and his second in three games.

The Chippewas have hit at least one homer in four straight games and have hit at least one in 12 of their last 13 games.

Dardas, Brill and Jackson, the Chippewas' seventh, eighth and ninth hitters in the lineup, respectively, had a combined four hits in nine at-bats on the day.

"The depth of the order – we got of production," Bischel said. "All that production out of the seven, eight, nine spots; you do that it's going to be tough to shut us down."

Both Brill and Jackson are junior transfer in their first year at CMU, Brill from Des Moines (Iowa) CC and Jackson from McLennan (Texas) CC. They are two of a number of transfers who have played key roles in the tremendous success the Chippewas have enjoyed since Bischel took over the program in 2019.

"We'll never bring in a transfer unless we think they can play a big role for us," Bischel said. "It's taken them a little time to settle in as you might expect, but we knew when we brought those guys in that they had the ability to really impact the game for us."