Sunday, April 30
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
1 p.m.
Central Michigan University
29-14, 15-6
3
vs
2
Miami (Ohio)
15-31, 10-14
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
R
H
E
Miami (OH)
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
15
1
Central Michigan
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
3
10
0
Central Michigan's Luke Sefcik (2) and teammates rush to greet Christian Mitchelle in the 16th inning Sunday after Mitchelle doubled in the game-winning run.
Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw
Mitchelle Ends Marathon 16-Inning Game With Walk-Off Double
4/30/2023 7:55:00 PM | Baseball
Chippewas take series from Miami; sit in second place in MAC
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – They took the bunt off and let Christian Mitchelle go mano a mano.
Good choice.
Mitchelle, a freshman, drilled a double to the gap in left center and Robby Morgan IV raced all the way home from first base in the 16th inning on Sunday, giving Central Michigan a dramatic 3-2 victory over Miami (Ohio) in the finale of a three-game Mid-American Conference baseball series at Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.
CMU took two of three games in the nip-and-tuck series, improving to 29-14, 15-6 MAC. The Chippewas are tied with Ball State for second place, one game behind Kent State. CMU entertains Eastern Michigan next weekend in its final regular season home series.
Mitchelle's big hit ended a marathon game in which the teams combined to use 11 pitchers, strand 35 baserunners, collect 25 hits, draw 14 walks, and hit five batters.
Morgan legged out an infield hit to lead off the 16th, bringing Mitchelle to the plate. He squared to bunt on the first three pitches – two balls and a strike.
After that, CMU coach Jordan Bischel called off the bunt and allowed his budding star freshman third baseman/relief pitcher to swing away.
"Christian's pretty mature, beyond his years, and we've seen that all year," Bischel said. "And now we're 40-plus games in and he's played every day; he's pretty experienced. That's why we took the bunt off there. He's a good player, an explosive player, and we trusted that he was going to get a good pitch and hit it hard."
He did, sending a fastball all the way to the wall in left field.
"After the 15th (inning), our coach pulled us in and said it doesn't matter, win or lose, just go out there and have fun and that really helped us just stay locked in," Mitchelle said. "I have to give a huge shoutout to our dugout. They always keep us in the game. A long game like that, they're still hootin' and hollerin' and it just kept us locked in for all 16 innings."
Nothing was going to stop the hard-charging Morgan, who wheeled through third-base coach Tom Winske's stop sign on the final play. Morgan scored without a play at the plate as the ball skipped away from the RedHawk relay man.
"I came out here and tackled my college coach, (Winske) at third base," said Bischel, who played for Winske at St. Norbert (Wis.) College from 2000-03. "I was awfully excited, happy for the kids.
"(Morgan) ran through a stop sign to win the game so as a coach you kind of let your shoulders slump a little that we didn't do what we were coached to do, and then you start celebrating because it worked out. Feel great for the guys.
"It's too bad that somebody had to lose, and you feel for Miami; they competed their butts off too. Definitely feel good getting the win."
Michael Conte (3-0), the seventh Chippewa pitcher, picked up the victory by going the final 1 1/3 innings. He relieved Nate Ross with two out and the bases loaded in the 15th and got an inning-ending flyball.
The RedHawks again loaded the bases against Conte in the 16th, but he got an inning-ending grounder. The RedHawks, who stranded 23 on the day, also left the bases loaded in the 12th and 14th against Mitchelle and Ryan Insco.
"To see those pitchers and defenders just continue despite some adversity to find a way to throw zeros up on the board … I'm proud of those guys," said Bischel, whose team opened the series on Friday with a 6-3 victory and then dropped Saturday's game, 3-2. "That's tough to do. Those guys, they just continued to bow their neck and did a great job.
"Miami's a talented team. They played well. They didn't give us anything. Certainly it was a hard-fought series and it's good to get out with two wins."
The Chippewas struck first on a Nick Dardas sacrifice fly in the second inning for a 1-0 lead. Miami's Stephen Krause tied it with a homer in the third.
CMU went ahead 2-1 in the sixth when Justin Simpson led off with a double and scored on a Danny Wuestenfeld's single.
Miami tied it in the eighth on Krause's two-out RBI single. Evan Waters worked out of the jam, getting an inning-ending groundout to strand the potential go-ahead run at third.
Good choice.
Mitchelle, a freshman, drilled a double to the gap in left center and Robby Morgan IV raced all the way home from first base in the 16th inning on Sunday, giving Central Michigan a dramatic 3-2 victory over Miami (Ohio) in the finale of a three-game Mid-American Conference baseball series at Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.
CMU took two of three games in the nip-and-tuck series, improving to 29-14, 15-6 MAC. The Chippewas are tied with Ball State for second place, one game behind Kent State. CMU entertains Eastern Michigan next weekend in its final regular season home series.
Mitchelle's big hit ended a marathon game in which the teams combined to use 11 pitchers, strand 35 baserunners, collect 25 hits, draw 14 walks, and hit five batters.
Morgan legged out an infield hit to lead off the 16th, bringing Mitchelle to the plate. He squared to bunt on the first three pitches – two balls and a strike.
After that, CMU coach Jordan Bischel called off the bunt and allowed his budding star freshman third baseman/relief pitcher to swing away.
"Christian's pretty mature, beyond his years, and we've seen that all year," Bischel said. "And now we're 40-plus games in and he's played every day; he's pretty experienced. That's why we took the bunt off there. He's a good player, an explosive player, and we trusted that he was going to get a good pitch and hit it hard."
He did, sending a fastball all the way to the wall in left field.
"After the 15th (inning), our coach pulled us in and said it doesn't matter, win or lose, just go out there and have fun and that really helped us just stay locked in," Mitchelle said. "I have to give a huge shoutout to our dugout. They always keep us in the game. A long game like that, they're still hootin' and hollerin' and it just kept us locked in for all 16 innings."
Nothing was going to stop the hard-charging Morgan, who wheeled through third-base coach Tom Winske's stop sign on the final play. Morgan scored without a play at the plate as the ball skipped away from the RedHawk relay man.
"I came out here and tackled my college coach, (Winske) at third base," said Bischel, who played for Winske at St. Norbert (Wis.) College from 2000-03. "I was awfully excited, happy for the kids.
"(Morgan) ran through a stop sign to win the game so as a coach you kind of let your shoulders slump a little that we didn't do what we were coached to do, and then you start celebrating because it worked out. Feel great for the guys.
"It's too bad that somebody had to lose, and you feel for Miami; they competed their butts off too. Definitely feel good getting the win."
Michael Conte (3-0), the seventh Chippewa pitcher, picked up the victory by going the final 1 1/3 innings. He relieved Nate Ross with two out and the bases loaded in the 15th and got an inning-ending flyball.
The RedHawks again loaded the bases against Conte in the 16th, but he got an inning-ending grounder. The RedHawks, who stranded 23 on the day, also left the bases loaded in the 12th and 14th against Mitchelle and Ryan Insco.
"To see those pitchers and defenders just continue despite some adversity to find a way to throw zeros up on the board … I'm proud of those guys," said Bischel, whose team opened the series on Friday with a 6-3 victory and then dropped Saturday's game, 3-2. "That's tough to do. Those guys, they just continued to bow their neck and did a great job.
"Miami's a talented team. They played well. They didn't give us anything. Certainly it was a hard-fought series and it's good to get out with two wins."
The Chippewas struck first on a Nick Dardas sacrifice fly in the second inning for a 1-0 lead. Miami's Stephen Krause tied it with a homer in the third.
CMU went ahead 2-1 in the sixth when Justin Simpson led off with a double and scored on a Danny Wuestenfeld's single.
Miami tied it in the eighth on Krause's two-out RBI single. Evan Waters worked out of the jam, getting an inning-ending groundout to strand the potential go-ahead run at third.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Conte, Michael (3-0)
L: Nick Vardavas (1-4)
Batting:
2B: David Novak 1 ; Evan Appelwick 1
HR: Stephen Krause 1
RBI: Stephen Krause 2
SH: Evan Appelwick 1
SF: Cooper Weiss 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Evan Appelwick 1 ; Stephen Krause 1
HBP: Zach MacDonald 1 ; Tommy Harrison 1
Batting:
2B: Simpson, Justin 1 ; Stuart, Ely 1 ; Mitchelle, Christian 1
RBI: Wuestenfeld, Danny 1 ; Mitchelle, Christian 1 ; Dardas, Nick 1
SH: Donahue, Jacob 1 ; Simpson, Justin 1 ; Sefcik, Luke 1 ; Mitchelle, Christian 1 ; Dardas, Nick 1
SF: Dardas, Nick 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Simpson, Justin 1 ; Morgan IV, Robby 2
SB: Morgan IV, Robby 1
HBP: Donahue, Jacob 1 ; Simpson, Justin 1 ; Mitchelle, Christian 1 ; Jackson, Marquis 1
PO: Prout, Cole 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
6
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
6
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
2b/3b
AB
6
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
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INF
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LHP
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