Central Michigan University Athletics
Sunday, May 7
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
1 p.m.
Central Michigan University
31-15, 17-7
7
vs
5
Eastern Michigan
22-23, 8-16
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2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Eastern Michigan
0
0
0
1
0
1
1
2
0
5
11
0
Central Michigan
0
0
0
0
0
1
3
3
X
7
9
1
Luke Sefcik signals to teammates in the dugout as he heads for home on his home run trot on Sunday in CMU's 7-5 win over Eastern Michigan at Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.
Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw
Baseball Rallies in 8th to Claim Series Finale from Eastern Michigan
5/7/2023 5:44:00 PM | Baseball
CMU remains tied for second place, two games behind league-leading Kent State
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – A different route to the same result.
Central Michigan used a three-run eighth inning, and the bullpen quelled a ninth-inning threat by Eastern Michigan on Sunday as the Chippewas claimed a 7-5 Mid-American Conference baseball win at Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.
The win, CMU's 18th in its last 21 games, lifted the Chippewas to 31-15, 17-7 MAC.
CMU took two of three in the series with the Eagles and remains two games behind first-place Kent State with six conference games remaining.
"We can control one piece of the standings, if we win or lose," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "It's how you play. I told the guys we want to play with an energy and an edge down the stretch that's exciting and if that's good enough to win championships … It's fun to go out and compete and play well and with energy and trust ourselves and if we do that the results will take care of themselves."
After dropping the series opener, 3-1, the Chippewas responded on Saturday, slugging their way to a 24-4 victory.
On Sunday, CMU led 4-3 when Eastern Michigan scored two runs in the eighth in seizing a 5-4 lead.
"You lose the first game of the series and we had to play well to get back," Bischel said. "This season's not been perfect by any means, but we've responded to adversity really, really well a bunch of times and that's something we can be proud of."
The Chippewas indeed responded to adversity in the eighth, when pinch-hitter Nick Dardas drew a one-out walk and Christian Mitchelle doubled to left-center, scoring Dardas to tie the game, 5-5.
Mitchelle then stole third and scored on a wild pitch with two outs to put CMU up, 6-5. Jacob Donahue, the Chippewas' No. 9 hitter, was hit by a pitch, took second on the wild pitch, stole third, and then scored an important insurance run on Justin Simpson's single.
"I don't get too excited about too much, but I thought that was our best win of the year," said Bischel, whose team managed just two hits through five innings against Eastern starter Sam Reed. "I think we're getting tougher and tougher and that's really important as you get late in the season. That's fun to see.
"A month or so ago we were 13-12 and we weren't feeling great about ourselves. We're far from a perfect team, but we're a lot better than we were at that point and that comes from hard work."
Ryan Insco (1-1) relieved Evan Waters with two out in the eighth inning and the Chippewas trailing, 5-4. Insco induced an inning-ending groundout. In the ninth, he allowed back-to-back two-out singles and freshman Christian Mitchelle came on to get a game-ending grounder for his first save.
"Those guys we use out of the bullpen have been really good lately," Bischel said. "Tip the cap to Eastern. They hit the ball hard against a couple of good arms, but Insco threw great. Even the two hits he gave up were not hard contact and he came back and made great pitches and then we just had a matchup at the end with Christian we liked."
Luke Sefcik led CMU at the plate with three hits, including a solo homer in the sixth, and three RBI. Simpson also finished with three hits and Mitchelle doubled twice. It was Sefcik's third homer of the season and broke a four-game CMU homerless streak.
The game was CMU's regular-season home finale. The Chippewas go to Toledo for a three-game series next week and then close the regular season at Western Michigan the following weekend.
The Chippewas are tied with Ball State for second place. Ohio and Western Michigan are both 13-10 and tied for fourth. The top four teams in the final standings advance to the league tournament, which will be played on the home field of the regular season champion.
Toledo is 12-13 in league play and will certainly give the Chippewas all they can handle next weekend as the Rockets seek to remain in the hunt for a tournament berth.
CMU, which holds the tiebreaker over Kent State, Ball State and Ohio, is the defending MAC Tournament champion.
"We've got tough opponents down the stretch," Bischel said. "Hopefully we can play into the postseason. We're not quite locked into that yet, but we're getting in a closer spot.
"When you play good teams down the stretch it's not going to be easy, so you'd better be ready to handle some adversity and we did that well today."
Central Michigan used a three-run eighth inning, and the bullpen quelled a ninth-inning threat by Eastern Michigan on Sunday as the Chippewas claimed a 7-5 Mid-American Conference baseball win at Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.
The win, CMU's 18th in its last 21 games, lifted the Chippewas to 31-15, 17-7 MAC.
CMU took two of three in the series with the Eagles and remains two games behind first-place Kent State with six conference games remaining.
"We can control one piece of the standings, if we win or lose," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "It's how you play. I told the guys we want to play with an energy and an edge down the stretch that's exciting and if that's good enough to win championships … It's fun to go out and compete and play well and with energy and trust ourselves and if we do that the results will take care of themselves."
After dropping the series opener, 3-1, the Chippewas responded on Saturday, slugging their way to a 24-4 victory.
On Sunday, CMU led 4-3 when Eastern Michigan scored two runs in the eighth in seizing a 5-4 lead.
"You lose the first game of the series and we had to play well to get back," Bischel said. "This season's not been perfect by any means, but we've responded to adversity really, really well a bunch of times and that's something we can be proud of."
The Chippewas indeed responded to adversity in the eighth, when pinch-hitter Nick Dardas drew a one-out walk and Christian Mitchelle doubled to left-center, scoring Dardas to tie the game, 5-5.
Mitchelle then stole third and scored on a wild pitch with two outs to put CMU up, 6-5. Jacob Donahue, the Chippewas' No. 9 hitter, was hit by a pitch, took second on the wild pitch, stole third, and then scored an important insurance run on Justin Simpson's single.
"I don't get too excited about too much, but I thought that was our best win of the year," said Bischel, whose team managed just two hits through five innings against Eastern starter Sam Reed. "I think we're getting tougher and tougher and that's really important as you get late in the season. That's fun to see.
"A month or so ago we were 13-12 and we weren't feeling great about ourselves. We're far from a perfect team, but we're a lot better than we were at that point and that comes from hard work."
Ryan Insco (1-1) relieved Evan Waters with two out in the eighth inning and the Chippewas trailing, 5-4. Insco induced an inning-ending groundout. In the ninth, he allowed back-to-back two-out singles and freshman Christian Mitchelle came on to get a game-ending grounder for his first save.
"Those guys we use out of the bullpen have been really good lately," Bischel said. "Tip the cap to Eastern. They hit the ball hard against a couple of good arms, but Insco threw great. Even the two hits he gave up were not hard contact and he came back and made great pitches and then we just had a matchup at the end with Christian we liked."
Luke Sefcik led CMU at the plate with three hits, including a solo homer in the sixth, and three RBI. Simpson also finished with three hits and Mitchelle doubled twice. It was Sefcik's third homer of the season and broke a four-game CMU homerless streak.
The game was CMU's regular-season home finale. The Chippewas go to Toledo for a three-game series next week and then close the regular season at Western Michigan the following weekend.
The Chippewas are tied with Ball State for second place. Ohio and Western Michigan are both 13-10 and tied for fourth. The top four teams in the final standings advance to the league tournament, which will be played on the home field of the regular season champion.
Toledo is 12-13 in league play and will certainly give the Chippewas all they can handle next weekend as the Rockets seek to remain in the hunt for a tournament berth.
CMU, which holds the tiebreaker over Kent State, Ball State and Ohio, is the defending MAC Tournament champion.
"We've got tough opponents down the stretch," Bischel said. "Hopefully we can play into the postseason. We're not quite locked into that yet, but we're getting in a closer spot.
"When you play good teams down the stretch it's not going to be easy, so you'd better be ready to handle some adversity and we did that well today."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Insco, Ryan (1-1)
L: Jagger Jefferies (2-2)
S: Mitchelle, Christian (1)
Batting:
2B: Cory Taylor 1 ; Aaron Dolney 1
HR: Josh Kross 1 ; Taylor Hopkins 1 ; Logan Hugo 1
RBI: Josh Kross 1 ; Taylor Hopkins 1 ; Aaron Dolney 1 ; Logan Hugo 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Josh Kross 1 ; Cory Taylor 1 ; Taylor Hopkins 2 ; Logan Hugo 1
SB: Taylor Hopkins 1
CS: Glenn Miller 1
HBP: Taylor Hopkins 1
Batting:
2B: Simpson, Justin 1 ; Mitchelle, Christian 2
3B: Sefcik, Luke 1
HR: Sefcik, Luke 1
RBI: Simpson, Justin 2 ; Sefcik, Luke 3 ; Mitchelle, Christian 1
SH: Donahue, Jacob 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Simpson, Justin 1 ; Jackson, Marquis 1 ; Sefcik, Luke 1 ; Dardas, Nick 1 ; Mitchelle, Christian 2 ; Donahue, Jacob 1
SB: Simpson, Justin 1 ; Jackson, Marquis 1 ; Sefcik, Luke 1 ; Mitchelle, Christian 1 ; Donahue, Jacob 2
CS: Simpson, Justin 1
HBP: Simpson, Justin 1 ; Donahue, Jacob 1
PO: Simpson, Justin 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
2
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
3
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
rf/lf
AB
1
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
C
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RHP
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