Baseball Drops Series Opener With Toledo

Friday, April 5

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

3 p.m.

Central Michigan University

9-21, 4-9

Toledo

15-15, 9-4

Toledo

Central Michigan

CMU senior catcher Nick Dardas rounds third base on his first-inning home run trot Friday on Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.

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

4/5/2024 7:01:00 PM | Baseball

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Dardas, Wuestenfeld homer; series continues Saturday (1 p.m.)

By: Andy Sneddon

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Against a starter like Toledo's Grant Umberger, a team is going to get only so many chances.

Central Michigan couldn't capitalize against the Toledo left-hander early on Friday as the Rockets handed the Chippewas a 7-2 loss in the opener of a three-game Mid-American Conference baseball series on Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.

The Chippewas and Rockets play game 2 on Saturday (1 p.m.). The series finale is set for Sunday (noon).

Nick Dardas led off the bottom of the first inning with his first home run of the season, and the Chippewas collected four more hits off Umberger (4-2), but could never mount a rally.

"The first time-and-a-half through the lineup we took some good swings," CMU coach Jake Sabol said. "We came out ready to go, we had a good game plan.

"We squandered an opportunity or two early in the game and then we hit a lull where I think we had 16 straight where we didn't reach base. Against a good arm you've got to do what you can to get yourself on base and steal some runs late in the game. We didn't do that. We got away from putting pressure on them."

The Rockets broke a 1-1 tie with three runs in the sixth off Chippewa starter Adam Mrakitsch (2-4), who allowed four runs on six hits over six innings. Relievers Jack Bach, Quin Konuszewski and Jared Hanson combined to surrender three runs on three hits.

All three of those runs came on eighth-inning home runs from left-handed hitting Garret Pike and Luke Walton. Both homers went to right field, aided by a strong wind blowing to straight-away right. The Rockets entered the game with a MAC-best 45 homers on the season.

"Adam threw the ball well," Sabol said. "I thought the bullpen competed well."

After Jacob Donahue singled to lead off the fourth, 16 Chippewas went down in order against Umberger, who is third in the MAC with a 3.46 earned run average, and reliever Brennan McCune, who earned the three-inning save.

"When their bullpen throws that way and their starter throws that way, they're going to be tough to beat," Sabol said. "We just squandered some opportunities early and didn't keep the pressure on."

Danny Wuestenfeld broke the streak with a one-out solo homer in the ninth. It was Wuestenfeld's third homer of the season, tying him for the team lead with Ely Stuart and Mikey Murphy.

Donahue extended his hit streak to 13 games and Wuestenfeld stretched his to nine.

To the good, the Chippewas struck out just five times, their lowest total in 13 MAC games this season.

"Usually when we punch out that few times, we've been really good offensively," Sabol said. "We hit some balls at them, we didn't get rewarded. We just didn't do enough. Against a good team that's playing well, you've got to play well the entire time and we just didn't make enough plays today."