Baseball Drops Series Finale, 3-2, to Toledo

Sunday, April 7

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

Noon

Central Michigan University

10-22, 5-10

Toledo

16-16, 10-5

Toledo

Central Michigan

Danny Wuestenfeld (right) celebrates with teammates Ely Stuart (5) and Nick Dardas (23) after hitting a two-run homer Sunday in CMU's 3-2 loss to Toledo on Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.

Photo by: Lauren Verellen '26 - @laurenverellen_photography

4/7/2024 3:45:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score Photo Gallery

Wuestenfeld homers, Vitas solid on the mound for Chippewas

By: Andy Sneddon

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – In a tight game, one swing can make the difference.

It did on Sunday as Toledo got a two-run homer from Caden Konczak in the sixth inning to go ahead for good as the Rockets handed Central Michigan a 3-2 loss in the finale of a three-game Mid-American Conference series on Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.

The Rockets, who entered the series tied for second place in the MAC, took two of three from the Chippewas, who slipped to 10-22, 5-10 league.

CMU goes to Michigan State for a nonleague game on Tuesday, April 9, and then to first-place Bowling Green for a conference series next weekend.

"It is tough to say, after a loss, that you feel like you're playing well, but we are," said CMU coach Jake Sabol, who saw his team take a 10-9 win on Saturday after dropping Friday's series opener, 7-2.

The Chippewas are 7-6 in their last 13 games after a 3-16 start to the season, Sabol's first in charge of the program.

"We're a couple of plays away and we've got to find a way to make a few more and get a few more guys on base and keep some pressure on the opponent," Sabol said. "I don't know that we're where we'd like to be, but we're close. I think we turned a corner a couple weeks ago and started to do some things we hadn't done for a long time. It's encouraging to see that we can do that day in and day against one of the better teams in the league."

One of those Chippewas who appears to have turned the corner is Sunday's starter Ben Vitas (1-3), a senior right-hander who turned in his third consecutive solid performance, going seven innings.

Vitas allowed three runs on 10 hits, struck out seven and walked two. He has allowed three runs while striking out 15 in his last three appearances.

"We needed Ben to go out there and give us a chance to win and that's exactly what he did," Sabol said. "He's done that three times in a row now. He's got some confidence going. Just super proud of the way he's been competing. He's a different dude than he was the first five or six times out there at the beginning of the year.

"Glad to have him in that Sunday spot and I think he's going to give us a chance the rest of the way."

Danny Wuestenfeld hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning to put the Chippewas in front, 2-1. It was his team-high fourth round-tripper of the season as he extended his hit streak to 11 games.

The Chippewas managed just five hits off four Toledo pitchers. Wuestenfeld and Jacob Donahue had two hits apiece. Donahue extended his hit streak to 15 games.

After Vitas left, Jared Hanson, Bryce Hellgeth and Quin Konuszewski pitched in relief. They held the Rockets to two hits and did not issue a walk over the final two innings.

The performance of those three plus Evan Waters' four-inning relief stint in Saturday's win bodes well, Sabol said.

"We struggled on the mound early in the year and now we're in the middle of MAC play and we need guys to go out there and pound the zone and get some outs late in the game," he said. "We had to mix and match there at the end and it was nice to see Hanson, Hellgeth and Quin come in there and get some big outs for us. If they can keep doing that moving forward, and we can be in games late, I think we'll start stacking some wins."