Central Michigan University Athletics
Sunday, May 12
Muncie, Ind.
1 p.m.
Central Michigan University
15-36, 7-20
17
at
9
Ball State
30-20-1, 16-11
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Central Michigan
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8
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17
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Ball State
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Marquis Jackson hit two home runs on Sunday in the Chippewas' 17-9 win at Ball State.
Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw
Bats Boom as Chippewas Take Series Finale at Ball State
5/12/2024 5:48:00 PM | Baseball
Jackson homers twice, Brill hits a grand slam as CMU rides 17-hit effort to victory
MUNCIE, Ind. – Marquis Jackson hit two home runs and Jake Brill hit a grand slam as the Central Michigan baseball team rolled past Ball State, 17-9, on Sunday in the finale of a three-game Mid-American Conference series at the Cardinals' First Merchants Ballpark.
CMU exploded for eight runs – highlighted by Brill's grand slam – in the third inning and built a 12-2 lead through 4 ½ frames.
The Chippewas finished with a season-high 19 hits, seven of them for extra bases.
"We talked the last couple of days about worrying about ourselves," said CMU coach Jake Sabol, whose team scored four runs on 10 hits in the first two games of the series. "You spend so much time practicing and game planning and talking about your opponent and sometimes you forget what you need to do really well, regardless of who you're going to face.
"(Saturday) night was minimal on scouting report stuff and we just wanted the guys to go play today and trust the things that we ask them to do. It was fun to put it all together and it shows the guys that if we can do that a few more times we can be pretty good, we can win some games. We just have to do it a little more often."
It was Brill's second home run of the season and the first grand slam by a Chippewa in 2024.
Jackson hit a solo shot in the fifth and then ripped a three-run blast in the ninth. He is the fourth Chippewa this season to homer twice in a game after Jacob Donahue and Drew Loikits both accomplished the feat on April 14 at Bowling Green and Robby Morgan IV had two round-trippers in February at Stephen F. Austin.
Jackson has five homers on the season, and he extended his reach-base streak to 17 games, CMU's longest of the season.
Brill and Jackson, who batted first and second, respectively, in Sabol's Sunday lineup, accounted for three home runs among six hits and drove in a combined nine runs.
"We used a bunch of guys this weekend," Sabol said. "We used a few different lineups just trying to find something that stuck and gave us a little bit of juice and some energy and today was nice to see.
"I think we just played a little bit more loose today. I said (Saturday) that if you're going to come to the field and put on the uniform, let's go compete and try to win. No sense in being there just to be there; let's go play hard against a rival and I think we did that today.
"We haven't had a lot of games like that this year and it was fun to see it happen for us."
Brill, Jackson, Drew Loikits, Danny Wuestenfeld, Ely Stuart, Drew Stengren and Bryson Webb each had a multi-hit day for CMU.
CMU starter Keegan Batka (3-5) allowed five runs over 6 1/3 innings in earning the victory. He struck out eight and walked four.
"I thought he competed well," Sabol said of Batka, a senior right-hander who threw a season-high 127 pitches. "He was able to throw four pitches for strikes and he mixed pretty well.
"We got him a big lead and it's obviously easier to pitch when you've got a big lead and it was nice to do that for the first time in a long time."
Jared Hanson, Bryce Hellgeth, Evan Waters and Jack Bach pitched in relief for the Chippewas.
The 17 runs tied for CMU's second-highest scoring total of the season. The Chippewas scored 19 in a win over Grace Christian on April 1 and also scored 17 in a loss at Bowling Green on April 14.
The Chippewas' 19 hits eclipsed their previous season high (16) which they posted in the games with Grace Christian and Bowling Green.
CMU plays a nonconference game at Oakland on Tuesday (3:30 p.m.) and then opens its final series of the season on Thursday, May 14 (3 p.m.) on Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium on Thursday, May 16.
CMU exploded for eight runs – highlighted by Brill's grand slam – in the third inning and built a 12-2 lead through 4 ½ frames.
The Chippewas finished with a season-high 19 hits, seven of them for extra bases.
"We talked the last couple of days about worrying about ourselves," said CMU coach Jake Sabol, whose team scored four runs on 10 hits in the first two games of the series. "You spend so much time practicing and game planning and talking about your opponent and sometimes you forget what you need to do really well, regardless of who you're going to face.
"(Saturday) night was minimal on scouting report stuff and we just wanted the guys to go play today and trust the things that we ask them to do. It was fun to put it all together and it shows the guys that if we can do that a few more times we can be pretty good, we can win some games. We just have to do it a little more often."
It was Brill's second home run of the season and the first grand slam by a Chippewa in 2024.
Jackson hit a solo shot in the fifth and then ripped a three-run blast in the ninth. He is the fourth Chippewa this season to homer twice in a game after Jacob Donahue and Drew Loikits both accomplished the feat on April 14 at Bowling Green and Robby Morgan IV had two round-trippers in February at Stephen F. Austin.
Jackson has five homers on the season, and he extended his reach-base streak to 17 games, CMU's longest of the season.
Brill and Jackson, who batted first and second, respectively, in Sabol's Sunday lineup, accounted for three home runs among six hits and drove in a combined nine runs.
"We used a bunch of guys this weekend," Sabol said. "We used a few different lineups just trying to find something that stuck and gave us a little bit of juice and some energy and today was nice to see.
"I think we just played a little bit more loose today. I said (Saturday) that if you're going to come to the field and put on the uniform, let's go compete and try to win. No sense in being there just to be there; let's go play hard against a rival and I think we did that today.
"We haven't had a lot of games like that this year and it was fun to see it happen for us."
Brill, Jackson, Drew Loikits, Danny Wuestenfeld, Ely Stuart, Drew Stengren and Bryson Webb each had a multi-hit day for CMU.
CMU starter Keegan Batka (3-5) allowed five runs over 6 1/3 innings in earning the victory. He struck out eight and walked four.
"I thought he competed well," Sabol said of Batka, a senior right-hander who threw a season-high 127 pitches. "He was able to throw four pitches for strikes and he mixed pretty well.
"We got him a big lead and it's obviously easier to pitch when you've got a big lead and it was nice to do that for the first time in a long time."
Jared Hanson, Bryce Hellgeth, Evan Waters and Jack Bach pitched in relief for the Chippewas.
The 17 runs tied for CMU's second-highest scoring total of the season. The Chippewas scored 19 in a win over Grace Christian on April 1 and also scored 17 in a loss at Bowling Green on April 14.
The Chippewas' 19 hits eclipsed their previous season high (16) which they posted in the games with Grace Christian and Bowling Green.
CMU plays a nonconference game at Oakland on Tuesday (3:30 p.m.) and then opens its final series of the season on Thursday, May 14 (3 p.m.) on Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium on Thursday, May 16.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Batka, Keegan (3-5)
L: Lucas Letsinger (2-2)
Batting:
2B: Jackson, Marquis 1 ; Wuestenfeld, Danny 1 ; Stuart, Ely 1 ; Dardas, Nick 1
HR: Brill, Jake 1 ; Jackson, Marquis 2
RBI: Brill, Jake 5 ; Jackson, Marquis 4 ; Stuart, Ely 3 ; Dardas, Nick 1 ; Stengren, Drew 2 ; Webb, Bryson 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Brill, Jake 2 ; Jackson, Marquis 3 ; Loikits, Drew 1 ; Wuestenfeld, Danny 1 ; Stuart, Ely 1 ; Prout, Cole 2 ; Dardas, Nick 3 ; Stengren, Drew 2 ; Webb, Bryson 2
SB: Brill, Jake 1
CS: Loikits, Drew 1
HBP: Loikits, Drew 1 ; Stuart, Ely 1
PO: Jackson, Marquis 1
Batting:
2B: Decker Scheffler 1 ; Michael Hallquist 1 ; Houston King 1 ; Nick Husovsky 1
HR: Decker Scheffler 1 ; Michael Hallquist 1 ; Blake Bevis 1
RBI: Decker Scheffler 1 ; Michael Hallquist 2 ; Houston King 2 ; Corey Miley 1 ; Blake Bevis 3
SF: Blake Bevis 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Decker Scheffler 3 ; Michael Hallquist 2 ; Houston King 3 ; Blake Bevis 1
Game Leaders
AB
6
R
3
H
4
RBI
4
AB
5
R
2
H
3
RBI
1
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
5
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
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RHP
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RHP
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LHP
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IF
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