Central Michigan University Athletics
Junior Evan Waters draws the start on Friday when the Chippewas open the season at Houston Christian (7:30 p.m. ET)
Photo by: Joe Grogan '25 - @leazier.media
Play Ball! Chippewas Open Season With Weekend Series at Houston Christian
2/13/2025 9:57:00 AM | Baseball
Sabol welcomes influx of newcomers who 'play with passion'
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Clean slate and a fresh outlook.
Jake Sabol begins his second year in charge of the storied Central Michigan baseball program with 23 newcomers on his 38-man roster.
"It's a new group, a lot of names you probably haven't heard of quite yet, but I can promise that they play with passion, and they're excited about being Chippewas and that's a big deal to us," said Sabol, a CMU pitcher from 2008-11. "Having guys in our program who believe in what we believe in and are willing to go execute it on the field is a great start for us."
CMU opens the season on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET) at Houston Christian. The Chippewas and Huskies are scheduled to play a four-game series that concludes on Sunday after a Saturday doubleheader.
After that, it's visits to San Francisco, Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia before the Mid-American Conference-opening weekend at Ohio March 14-16. The home opener, a nonleague game, is scheduled for March 19 against Cleary.
Redshirt junior left-hander Evan Waters is expected to start at Houston Christian on Friday. He is one of few roster veterans with any measurable experience. Among the others are outfielder Cole Prout, shortstop Elijah Henning, and catcher Spencer Verburg.
"Those guys have really bought in to certain things we've asked all the guys to do," Sabol said. "They've been good leaders."
Among myriad newcomers who are expected to contribute are pitchers Liam Stumpf and Alejandro Espinoza, both right-handers, along with infielders Aaron Piasecki, Brady Krzciok and Jake Kutella and Zach Knowlton.
Piasecki, a junior who hails from Muskegon, was a National Junior College All-American last season at Kellogg CC, where he hit .481 with six homers, 65 RBI and 24 stolen bases.
Krzciok – pronounced Kr-zook – is a Clarkston native who hit .496 with 12 homers and 48 RBI a year ago at Macomb Community College.
Krzciok and Piasecki earned their respective Michigan Community College Athletic Association Conference Player of the Year awards in 2024, Krzciok in the east, Piasecki in the west.
Knowlton is a speedy center fielder from Kansas who hit .347 with 20 extra-base hits, drove in 47 runs and scored 55 a year ago at Highland (Kan.) CC. Kutella hit .414 with nine home runs, 61 RBI and a .723 slugging percentage last spring at Triton (Ill.) JC.
Espinoza, a senior, is a California native who played previously at Nebraska Wesleyan and Cal State Dominguez Hills. Stumpf, a redshirt junior, started his career at Missouri State and then pitched for the past two seasons at Madison (Wis.) College.
Waters, who has been solid to spectacular in his career, headlines the weekend rotation while Espinoza, Stumpf and senior right-hander Hayden Bailey are penciled in as the Chippewas' other weekend starters.
Bailey, a Davison native, has been solid throughout his career while pitching at Madonna and at Mott CC.
The Chippewas finished ninth in the Mid-American Conference preseason poll, released on Wednesday.
Not a concern, said Verburg, the incumbent behind the plate who is in his fourth year in the program.
"We just know that it takes the 38 of us and our opinion is the only one that matters -- nobody else's does," he said. "If we've got energy, we believe, we don't play the scoreboard, we don't ride that roller-coaster that other teams are going to ride.
"If we just stay ourselves and find a way to grind it out, we're going to be really successful and we really believe that."
Verburg, along with other program veterans, led the team-building process at the end of the 2024 season. That was critical considering that more than 50 percent of the roster has turned over.
"We reached out to the guys in the summer before anybody got here and did some player introductions and tried to start conversations going forward," he said. "Even though we've got 23 new guys, a lot of them knew each other from playing with or against each other at some point in their lives.
"We started that bonding right there. We hang out outside of the clubhouse and outside of the field as much as possible. Whether that's Bible studies or getting dinner or movies or whatever that looks like."
Sabol, as much as anybody, knows the tradition of the program, and he believes that 2024 was an anomaly.
The way back to the top is through hard work and taking the proper steps. His revamped roster is a good start, he said.
"We talk about competing for championships all the time," he said. "There are things that happen in our game that if you do the right things, you can turn it around pretty quick.
"You've got to have everyone on board doing the things that you want to do every single day. I'm not going to sit here and say that our goal is to be in Omaha – certainly that would be an amazing accomplishment for us – but we're trying to get better tomorrow.
"If we can go be 1-0 on opening day, then that's great; we've accomplished what we're trying to do. Now let's go play two on Saturday and see where we can end up after that.
"It's about being really good in the moment and if we can do that and stack really good days, I think, over the course of the season, we should be pretty consistent.
"That's the message. But we're not shying away from talking about championship expectations. That's just the history of this program and we feel like we've done a good enough job recruiting wise to bring in guys who are able to help us do that."
Jake Sabol begins his second year in charge of the storied Central Michigan baseball program with 23 newcomers on his 38-man roster.
"It's a new group, a lot of names you probably haven't heard of quite yet, but I can promise that they play with passion, and they're excited about being Chippewas and that's a big deal to us," said Sabol, a CMU pitcher from 2008-11. "Having guys in our program who believe in what we believe in and are willing to go execute it on the field is a great start for us."
CMU opens the season on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET) at Houston Christian. The Chippewas and Huskies are scheduled to play a four-game series that concludes on Sunday after a Saturday doubleheader.
After that, it's visits to San Francisco, Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia before the Mid-American Conference-opening weekend at Ohio March 14-16. The home opener, a nonleague game, is scheduled for March 19 against Cleary.
Redshirt junior left-hander Evan Waters is expected to start at Houston Christian on Friday. He is one of few roster veterans with any measurable experience. Among the others are outfielder Cole Prout, shortstop Elijah Henning, and catcher Spencer Verburg.
"Those guys have really bought in to certain things we've asked all the guys to do," Sabol said. "They've been good leaders."
Among myriad newcomers who are expected to contribute are pitchers Liam Stumpf and Alejandro Espinoza, both right-handers, along with infielders Aaron Piasecki, Brady Krzciok and Jake Kutella and Zach Knowlton.
Piasecki, a junior who hails from Muskegon, was a National Junior College All-American last season at Kellogg CC, where he hit .481 with six homers, 65 RBI and 24 stolen bases.
Krzciok – pronounced Kr-zook – is a Clarkston native who hit .496 with 12 homers and 48 RBI a year ago at Macomb Community College.
Krzciok and Piasecki earned their respective Michigan Community College Athletic Association Conference Player of the Year awards in 2024, Krzciok in the east, Piasecki in the west.
Knowlton is a speedy center fielder from Kansas who hit .347 with 20 extra-base hits, drove in 47 runs and scored 55 a year ago at Highland (Kan.) CC. Kutella hit .414 with nine home runs, 61 RBI and a .723 slugging percentage last spring at Triton (Ill.) JC.
Espinoza, a senior, is a California native who played previously at Nebraska Wesleyan and Cal State Dominguez Hills. Stumpf, a redshirt junior, started his career at Missouri State and then pitched for the past two seasons at Madison (Wis.) College.
Waters, who has been solid to spectacular in his career, headlines the weekend rotation while Espinoza, Stumpf and senior right-hander Hayden Bailey are penciled in as the Chippewas' other weekend starters.
Bailey, a Davison native, has been solid throughout his career while pitching at Madonna and at Mott CC.
The Chippewas finished ninth in the Mid-American Conference preseason poll, released on Wednesday.
Not a concern, said Verburg, the incumbent behind the plate who is in his fourth year in the program.
"We just know that it takes the 38 of us and our opinion is the only one that matters -- nobody else's does," he said. "If we've got energy, we believe, we don't play the scoreboard, we don't ride that roller-coaster that other teams are going to ride.
"If we just stay ourselves and find a way to grind it out, we're going to be really successful and we really believe that."
Verburg, along with other program veterans, led the team-building process at the end of the 2024 season. That was critical considering that more than 50 percent of the roster has turned over.
"We reached out to the guys in the summer before anybody got here and did some player introductions and tried to start conversations going forward," he said. "Even though we've got 23 new guys, a lot of them knew each other from playing with or against each other at some point in their lives.
"We started that bonding right there. We hang out outside of the clubhouse and outside of the field as much as possible. Whether that's Bible studies or getting dinner or movies or whatever that looks like."
Sabol, as much as anybody, knows the tradition of the program, and he believes that 2024 was an anomaly.
The way back to the top is through hard work and taking the proper steps. His revamped roster is a good start, he said.
"We talk about competing for championships all the time," he said. "There are things that happen in our game that if you do the right things, you can turn it around pretty quick.
"You've got to have everyone on board doing the things that you want to do every single day. I'm not going to sit here and say that our goal is to be in Omaha – certainly that would be an amazing accomplishment for us – but we're trying to get better tomorrow.
"If we can go be 1-0 on opening day, then that's great; we've accomplished what we're trying to do. Now let's go play two on Saturday and see where we can end up after that.
"It's about being really good in the moment and if we can do that and stack really good days, I think, over the course of the season, we should be pretty consistent.
"That's the message. But we're not shying away from talking about championship expectations. That's just the history of this program and we feel like we've done a good enough job recruiting wise to bring in guys who are able to help us do that."
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