Great Start: Baseball Sweeps Ohio in MAC-Opening Doubleheader

Friday, March 14

Athens, Ohio

3 p.m.

Central Michigan University

4-14, 1-0

Ohio

4-12, 0-4

Central Michigan

Ohio

Justin Morgan tossed four shutout innings in relief in game two Friday as the Chippewas swept a doubleheader at Ohio.

Photo by: @Simon Barbre 2023

Great Start: Baseball Sweeps Ohio in MAC-Opening Doubleheader

3/14/2025 10:59:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Prout homers twice, drives in seven runs; Chippewas get outstanding pitching from Espinoza, Waters, Morgan

By: Andy Sneddon

OXFORD, Ohio – Cole Prout homered twice and Central Michigan's pitching was as solid as it's been all season as the Chippewas swept Ohio, 14-7 and 4-1, on Friday in a Mid-American Conference doubleheader at Ohio's Bob Wren Stadium.

The games marked CMU's first of the MAC schedule and the Chippewas (5-14) have won three consecutive after starting 2-14. Ohio slipped to 4-13, 0-5 MAC. The teams close the three-game series on Saturday (2 p.m.).

The Chippewas collected a combined 22 hits, eight of them for extra bases, in the two games.

Prout drilled a grand slam during an 11-run third inning in the opener, and he broke a 1-1 tie with a seventh-inning three-run shot in the nightcap.

Both were no-doubters to right field for the left-handed hitting junior, who finished with seven RBI on the night and is hitting .384 with nine RBI in his last three games since moving to the No. 2 spot in the batting order.

"I think it's just him maturing a little bit and wanting those moments and having success previously which has allowed him to feel pretty good when he gets those chances now," CMU coach Jake Sabol said. "He's kind of turned the page and turned it up a notch. He's been a tough out. He's played his tail off. Those were two big moments for us today and I'm proud of him for coming through for us."

Justin Morgan (1-0) earned the win in the nightcap with four innings of shutout relief. He struck out two and allowed three hits. The Bobcats put two runners in scoring position in the ninth inning, bringing the tying run to the plate with two out. Morgan then induced a game-ending groundout.

CMU starter Evan Waters allowed one run on two hits while striking out eight over five innings.

Game-one starter Alejandro Espinoza (1-4) went seven innings – the longest outing by a Chippewa starter this season – for the victory. He surrendered four runs (three earned) on 11 hits, struck out two and walked three.

"I don't think we've had any performances like that (this season)," Sabol said. "Waters has been pretty good his first couple outings, but he was really, really good today. That was the best he's been.

"Espy, he competes, he gave up some hits and had some jams, but he made enough pitches to keep himself in the game and that's what we needed.

"Justin Morgan, that was a heck of a performance. We haven't had anyone do that out of the bullpen all year long. He was on cruise control. He threw his breaking ball early, he was confident. To be able to open up the weekend after two mid-week (games) where we used a bunch of arms, that was pretty impressive by our guys. That was fun to watch."

In the nightcap, Nathan Ball doubled in the Chippewas' first run in the third inning and finished with two hits, while Zach Knowlton singled twice.

Knowlton ignited the Chippewas' big third inning in the opener when he hit his first career homer, a one-out solo shot. Aaron Piasecki had a two-run double, Ball had a two-run triple, Bryson Webb stroked an RBI single, Mikey Murphy drew a bases-loaded walk, and Prout ripped his grand slam as the Chippewas sent 14 batters to the plate, scoring 11 runs on seven hits.

The Chippewas stranded a combined 12 runners in the two games – five in the opener, seven in the nightcap – after so often struggling to get the big hit throughout the early part of the season.

"I told the guys, we could lead the country in runners left on base, I'm quite OK with that because sooner or later we were going to get those big hits and things were going to happen for us," Sabol said. "You can't get discouraged by getting guys on base and not driving them in; eventually we're going to have good things happen for us.

"When one guy gets the big hit, it takes the pressure off everybody else and guys feel like they can go do it too."

The Chippewas split mid-week games at Marshall, wrestling away a 12-11 win on Wednesday and that victory, coupled with Friday's sweep, has Sabol and his squad feeling confident, but it's a confidence tempered by the fact that it's still early in the season and there's a long way to go.

Beginning with Saturday's series finale at Ohio.

"We've been on the road for a long time," Sabol said. "The guys just put their heads down and said we're going to keep trying to play the way that we want to play and play Chippewa baseball.

"I think we've done that the last three and we haven't really worried about the result and it's kind of fallen in our favor. It certainly feels good, but I think it feels even better that guys are seeing results pay off from the work that they're put in. Hopefully we can keep that up tomorrow."