Sunday, March 30
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
11 a.m.
Central Michigan University
10-18, 5-4
5
vs
6
Bowling Green
20-7, 10-2
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
R
H
E
Bowling Green
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
3
0
1
6
8
3
Central Michigan
0
4
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
5
9
0
Photo by: Lauren Verellen '26 - @laurenverellen_photography
Baseball Falls in 10-Inning Heartbreaker to Bowling Green
3/30/2025 3:36:00 PM | Baseball
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – A lesson? A step for a young team in a rebuilding program?
Perhaps. But that didn't make it any easier to swallow for Jake Sabol and his Central Michigan baseball team.
Bowling Green overcame an early 4-0 deficit to defeat Sabol's Chippewas, 6-5, in 10 innings on Sunday in the finale of a three-game Mid-American Conference series on Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.
The Falcons swept the three-game series, winning the first game by two runs and the second by one. The Chippewas outhit the defending MAC regular season champion Falcons in all three games.
"I guess the only silver lining is we were a swing away in all three," said Sabol, whose team entered the series on a five-game win streak and had won eight of its previous nine. "Doesn't matter when you drop them all. You play well and lose, it's not a good feeling.
"I think (Bowling Green) came in here, challenged us, and we weren't ready for it, we didn't answer the challenge. We kind of let them do whatever they wanted to. Just disappointing to be honest.
"I thought we had turned the corner a little bit, we were playing better, and we were ready to compete against some of the better teams in our league. But maybe we're just not there yet."
The Chippewas (10-18, 5-4 MAC) go to Purdue Fort Wayne for a nonconference game on Tuesday, April 1, and then welcome Kent State in a three-game MAC series next weekend.
Bowling Green is 20-7 and shares first place in the MAC at 10-2.
With the game tied, 5-5, Garrett Wright led off the 10th for Bowling Green with a single and moved to second on a walk. He took third on a fly ball and scored the go-ahead run on a one-out sacrifice fly.
Aaron Piasecki singled to lead off the bottom of the 10th and was bunted to second. Bowling Green closer Connar Penrod got a fly ball and a popup to end it for his third save of the series and eighth of the season.
The Chippewas seized a 4-0 lead with four runs in the second inning on RBI doubles by Nathan Ball, Ayden Wright, and Zach Knowlton. CMU picked up another run on a wild pitch.
Bowling Green chipped away with a run in the fourth and another in the sixth to draw to 4-2. The Chippewas increased their lead to 5-2 on Mikey Murphy's seventh-inning RBI single.
The Falcons then tied it with three runs in the eighth.
"We get up by four and (Bowling Green), they're just going to continue to battle and keep coming," Sabol said. "We need to add and answer and come back and not just be happy with a four-run lead and that's been the message all season long.
"Can we extend leads? Can we answer when they do that to us? We get complacent in some spots for whatever reason and that's what happened today."
Redshirt sophomore right-hander Jared Hanson turned in his second straight solid start for the Chippewas, allowing two runs on five hits over six innings.
Max Hammond worked the seventh but then surrendered two runs in the eighth before giving way to Cayden Smith (1-1), who allowed two runs on three hits over three innings in taking the loss.
"Back-to-back weekends for a guy (Hanson) who I don't think has ever thrown six until last weekend for us," Sabol said. "He's been big for us. Hanson certainly gave us a chance there, which was fun to see.
"I think Max and Cayden were darned good too, maybe just not as good as they needed to be in a few moments. Those guys are young, they're freshmen, and they're going to get a heck of a lot better."
Perhaps. But that didn't make it any easier to swallow for Jake Sabol and his Central Michigan baseball team.
Bowling Green overcame an early 4-0 deficit to defeat Sabol's Chippewas, 6-5, in 10 innings on Sunday in the finale of a three-game Mid-American Conference series on Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.
The Falcons swept the three-game series, winning the first game by two runs and the second by one. The Chippewas outhit the defending MAC regular season champion Falcons in all three games.
"I guess the only silver lining is we were a swing away in all three," said Sabol, whose team entered the series on a five-game win streak and had won eight of its previous nine. "Doesn't matter when you drop them all. You play well and lose, it's not a good feeling.
"I think (Bowling Green) came in here, challenged us, and we weren't ready for it, we didn't answer the challenge. We kind of let them do whatever they wanted to. Just disappointing to be honest.
"I thought we had turned the corner a little bit, we were playing better, and we were ready to compete against some of the better teams in our league. But maybe we're just not there yet."
The Chippewas (10-18, 5-4 MAC) go to Purdue Fort Wayne for a nonconference game on Tuesday, April 1, and then welcome Kent State in a three-game MAC series next weekend.
Bowling Green is 20-7 and shares first place in the MAC at 10-2.
With the game tied, 5-5, Garrett Wright led off the 10th for Bowling Green with a single and moved to second on a walk. He took third on a fly ball and scored the go-ahead run on a one-out sacrifice fly.
Aaron Piasecki singled to lead off the bottom of the 10th and was bunted to second. Bowling Green closer Connar Penrod got a fly ball and a popup to end it for his third save of the series and eighth of the season.
The Chippewas seized a 4-0 lead with four runs in the second inning on RBI doubles by Nathan Ball, Ayden Wright, and Zach Knowlton. CMU picked up another run on a wild pitch.
Bowling Green chipped away with a run in the fourth and another in the sixth to draw to 4-2. The Chippewas increased their lead to 5-2 on Mikey Murphy's seventh-inning RBI single.
The Falcons then tied it with three runs in the eighth.
"We get up by four and (Bowling Green), they're just going to continue to battle and keep coming," Sabol said. "We need to add and answer and come back and not just be happy with a four-run lead and that's been the message all season long.
"Can we extend leads? Can we answer when they do that to us? We get complacent in some spots for whatever reason and that's what happened today."
Redshirt sophomore right-hander Jared Hanson turned in his second straight solid start for the Chippewas, allowing two runs on five hits over six innings.
Max Hammond worked the seventh but then surrendered two runs in the eighth before giving way to Cayden Smith (1-1), who allowed two runs on three hits over three innings in taking the loss.
"Back-to-back weekends for a guy (Hanson) who I don't think has ever thrown six until last weekend for us," Sabol said. "He's been big for us. Hanson certainly gave us a chance there, which was fun to see.
"I think Max and Cayden were darned good too, maybe just not as good as they needed to be in a few moments. Those guys are young, they're freshmen, and they're going to get a heck of a lot better."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Owen Poole (3-2)
L: Smith, Cayden (1-1)
S: Connar Penrod (8)
Batting:
2B: TJ Takats 1
RBI: Garrett Wright 1 ; DJ Newman 1 ; Sam Seidel 3 ; Caden Parker 1
SF: Sam Seidel 1
Base Running:
RUNS: TJ Takats 2 ; Garrett Wright 2 ; Sam Seidel 1 ; Gunner Antillon 1
SB: DJ Newman 2 ; Sam Seidel 2
CS: Caden Parker 1
Batting:
2B: Prout, Cole 1 ; Piasecki, Aaron 1 ; Ball, Nathan 1 ; Wright, Aydin 1 ; Knowlton, Zach 1
RBI: Murphy, Mikey 1 ; Ball, Nathan 1 ; Wright, Aydin 1 ; Knowlton, Zach 1
SH: Kwiatkowski, Cole 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Piasecki, Aaron 1 ; Campanale, Rees 1 ; Ball, Nathan 1 ; Wright, Aydin 1 ; Webb, Bryson 1
SB: Murphy, Mikey 1
CS: Murphy, Mikey 1 ; Knowlton, Zach 1
HBP: Knowlton, Zach 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
2
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
IF/OF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ BaseballOF
/ BaseballIF
/ Baseball
IF/RHP
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