Central Michigan University Athletics
Tuesday, May 13
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
3 p.m.
Central Michigan University
20-32
14
vs
9
Oakland
15-38
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2
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4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Oakland
0
3
0
0
1
0
5
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9
8
2
Central Michigan
4
0
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0
0
0
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X
14
11
1
Cole Prout shouts toward the CMU dugout after scoring a run Tuesday in CMU's 14-9 victory over Oakland on Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.
Photo by: Julia Bice '22,M'24 - @jb.jpg10
Chippewas Head Into Big MAC Series With a 14-9 Win Over Oakland in Home Finale
5/13/2025 8:25:00 PM | Baseball
Prout homers, drives in five runs to lead CMU
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Cole Prout hit a three-run homer and drove in a career-high five runs on Tuesday as the Central Michigan baseball team topped Oakland, 14-9, in its home finale on Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.
The win, CMU's third in its last four games, lifted the Chippewas to 20-32 as they head into their final Mid-American Conference series of the season this weekend at Toledo.
The Chippewas are tied with Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan for sixth place in the conference standings. The top six teams earn a berth in the conference tournament.
Toledo enters the series in fifth place at 14-13 in MAC games. The Chippewas, EMU and WMU are 11-16. If the Chippewas sweep the three-game series from the Rockets, they will make the tournament. If CMU doesn't sweep, its tournament fate will depend on how the Broncos do in their final series with Ohio, and how the Eagles fare in their series with MAC co-leading Kent State.
"They know it's a big weekend," CMU coach Jake Sabol said of his players. "They know we've just got to go out there and just play one game at a time and if we take care of our business then we'll be in a good spot."
Toledo leads the MAC with a 5.09 team earned run average and ranks 11th with a .242 team batting average. CMU is fifth with a 6.32 ERA and is seventh with a .277 batting average.
"We've got to get competitive pitching, limit the free ones, and make (Toledo's) offense beat us," Sabol said. "They swing it better at home and they're certainly pitching it well. It's going to be a challenge regardless.
"Starting pitching is going to be a key thing for us this weekend, but also just getting our offense playing the way that they've been playing. I love what (our pitchers are) giving me right now -- their effort level and their consistency. But if we can just take it up one more notch, just that little extra that we haven't necessarily gotten to yet, I think it's going to allow us to get over the edge."
The Chippewas scored four runs in the first inning on Tuesday against Oakland (15-38) and never trailed. CMU's lead expanded to 10-4 before Oakland scored five runs in the eighth inning to cut the lead to 10-9.
CMU answered in the eighth by loading the bases and scoring a run on a wild pitch to make it 11-9. Prout the drilled a three-run line-drive homer to right field on a 2-2 pitch to give the Chippewas some breathing room.
It was Prout's team-leading ninth homer of the season. He finished the game with three hits and has 12 RBI in his last four games.
"That was a big moment," Sabol said. "Those are the moments, big-time moments, late in games from some of your best players. That's exactly what we needed."
Cayden Smith also had three hits, one a double, and Elijah Henning singled, doubled and drove in four runs for CMU.
Jake Brown (2-0) went 4 1/3 innings in relief of starter Jack Smith for the victory, and Quin Konuszewski was perfect over the final two innings – he struck out the side in the ninth – for his first save. Brown allowed three earned runs on four hits and struck out four.
Those performances by Brown and Konuszewski, like those of the Chippewa hitters, who posted a double-digit total for the fourth time in five games, are encouraging heading into the Toledo series, Sabol said.
"Those guys were both really good today," Sabol said of Brown and Konuszewski. "Jake Brown, he's been working on some things, and he was able to show it today and the same with Quin. He was all around the zone and the fastball got up to 90 (mph); he was feeling pretty good."
The Chippewas are coming off a series win at home over Eastern Michigan, their first MAC home series win in two seasons. They are squarely in the hunt and control their destiny.
"We do feel good," Sabol said. "At some point it's about wins and losses, but for us we're just trying to challenge our guys to play well every day, to do the things that we want to do more often than not. We're playing better. It's encouraging.
"We're just going to go play, go enjoy it, and compete. Let the guys have some fun."
The win, CMU's third in its last four games, lifted the Chippewas to 20-32 as they head into their final Mid-American Conference series of the season this weekend at Toledo.
The Chippewas are tied with Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan for sixth place in the conference standings. The top six teams earn a berth in the conference tournament.
Toledo enters the series in fifth place at 14-13 in MAC games. The Chippewas, EMU and WMU are 11-16. If the Chippewas sweep the three-game series from the Rockets, they will make the tournament. If CMU doesn't sweep, its tournament fate will depend on how the Broncos do in their final series with Ohio, and how the Eagles fare in their series with MAC co-leading Kent State.
"They know it's a big weekend," CMU coach Jake Sabol said of his players. "They know we've just got to go out there and just play one game at a time and if we take care of our business then we'll be in a good spot."
Toledo leads the MAC with a 5.09 team earned run average and ranks 11th with a .242 team batting average. CMU is fifth with a 6.32 ERA and is seventh with a .277 batting average.
"We've got to get competitive pitching, limit the free ones, and make (Toledo's) offense beat us," Sabol said. "They swing it better at home and they're certainly pitching it well. It's going to be a challenge regardless.
"Starting pitching is going to be a key thing for us this weekend, but also just getting our offense playing the way that they've been playing. I love what (our pitchers are) giving me right now -- their effort level and their consistency. But if we can just take it up one more notch, just that little extra that we haven't necessarily gotten to yet, I think it's going to allow us to get over the edge."
The Chippewas scored four runs in the first inning on Tuesday against Oakland (15-38) and never trailed. CMU's lead expanded to 10-4 before Oakland scored five runs in the eighth inning to cut the lead to 10-9.
CMU answered in the eighth by loading the bases and scoring a run on a wild pitch to make it 11-9. Prout the drilled a three-run line-drive homer to right field on a 2-2 pitch to give the Chippewas some breathing room.
It was Prout's team-leading ninth homer of the season. He finished the game with three hits and has 12 RBI in his last four games.
"That was a big moment," Sabol said. "Those are the moments, big-time moments, late in games from some of your best players. That's exactly what we needed."
Cayden Smith also had three hits, one a double, and Elijah Henning singled, doubled and drove in four runs for CMU.
Jake Brown (2-0) went 4 1/3 innings in relief of starter Jack Smith for the victory, and Quin Konuszewski was perfect over the final two innings – he struck out the side in the ninth – for his first save. Brown allowed three earned runs on four hits and struck out four.
Those performances by Brown and Konuszewski, like those of the Chippewa hitters, who posted a double-digit total for the fourth time in five games, are encouraging heading into the Toledo series, Sabol said.
"Those guys were both really good today," Sabol said of Brown and Konuszewski. "Jake Brown, he's been working on some things, and he was able to show it today and the same with Quin. He was all around the zone and the fastball got up to 90 (mph); he was feeling pretty good."
The Chippewas are coming off a series win at home over Eastern Michigan, their first MAC home series win in two seasons. They are squarely in the hunt and control their destiny.
"We do feel good," Sabol said. "At some point it's about wins and losses, but for us we're just trying to challenge our guys to play well every day, to do the things that we want to do more often than not. We're playing better. It's encouraging.
"We're just going to go play, go enjoy it, and compete. Let the guys have some fun."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Brown, Jake (2-0)
L: Stephen Ruhle (0-2)
S: Konuszewski, Quin (1)
Batting:
2B: Matthew McGann 2 ; John Lauinger 1
HR: Jack Lux 1
RBI: Trent Rice 1 ; Matthew McGann 1 ; Brandon Nigh 1 ; Jack Lux 3 ; Ben Clark 1
SH: Ben Clark 1
SF: Trent Rice 1 ; Brandon Nigh 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Trent Rice 2 ; Taylor Tomlin 1 ; Matthew McGann 1 ; John Lauinger 2 ; Jack Lux 2 ; Carter Hain 1
SB: Trent Rice 2 ; John Lauinger 2 ; Jack Lux 1
HBP: John Lauinger 1
Batting:
2B: Smith, Cayden 1 ; Prout, Cole 1 ; Henning, Elijah 1
3B: Smith, Cayden 1
HR: Prout, Cole 1
RBI: Krzciok, Brady 1 ; Smith, Cayden 1 ; Prout, Cole 5 ; Verburg, Spencer 1 ; Henning, Elijah 4
SH: Piasecki, Aaron 1 ; Kwiatkowski, Cole 1
SF: Krzciok, Brady 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Murphy, Mikey 2 ; Piasecki, Aaron 2 ; Kwiatkowski, Cole 2 ; Smith, Cayden 4 ; Prout, Cole 3 ; Verburg, Spencer 1
SB: Murphy, Mikey 2 ; Piasecki, Aaron 1 ; Kwiatkowski, Cole 1
CS: Verburg, Spencer 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
4
H
3
RBI
1
AB
5
R
3
H
3
RBI
5
AB
5
R
0
H
2
RBI
4
AB
3
R
2
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
/ BaseballIF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballOF
/ BaseballIF/RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
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