Bats Boom as Baseball Earns a Split on Opening

Friday, February 13

Carrollton, Ga.

1 p.m.

Central Michigan University

0-1

West Georgia

1-0

Central Mich.

West Ga.

Harrison Bowman homered twice in powering CMU to an 18-6 victory over West Georgia on Friday in game two of the Chippewas' season-opening doubleheader at West Georgia.

Photo by: Josie Ransley '25,M'27 - @josieransmedia

2/13/2026 10:34:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Game 1 Box Score Game 2 Box Score

Bowman homers twice, Loikits finishes with four hits, relievers shut down West Georgia in nightcap

By: Andy Sneddon

CARROLLTON, Ga. – Harrison Bowman homered twice, Drew Loikits finished with four hits including two doubles, and two relievers threw five-plus shutout innings on Friday as the Central Michigan baseball team downed West Georgia, 18-6, in the nightcap to earn a split of a season-opening doubleheader at the Wolves' Cole Field.

"The bounce-back was huge," said CMU coach Jake Sabol, whose team dropped the opener, 11-3. "Obviously, ending the day with a W on a high note after doing some really good things certainly beats winning the first and dropping the second. I'm just proud of the way these guys competed today.

"I'm happy overall with the day. Do we want to be 2-0? Yes, of course. But I like where we ended heading into (Saturday)."

The Chippewas and Wolves close their four-game series with a doubleheader on Saturday (1 p.m.).

Bowman, a junior transfer from Troy, hit his first home run to highlight the Chippewas' four-run first inning, sparking the Chippewas in the nightcap.

Cashing in early in game two was critical for the Chippewas, who stranded 13 baserunners in the opener.

"That was kind of a point of emphasis there at the end of game one, we had pitches to hit if we were just a little bit more aggressive," Sabol said. "And I think that was kind of the mentality changing from game one to game two. 'Hey, let's be ready. We're going to get pitches to hit. If we can be on time and find the barrel, good things are going to happen.'

"And, you know, we did that right away in inning number one (of game two)."

The Chippewas broke a 4-4 tie with a five-run fourth inning and then poured it on, scoring 14 runs from the fourth-eighth innings.

Gavin Moczydlowsky relieved starter Jared Hanson in the fourth and tossed 3 1/3 scoreless innings while the Chippewa bats delivered at the plate. Freshman Cameron Neihaus, pitching in his first collegiate game, was perfect over the final two frames.

Moczydlowsky, a junior transfer from Michigan State, picked up the victory after allowing one hit and striking out four.

"I think we all kind of were a little unsure of what we'd get out of him, but he has only gotten better since he's been here," Sabol said. "His confidence is growing and his stuff just keeps improving. I think he just found a good place to call home. He seems comfortable.

"We're pumped to have him. I think he's going to have a huge role for us. Tonight was just kind of the first chapter of that."

The Chippewas collected 15 hits, six of them for extra bases. Their 18 runs marked their most against an NCAA Division I opponent since May 6, 2023, when they scored 24 against Eastern Michigan.

West Georgia scored four runs in the second inning of the opener and never trailed, though the Chippewas managed to draw to 4-3 when they scored all three of their runs in the third.

Spencer Verburg had two hits, Bowman doubled, and Cayden Smith tripled to lead CMU at the plate.

CMU starter Hayden Bailey went 2 1/3 innings in taking the loss.

"I thought we did a lot of really good things (in game one)," Sabol said. "If you look at the scoreboard, it may not look like it.

"We just didn't capitalize on some opportunities that presented themselves. We played clean defense and we had traffic on the bases for like seven of the nine innings. We kept putting pressure on and I thought it was a well-played game offensively for us. We just needed to get a knock or two."