Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
7-7
Mercyhurst
1-10
Baseball Scores 6 in 9th to Win Marathon at Mercyhurst
3/10/2026 7:44:00 PM | Baseball
We'll take things with seemingly no end for 400 Alex.
Central Michigan scored six runs in the top of the ninth inning on Tuesday to pull out an 18-14 nonconference baseball win over the Lakers at Mercyhurst Baseball Field.
The win lifted the Chippewas to 7-7. Their game scheduled for Wednesday at Youngstown State has been postponed. CMU returns to the field for a three-game Mid-American Conference series at Kent State this weekend.
Tuesday's game, interrupted twice by rain delays, featured 30 walks (20 by Central Michigan pitchers), 12 hit batters (10 by Mercyhurst pitchers), 17 pitchers (10 by CMU), and 24 baserunners (a dozen by each team).
It began at 1 p.m. and finished a few minutes after 6.
"I told the guys at the end that we can clean some stuff up, but I'd rather be cleaning it up after a win than after a loss," CMU coach Jake Sabol said. "We walked out of there with one; I'd rather walk out of there with (a win) playing poorly, than walk out of there with an L (after) playing really good.
"I take a lot of blame for the way we played today. I don't think we particularly had these guys prepared and ready to go. Fortunately, we came out with a W, but we've got to be better motivated and be ready to go."
Down 14-12 entering the ninth inning, the Chippewas scored six runs. Rees Campanale drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game, 14-14, and then Miguel Correra Jr. hit a sacrifice fly to put the Chippewas ahead for good.
Cole Prout was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in another run and then Joey Milto hit a two-run single for the final margin.
Max Hammond (1-1), the 10th CMU pitcher, worked the ninth for the win. He got the final out on a groundball, stranding two runners.
"We had to use a lot of guys," Sabol said. "We knew that coming in, and we knew it was going to be tough. The weather conditions were not very good. The weather was definitely a factor for a lot of it.
"No one wanted to kind of step up and take advantage of an opportunity and shut it down when we needed it. An unfortunate scenario where we just couldn't pick each other up."
Brady Krzciok and Harrison Bowman each homered and doubled to lead the Chippewas' 12-hit attack.
The Chippewas scored eight runs in the fifth inning in building a 9-1 lead. Mercyhurst struck back with five runs in the bottom of the inning, and then added seven more over the next two frames to re-take the lead, 13-9.
The Chippewas scored nine runs in their final two turns at bat.
"I was proud of the offense today," Sabol said. "They just kept plugging away, and they kind of carried us through the entire game.
"We did some great things early in the game and we had to kind of regroup and do it again a couple different times after they came back."
Team Stats
Batting:
2B: Prout, Cole 1 ; Bowman, Harrison 1 ; Krzciok, Brady 1 ; Ball, Nathan 1
HR: Bowman, Harrison 1 ; Krzciok, Brady 1
RBI: Prout, Cole 3 ; Milto, Joey 2 ; Bowman, Harrison 2 ; Krzciok, Brady 3 ; Ball, Nathan 1 ; Campanale, Rees 1 ; Correa Jr., Miguel 2 ; Loikits, Drew 2
SF: Correa Jr., Miguel 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Prout, Cole 1 ; Milto, Joey 1 ; Bowman, Harrison 2 ; Krzciok, Brady 3 ; Keilen, Logan 1 ; Verburg, Spencer 2 ; Webb, Bryson 2 ; Ball, Nathan 2 ; Campanale, Rees 1 ; Correa Jr., Miguel 1 ; Loikits, Drew 2
SB: Milto, Joey 2 ; Bowman, Harrison 1 ; Webb, Bryson 1 ; Ball, Nathan 1 ; Campanale, Rees 1 ; Loikits, Drew 1
HBP: Prout, Cole 1 ; Milto, Joey 1 ; Bowman, Harrison 2 ; Verburg, Spencer 2 ; Webb, Bryson 1 ; Loikits, Drew 3
Batting:
2B: Riley Ames 1
3B: Jayden Walker 1
HR: Riley Ames 1 ; Mike Samarin 1
RBI: Riley Ames 1 ; Jayden Walker 2 ; Luke Babcock 1 ; Mike Samarin 2 ; Dana Williams 2 ; Ray Altmeyer 2 ; John Chalus 1
SH: Zachary Kourous 1 ; Dana Williams 1
SF: Luke Babcock 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Zachary Kourous 2 ; Riley Ames 3 ; Jayden Walker 3 ; Luke Babcock 1 ; Mike Samarin 2 ; Dana Williams 1 ; Logan Koslin 2
SB: Riley Ames 2
CS: Riley Ames 1
HBP: Jayden Walker 1 ; Mike Samarin 1
