Baseball Takes 2 of 3 from Western Michigan

Thursday, April 2

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

4 p.m.

Central Michigan University

10-15, 4-9

Western Michigan

13-13, 9-4

Western Michigan

Central Michigan

CMU senior Cole Prout celebrates his grand slam in the seventh inning of the Chippewas' 6-3 victory on Friday at Theunissen Stadium.

Photo by: Brayden Gallagher

4/3/2026 9:31:00 PM | Baseball

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Cole Prout delivers walk-off double, grand slam

By: Andy Sneddon

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Could have been better, but two out of three ain't bad.

In quite possibly one of the longest days in 119 seasons of Central Michigan baseball, the Chippewas took two of three from archrival Western Michigan on Friday in a Mid-American Conference series on Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.

The Chippewas opened the day with an 8-7 victory, picking it up in the top of the eighth inning of a game that was suspended on Thursday night because of lightning.

Then the two teams split a doubleheader with Western taking the opener, 9-8, and the Chippewas capturing the nightcap, 6-3.

The day began at 11 a.m. with the completion of the suspended game and finished in the twilight at about 7 p.m.

All three games featured late-inning fireworks.

Most importantly, the Chippewas improved to 11-16, 5-10 MAC, winning their first series from the Broncos since 2022.

"I've never been a part of a day, even in Little League or travel ball, where I got three results at the end of one day," third-year CMU coach Jake Sabol said. "I knew it was going to be a grind. Coming out of here with two out of three is great. The goal is to win the series every weekend. We were one inning away from having a pretty darn good weekend."

Cole Prout was the hero in both CMU wins. The senior from Standish smacked an RBI double in the bottom of the ninth inning to give CMU the victory in the completion of the suspended game, and then he hit a two-out grand slam in the seventh inning of the final game of the day to put the Chippewas in front for good.

"Everything is what you make it," said Prout, who hit .545 (6 for 11) with two doubles and seven RBI in the series. "You get used to it every day growing up, playing those tripleheaders in travel ball and whatnot, so we just treated it as that.

"I was struggling before, and I went in the lab and looked at a few things, tried to fix a few things up. That (first-game) double got me going, and I rode through it with the next game and went up to plate with confidence and went on from there.

"It's really nice because we don't like those (Western) guys. They don't like us at all. That's the nice way to put it."

In between, the Chippewas dropped the opener of Friday's doubleheader. They led 8-2 entering the ninth inning when Western (14-14, 10-5) scored seven runs to hand the Chippewas the heartbreaking loss.

Game 1
Cameron Niehaus, the fourth CMU pitcher, notched the victory with two innings of relief in the series opener.

Bryson Webb had three hits and Prout and Zach Knowlton had two apiece to lead the Chippewas at the plate.

CMU led, 7-6, with two out in the eighth on Thursday when Nolan Zajac singled in a run to tie it. That's when the lightning flashed and the game was suspended and everybody went home.

"I felt like they got all the momentum when that happened," Sabol said. "And that (lightning) might have been one of the best things that could have happened for us. It allowed us to go in and say, 'Hey, tomorrow we've just got to get one out and we're in the bottom half (of the inning) here.'"

Picking it up on Friday morning, Niehaus got the final out of the inning on a grounder.

Miguel Correra Jr. singled with two out in the ninth and then Prout, a left-handed hitter, went opposite field, lifting a double to the gap in left-center and Correa raced home to score the winning run.

"I was telling a few of the guys that was my first ever true walk-off," Prout said. "It was really good to start the day and get the boys going with a win."
Game 2
The Chippewas appeared well on their way to a win in the opener of Friday's doubleheader, leading 3-2 and then tacking on five runs in the eighth to extend it to 8-2.

But disaster struck in the ninth when the Broncos used three consecutive walks and then back-to-back hit batters to draw to 8-4.

Josh Polubinski then delivered a grand slam to tie it, 8-8, and the Broncos used a single, a wild pitch, a groundout, and a fielder's choice to push across the go-ahead run.

Liam Stumpf, the fourth CMU pitcher, took the loss.

Correra, Prout, Knowlton and Drew Loikits had two hits apiece for the Chippewas, who outhit the Broncos, 11-7. CMU pitching issued 11 free passes, seven walks and four hit batters.

The ninth-inning collapse spoiled an outstanding start by senior right-hander Hayden Bailey, who allowed one run on five hits over seven innings.

Game 3
Gavin Moczydlowsky, a junior transfer from Michigan State, made his first start as a Chippewa in the nightcap and was excellent, striking out four over five scoreless innings.

Jared Hanson went the final three frames in relief for the win.

Hanson allowed two runs on four hits but got cleanup hitter Mark Mennecke on a fly ball for the game's final out, stranding two baserunners.

The combined performances by Moczydlowsky – nicknamed "Muzzy" – and Hanson were sorely needed, Sabol said.

"We have six season-ending injuries on the mound right now," Sabol said. "It's really (a starter to be determined) in game three every weekend from here on out.

"Whatever we have left, we're going to roll with. And that just happened to be Muzzy today. Five scoreless out of a guy who's never done that before. I mean, his stuff was electric today. It's the best it's been in a long time. That was huge for us."

Down 2-1 in the seventh, Brady Krzciok and Knowlton hit back-to-back singles and Loikits reached on a bunt and a muffed throw allowed pinch runner Dominic Bouscher to score the tying run.

Two outs later, Logan Keilen walked to load the bases and then Prout hit his grand slam to left-center – nearly the identical direction that his game-winning double traveled earlier in the day.

This one got up into the wind, which was blowing out to left, and cleared the wall beyond the 375-foot marker.

It was Prout's seventh homer of the season and the 21^st of his career.

In his last start, a week ago at Eastern Michigan, Prout was hitless with two strikeouts in seven at-bats in a 15-inning loss.

He reached based nine times in 14 plate appearances against the Broncos.

"He's been tested a little bit lately, kind of being in and out of the lineup as an older guy," Sabol said. "The three years that I've coached him, there's always been that little streak in the year where things don't go his way, and he's got to fight through it a little bit.

"He's a guy we've got to have in there. If he's on the bench, then we're not producing offensively. We definitely needed his performance today. I'm super proud of him."