Bailey Turns in Another Solid Mound Performance; Keilen, Loikits Homer as Baseball Takes Series Opener at UMass

Friday, May 15

Amherst, Mass. / Earl Lorden Field

2 p.m.

Central Michigan University

23-28, 12-19

Massachusetts

17-28, 12-19

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Central Michigan	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	2	0	5	8	0
Massachusetts	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	3	9	0

Drew Loikits had three hits, including a two-run homer and an RBI double, on Friday in CMU's 5-3 series-opening victory at UMass.

Photo by: Addison Glascock '29 - @addisonglasphotography

Bailey Turns in Another Solid Mound Performance; Keilen, Loikits Homer as Baseball Takes Series Opener at UMass

5/15/2026 6:06:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Andy Sneddon

AMHERST, Mass. – Hayden Bailey went seven strong innings and Logan Keilen and Drew Loikits homered on Friday as Central Michigan topped UMass, 5-3, in the opener of a three-game Mid-American Conference baseball series at Earl Lorden Field.

The teams are scheduled to play a season-ending doubleheader on Saturday (11 a.m.).

Bailey (3-4), a senior pitching for the final time in a Chippewa uniform, allowed two runs on six hits over seven innings for the win. He struck out five and walked two, following up his complete-game, two-hit shutout last week against Akron.

Bailey set down the first nine Minutemen in order and then surrendered a single, a double, and a walk to open the fourth for UMass' first run. UMass then loaded the bases in the fifth and scored a run, but Bailey induced a double-play grounder and then got a strikeout to end the inning.

He got a double-play ball to end the fourth as well.

"He followed up a really good outing with another one," CMU coach Jake Sabol said. "He was tested a little bit more in this one and he had to rebound and make some pitches and he did make some big ones with men on base.

"That is what we thought he could do and it's good to see him start to do it here because we believed in him and we knew he could have an impact for our team. I'm happy that he ended this thing on a high note."

Keilen led off the fourth inning with a homer to up CMU's lead to 2-0 and Loikits hit a two-out, two-run homer in the eighth. It was the sixth homer of the season for Keilen, a redshirt freshman, and the first for Loikits.

Loikits also doubled in a run in the second inning to lead CMU's eight-hit attack.

"He had a great day," Sabol said of Loikits. "He was very steady for us and that big swing (in the eighth) was big-time because we had two outs and we were trying to scratch another one across in a tight game. He was really good defensively today as well. Just a really good all-around good game for him."

Though the Chippewas won't make the MAC Tournament this season, this series is important for a number of reasons, Sabol said, not the least of which is a strong finish to an up-and-down season. CMU took a MAC series from Akron last weekend and has split its 10 league series entering the final weekend.

"There's a lot of these guys who are playing for the last time and they're playing for one another and they want to win, obviously, and go out on a high note, but also there's a ton of guys who are playing for their future and trying to put together quality a resumé for us as we move forward," Sabol said. "We had a handful of guys in the lineup today who are going to be returners for us, and we wanted to make sure that those guys knew that we play hard all the way through, all 56 (games).

"It's important that no matter what you do that you try to do it to the best of your ability at the highest level no matter what and don't give away opportunities and I thought we did that today."