Jake Sabol - Baseball Coach - Central Michigan University Athletics

Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw

Jake Sabol

Title:
Head Coach
E-Mail Address:
sabol1jr@cmich.edu
Phone:
(989) 774-4380
Year at CMU:
2nd
Hometown:
Shelby Township, Mich.
Alma Mater/Year:
Central Michigan/2011; Northwood/2015
Experience:
13th year overall/10th year as a head coach

Former Chippewa pitcher Jake Sabol is in his second year in charge of the Central Michigan baseball program. He was named to head the Chippewas on June 29, 2023.

His first season at CMU was marked with many highlights, including road shutout wins over Power Five opponents Michigan State, Notre Dame and Central Florida and a dramatic walk-off victory over rival Western Michigan on Senior Day on storied Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.

Sabol’s Chippewas received the Team Academic Excellence Award from the American Baseball Coaches Association, marking the fourth time in program history that the Chippewas have earned the prestigious honor.

In addition, 12 Chippewas captured Academic All-Mid-American Conference honors, catcher/infielder Nick Dardas earned the MAC Medal of Excellence, and two seniors, Jacob Donahue and Ely Stuart, garnered All-MAC accolades.

Sabol, the 22^nd coach in the 118-year history of the program, earned four letters at CMU from 2007-11. The Michigan native came to Mount Pleasant after coaching at NCAA Division II Northwood University in nearby Midland from 2018-23.

In four full seasons, Sabol guided the Timberwolves to a 140-90-1 record including a 77-35 conference mark, and four straight NCAA Division II Midwest Regional appearances. Including three seasons as the head coach at Division III Alma College, Sabol enters the 2024 season at CMU with a 207-149-1 career record (.581 win percentage).

He guided Northwood to Great Midwest Athletic Conference regular season and tournament championships in 2023, the Timberwolves’ first year in the league after moving over from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Sabol’s 2023 team finished 42-19 including 27-5 in the G-MAC. The 42 wins rank as the second highest total in program history. Sabol’s four full seasons at Northwood resulted in four of the top seven winningest seasons in program history. His 2023 squad rolled up a .689 win percentage, which stands third in Northwood history.

Sabol’s 2023 team set program records for hits (632), home runs (65), runs batted in (423), runs (473), doubles (152) and extra-base hits (237), while the Timberwolves’ slugging percentage (.518) and triple total (20) ranked as the second best for a single season in program history. Their team batting average (.321) stands as the third best in program history.

Sabol was named the G-MAC Coach of the Year in 2023, while pitcher Derek Clark earned consensus All-America honors, four Timberwolves were named to the All-Midwest Region teams, and a school-record 13 players earned All-G-MAC honors.

In 2022, Sabol’s Timberwolves finished 31-23-1, 15-9 in the GLIAC. The Timberwolves collected three All-Region honors and nine All-GLIAC accolades. Northwood’s Myles Beale was named the GLIAC Freshman Player of the Year and Jayden Dentler was named the GLIAC Freshman Pitcher of the Year.

In 2021, Sabol’s Timberwolves went 29-17 and finished 18-10 in the GLIAC. Eleven Timberwolves were named to the All-GLIAC team including GLIAC Player of the Year and All-American Cole Brooks, and GLIAC Freshman Pitcher of the Year Derek Clark. That squad also had five players named to the All-Region teams.

In Sabol's first season, seven Timberwolves earned All-GLIAC honors, three were named All-Region, and utility player, Nick Palmer, received All-America honorable mention. Four members of that 2019 squad moved on to the professional ranks, including David Vinsky who was a 15th round draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Taking over at CMU marked the second time that Sabol succeeded Bischel in the coaching ranks. Sabol was named to head the Northwood program in July, 2018 when Bischel became CMU's coach. Sabol also worked under Bischel as Northwood's pitching coach in 2015.

Prior to Northwood, Sabol spent three years (2016-18) as the head coach at Alma College, guiding the Scots to two of their three winningest seasons in the 118-year history of the program (28 in 2016; 24 in 2018). The Scots reached the MIAA Tournament twice under Sabol, marking the first time in program history that the team qualified for the event. Alma won 67 games under Sabol and placed nine players on the All-MIAA team during his tenure. It was the second time in Sabol's career that he coached at Alma. He served as the pitching coach in 2013, helping to develop his first professional signee, Jose Velez, who signed with the Minnesota Twins after leading NCAA Division III in strikeouts per nine innings.

Prior to taking over at Alma, Sabol served as the director of scouting for Prep Baseball Report-Michigan as well as an associate scout for the Toronto Blue Jays.

As a pitcher at CMU, Sabol became a weekend starter over his final two seasons. He helped lead the Chippewas to two Mid-American Conference West Division Championships and the MAC regular season title in 2010.

As a senior, he posted a 4-2 MAC record with a 3.18 earned run average and twice was named the MAC West Pitcher of the Week. Sabol received the Chippewa Award, symbolic of the player who best represents the Central Michigan baseball program, in 2011.

While playing collegiately, Sabol also played in numerous prestigious college baseball summer leagues and was named first-team All-Jayhawk League as a member of the El Dorado Broncos. He was also named to the National Baseball Congress World Series All-American Team and World Series Most Valuable Player in Wichita, Kan., in leading the Broncos to the NBC World Series title.

Sabol was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in 2011 and spent parts of two seasons in the organization with the Gulf Coast League Tigers and the Connecticut Tigers in the New York-Penn League. He went 3-3 with a 3.43 ERA in 13 games with the GCL Tigers in 2011. Sabol finished 2012 as a member of the Traverse City Beach Bums and was named to the Frontier League All-Star game in 2013. In 30 career games with the Beach Bums, Sabol posted a 12-6 record with a 2.86 ERA in 147 2/3 innings pitched.

A lifelong Michigan resident and 2006 graduate of De La Salle Collegiate High School in Warren, Sabol earned a bachelor's degree in sports management from CMU in 2011, finishing his career on the MAC Honor Roll. He earned his master’s degree in business administration from Northwood in 2015.

Sabol and his wife, Robyn, reside in Lake Isabella with their daughter, Parker, and their son, Kayden.

YEAR-BY-YEAR WITH HEAD COACH JAKE SABOL

Year	School	W-L	Conf W-L	Notes
2016	Alma	28-15	18-10	MIAA Tournament Berth
2017	Alma	15-25	13-15	--
2018	Alma	24-19	16-12	MIAA Tournament Berth
	Record at Alma (3)	67-59	47-37	--
2019	Northwood	33-21	17-11	NCAA Regional
2020	Northwood	5-10	0-0	Season suspended due to COVID-19
2021	Northwood	29-17	18-10	NCAA Regional
2022	Northwood	31-23-1	15-9	NCAA Regional
2023	Northwood	42-19	27-5	G-MAC Regular Season Champions, G-MAC Tournament Champions, NCAA Regional
	Record at Northwood (5)	140-90-1	77-35	4 NCAA Regional Appearances, Two Conference Titles
2024	Central Michigan	17-38	8-22
	Career Record (9 seasons)	224-187-1	132-94