Friday, April 22
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
1:30 p.m.
Central Michigan University
25-10, 18-1-0
11
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10
Akron
11-25, 9-16-0
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Akron
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10
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Central Michigan
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Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw
Down 5, Baseball Rallies For Dramatic Series-Opening Win Over Akron
4/22/2022 6:27:00 PM | Baseball
CMU rides 6-run 8th inning to 18th consecutive MAC victory
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The route to victory varies and you win enough of 'em, you'll take many avenues.
The Central Michigan baseball team found itself in a 10-5 deficit and then exploded for six runs in the eighth inning on Friday in taking a dramatic 11-10 victory from Akron in the opener of a four-game Mid-American Conference series on Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.
It was CMU's 18th consecutive MAC win as it improved to 18-1 in conference play. The league-leading Chippewas won for the 15th straight time overall, improving to 25-10. The teams play a doubleheader on Saturday (noon) and close the series on Sunday (1 p.m.). The Zips are 11-25, 9-16.
The late comeback was a deviation from what has become the norm in the 2022 season, when the Chippewas have pummeled opposing pitching in building big leads.
"Baseball's a unique sport," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "No matter what the lead is, you can't run out the clock. You've got to record all 27 outs and all we said (in the eighth) was make sure they have to earn these last six outs and if you do that you give yourself a chance and obviously we came through today."
Drew Lechnir and Jacob Donahue hit opposite-field singles to start the eighth against Akron left-handed reliever Brett Dietrich, who came on to start the sixth and surrendered just one hit over his first two innings.
Robby Morgan walked to load the bases and then Adam Proctor drew a walk to force in a run. Mario Camilletti was hit by a pitch to force in another run and make it 10-7. A Jakob Marsee sacrifice fly drew the Chippewas to 10-8.
The first half of the eighth-inning rally came as the Chippewa hitters faced Dietrich for the second time through the order. Dietrich had not allowed an earned run through his first 21 1/3 innings, covering 21 1/3 innings, this season.
"Our hitters have gotten really good at communicating in the dugout at what they see," Bischel said. "Just seeing him the second time around added some comfort with what (the ball is) going to look like out of the hand. The guys did a nice job adjusting."
Right-hander Joey Herrick relieved Dietrich and switch-hitting Justin Simpson, batting from the left side, slapped an RBI single to left to make it 10-9. Danny Wuestenfeld, one of the MAC's hottest hitters, smacked a run-scoring double down the left-field line to tie the game.
Simpson raced home from third, diving across the plate with the go-ahead run, on an Aidan Shepardson sacrifice fly to center field.
"In the big picture it's good to be down," Bischel said. "Not that you ever want to be there in the moment, but if you want to be a really good team and you want to beat really good teams, you've got to be able to play when you're behind too.
"It's a good lesson to learn. It's never over. You're down 10-5, you're not going to come back and win every time, but if you stay with it you give yourself a chance and we had a couple guys come through and get it done."
The Chippewas finished with 12 hits, two each by Simpson, Wuestenfeld, Shepardson, Lechnir and Morgan. Morgan extended his hit streak to seven games with two two-run singles, the first in the second inning and the second in the third. He finished with four RBI, giving him nine in his last two games.
Ben Vitas (1-1), the fourth CMU pitcher, picked up the win with a perfect eighth inning. Jake Jones worked the ninth to earn his fifth save.
Junior left-hander Garrett Navarra drew the start in place of CMU's normal Friday starter Jordan Patty, who was injured. Navarra allowed six runs on five hits, walked two and struck out five.
The Chippewas, who led 5-1 after four innings, committed three errors. Akron scored five runs in the fifth, chasing Navarra. Ryan Insco and Clayton Brock pitched in relief of Navarra before giving way to Vitas.
"A little bit of an adverse start to the weekend with Garrett on the mound," Bischel said. "Not that we don't trust him, but we are pretty acclimated to having Patty out there every week. Garrett threw OK, but not great. We didn't play real good defense behind him, and we had a couple of walks.
"You give a lot of credit to Akron, they played really well. They hit a lot of balls hard. We've seen in this league they've been very competitive, but I thought our guys did a good job staying the course."
The Central Michigan baseball team found itself in a 10-5 deficit and then exploded for six runs in the eighth inning on Friday in taking a dramatic 11-10 victory from Akron in the opener of a four-game Mid-American Conference series on Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.
It was CMU's 18th consecutive MAC win as it improved to 18-1 in conference play. The league-leading Chippewas won for the 15th straight time overall, improving to 25-10. The teams play a doubleheader on Saturday (noon) and close the series on Sunday (1 p.m.). The Zips are 11-25, 9-16.
The late comeback was a deviation from what has become the norm in the 2022 season, when the Chippewas have pummeled opposing pitching in building big leads.
"Baseball's a unique sport," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "No matter what the lead is, you can't run out the clock. You've got to record all 27 outs and all we said (in the eighth) was make sure they have to earn these last six outs and if you do that you give yourself a chance and obviously we came through today."
Drew Lechnir and Jacob Donahue hit opposite-field singles to start the eighth against Akron left-handed reliever Brett Dietrich, who came on to start the sixth and surrendered just one hit over his first two innings.
Robby Morgan walked to load the bases and then Adam Proctor drew a walk to force in a run. Mario Camilletti was hit by a pitch to force in another run and make it 10-7. A Jakob Marsee sacrifice fly drew the Chippewas to 10-8.
The first half of the eighth-inning rally came as the Chippewa hitters faced Dietrich for the second time through the order. Dietrich had not allowed an earned run through his first 21 1/3 innings, covering 21 1/3 innings, this season.
"Our hitters have gotten really good at communicating in the dugout at what they see," Bischel said. "Just seeing him the second time around added some comfort with what (the ball is) going to look like out of the hand. The guys did a nice job adjusting."
Right-hander Joey Herrick relieved Dietrich and switch-hitting Justin Simpson, batting from the left side, slapped an RBI single to left to make it 10-9. Danny Wuestenfeld, one of the MAC's hottest hitters, smacked a run-scoring double down the left-field line to tie the game.
Simpson raced home from third, diving across the plate with the go-ahead run, on an Aidan Shepardson sacrifice fly to center field.
"In the big picture it's good to be down," Bischel said. "Not that you ever want to be there in the moment, but if you want to be a really good team and you want to beat really good teams, you've got to be able to play when you're behind too.
"It's a good lesson to learn. It's never over. You're down 10-5, you're not going to come back and win every time, but if you stay with it you give yourself a chance and we had a couple guys come through and get it done."
The Chippewas finished with 12 hits, two each by Simpson, Wuestenfeld, Shepardson, Lechnir and Morgan. Morgan extended his hit streak to seven games with two two-run singles, the first in the second inning and the second in the third. He finished with four RBI, giving him nine in his last two games.
Ben Vitas (1-1), the fourth CMU pitcher, picked up the win with a perfect eighth inning. Jake Jones worked the ninth to earn his fifth save.
Junior left-hander Garrett Navarra drew the start in place of CMU's normal Friday starter Jordan Patty, who was injured. Navarra allowed six runs on five hits, walked two and struck out five.
The Chippewas, who led 5-1 after four innings, committed three errors. Akron scored five runs in the fifth, chasing Navarra. Ryan Insco and Clayton Brock pitched in relief of Navarra before giving way to Vitas.
"A little bit of an adverse start to the weekend with Garrett on the mound," Bischel said. "Not that we don't trust him, but we are pretty acclimated to having Patty out there every week. Garrett threw OK, but not great. We didn't play real good defense behind him, and we had a couple of walks.
"You give a lot of credit to Akron, they played really well. They hit a lot of balls hard. We've seen in this league they've been very competitive, but I thought our guys did a good job staying the course."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Vitas, Ben (1-1)
L: Joey Herrick (1-1)
S: Jones, Jake (5)
Batting:
2B: Jerry Reinhart 1
3B: Bryant Shellenbarger 1
RBI: Ian Pennington 1 ; Justin Barr 1 ; Cameron Benson 1 ; Zac Granger 2 ; Bryant Shellenbarger 2 ; Jerry Reinhart 2
SH: Tate Wargo 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ian Pennington 1 ; Justin Barr 1 ; Cameron Benson 1 ; Nick Arrivo 1 ; Zac Granger 1 ; Bryant Shellenbarger 1 ; Jackson Haas 1 ; Jerry Reinhart 1 ; Tate Wargo 2
SB: Ian Pennington 1 ; Jerry Reinhart 1 ; Tate Wargo 1
CS: Nick Arrivo 1
Batting:
2B: Simpson, Justin 1 ; Wuestenfeld, Danny 1
RBI: Camilletti, Mario 1 ; Marsee, Jakob 1 ; Simpson, Justin 1 ; Wuestenfeld, Danny 2 ; Shepardson, Aidan 1 ; Morgan IV, Robby 4 ; Proctor, Adam 1
SF: Marsee, Jakob 1 ; Shepardson, Aidan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Camilletti, Mario 1 ; Simpson, Justin 2 ; Wuestenfeld, Danny 1 ; Shepardson, Aidan 1 ; Lechnir, Drew 3 ; Donahue, Jacob 1 ; Morgan IV, Robby 1 ; Proctor, Adam 1
SB: Shepardson, Aidan 1
HBP: Camilletti, Mario 1 ; Lechnir, Drew 1 ; Donahue, Jacob 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
3
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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OF
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INF
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