Sunday, May 15
Ypsilanti, Mich.
1 p.m.
Central Michigan University
36-15, 0
8
at
3
Eastern Michigan
21-31, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Central Michigan
0
1
1
4
1
0
0
1
0
8
12
1
Eastern Michigan
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
1
3
10
2
Mario Camilletti homered for the second straight day as CMU completed a four-game sweep at Eastern Michigan on Sunday.
Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw
Baseball Sweeps Back Into First Place
5/15/2022 5:34:00 PM | Baseball
Chippewas home for final regular-season series, title shot, beginning on Thursday
YPSILANTI, Mich. – With the Mid-American Conference tournament on the horizon, Central Michigan is back on top just in time.
The CMU baseball team reclaimed first place on Sunday as it downed Eastern Michigan, 8-3, to complete the four-game MAC series sweep at the Eagles' Oestrike Stadium.
CMU is 36-16, 28-6 in the conference. The Chippewas entered the weekend 1 ½ games behind Ball State, which split a four-game series with Ohio and is 28-7 in league play.
CMU, the two-time defending league champion, leads Ball State by one-half game. The final weekend of the regular season begins on Thursday, May 19, when the Chippewas open a four-game series with Toledo at Theunissen Stadium. Ball State closes the regular season with a four-game series at Miami (Ohio).
The regular season champion hosts the MAC Tournament.
"We work hard to not pay attention to the standings," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "Obviously, people are aware of them, but we try not to pay much attention because when you play good baseball, (standings) take care of themselves.
"But for me, the fun part of that is that we'll come home next weekend and our guys will have a chance to play for the championship; not too many teams get to do that in the last weekend. … It's fun for our guys to be a part of that environment. There's no guarantee that we win or lose, but I'm proud of them to be in a position to do that."
Garrett Navarra (6-0) struck out a career-high 10 for the victory on Sunday. The junior left-hander went seven innings, allowing two runs on seven hits. Jake Jones worked the final two frames, allowing one run on three hits while striking out three.
All three of EMU's runs came on solo homers, two off Navarra.
"We talk a lot about (solo homers) not beating us," Bischel said. "The point being, if you give up a home run, it's not the end of the world as long as you're limiting guys on base and not issuing free passes.
"That's exactly what happened. Two solo homers wasn't enough to beat (Navarra); he had a high pitch count after three innings, and I was just hoping he could go five (innings). But for him to go seven was just really impressive. This is two weeks in a row where he's just done a fantastic job."
Mario Camilletti led the 12-hit Chippewa attack including a three-run homer that highlighted a four-run fourth, after which CMU led, 6-2.
Adam Proctor and Danny Wuestenfeld also homered for CMU. It was Wuestenfeld's team-high eighth of the season and it was the fifth for both Camilletti and Proctor.
Camilletti extended his hitting streak to 12 games. He hit .578 (11 for 19) in the series with two home runs and five RBI. He ranks 12th in the nation with a .509 on-base percentage.
Sunday's win was CMU's fifth straight and the Chippewas have won eight of nine since they were swept in a four-game series at Ball State two weeks ago.
"As a whole on the weekend, I couldn't be more proud of these guys for what they've put into it," said Bischel, whose team endured a near-four-hour lightning delay in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. "It was a long weekend, hot every day, and we had that big delay (on Saturday) which made for a long day.
"More than anything, our pitching and defense were just excellent the entire weekend and when you do that, you're going to have a chance to win."
As the battle for the regular season title and the privilege of hosting the MAC Tournament grows in intensity, the Chippewas face a quick three-day turnaround before facing Toledo.
"(The preparation) starts with getting some rest," Bischel said. "It's a short week with the game Thursday for a hot series, so we need to get our legs back under us, make good decisions and again, hit the reset button.
"We're confident that we can go anywhere and play well and win (in the MAC tournament). But for our fans, we'd love to be at home and play in front of them. We've got great support there. We're not going to put too much pressure on ourselves and make it too big of a deal because at the end of the day, we're in the tournament and that's what really matters.
"But certainly, we've got great fans and we'd love to give them a chance to stay home and watch us play."
The CMU baseball team reclaimed first place on Sunday as it downed Eastern Michigan, 8-3, to complete the four-game MAC series sweep at the Eagles' Oestrike Stadium.
CMU is 36-16, 28-6 in the conference. The Chippewas entered the weekend 1 ½ games behind Ball State, which split a four-game series with Ohio and is 28-7 in league play.
CMU, the two-time defending league champion, leads Ball State by one-half game. The final weekend of the regular season begins on Thursday, May 19, when the Chippewas open a four-game series with Toledo at Theunissen Stadium. Ball State closes the regular season with a four-game series at Miami (Ohio).
The regular season champion hosts the MAC Tournament.
"We work hard to not pay attention to the standings," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "Obviously, people are aware of them, but we try not to pay much attention because when you play good baseball, (standings) take care of themselves.
"But for me, the fun part of that is that we'll come home next weekend and our guys will have a chance to play for the championship; not too many teams get to do that in the last weekend. … It's fun for our guys to be a part of that environment. There's no guarantee that we win or lose, but I'm proud of them to be in a position to do that."
Garrett Navarra (6-0) struck out a career-high 10 for the victory on Sunday. The junior left-hander went seven innings, allowing two runs on seven hits. Jake Jones worked the final two frames, allowing one run on three hits while striking out three.
All three of EMU's runs came on solo homers, two off Navarra.
"We talk a lot about (solo homers) not beating us," Bischel said. "The point being, if you give up a home run, it's not the end of the world as long as you're limiting guys on base and not issuing free passes.
"That's exactly what happened. Two solo homers wasn't enough to beat (Navarra); he had a high pitch count after three innings, and I was just hoping he could go five (innings). But for him to go seven was just really impressive. This is two weeks in a row where he's just done a fantastic job."
Mario Camilletti led the 12-hit Chippewa attack including a three-run homer that highlighted a four-run fourth, after which CMU led, 6-2.
Adam Proctor and Danny Wuestenfeld also homered for CMU. It was Wuestenfeld's team-high eighth of the season and it was the fifth for both Camilletti and Proctor.
Camilletti extended his hitting streak to 12 games. He hit .578 (11 for 19) in the series with two home runs and five RBI. He ranks 12th in the nation with a .509 on-base percentage.
Sunday's win was CMU's fifth straight and the Chippewas have won eight of nine since they were swept in a four-game series at Ball State two weeks ago.
"As a whole on the weekend, I couldn't be more proud of these guys for what they've put into it," said Bischel, whose team endured a near-four-hour lightning delay in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. "It was a long weekend, hot every day, and we had that big delay (on Saturday) which made for a long day.
"More than anything, our pitching and defense were just excellent the entire weekend and when you do that, you're going to have a chance to win."
As the battle for the regular season title and the privilege of hosting the MAC Tournament grows in intensity, the Chippewas face a quick three-day turnaround before facing Toledo.
"(The preparation) starts with getting some rest," Bischel said. "It's a short week with the game Thursday for a hot series, so we need to get our legs back under us, make good decisions and again, hit the reset button.
"We're confident that we can go anywhere and play well and win (in the MAC tournament). But for our fans, we'd love to be at home and play in front of them. We've got great support there. We're not going to put too much pressure on ourselves and make it too big of a deal because at the end of the day, we're in the tournament and that's what really matters.
"But certainly, we've got great fans and we'd love to give them a chance to stay home and watch us play."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Navarra, Garrett (6-0)
L: FRUIT, Zach (4-5)
Batting:
2B: Simpson, Justin 1 ; Lechnir, Drew 1
HR: Camilletti, Mario 1 ; Wuestenfeld, Danny 1 ; Proctor, Adam 1
RBI: Camilletti, Mario 3 ; Wuestenfeld, Danny 1 ; Lechnir, Drew 1 ; Shepardson, Aidan 1 ; Proctor, Adam 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Camilletti, Mario 1 ; Simpson, Justin 1 ; Wuestenfeld, Danny 2 ; Shepardson, Aidan 1 ; Dardas, Nick 1 ; Proctor, Adam 2
HBP: Wuestenfeld, Danny 1 ; Shepardson, Aidan 1
Batting:
2B: KIRK, Matt 1
HR: HOPKINS, Taylor 1 ; KIRK, Matt 1 ; DOLNEY, Aaron 1
RBI: HOPKINS, Taylor 1 ; KIRK, Matt 1 ; DOLNEY, Aaron 1
Base Running:
RUNS: HOPKINS, Taylor 1 ; KIRK, Matt 1 ; DOLNEY, Aaron 1
SB: HUEBBE, Brady 1 ; EASTER, Shane 1 ; HUGO, Logan 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
3
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
LHP/OF
/ BaseballC
/ Baseball
INF
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