Saturday's MAC Baseball Results
Ohio 7, Eastern Michigan 2
Miami 5, Toledo 3
Akron 8, Northern Illinois 1
Bowling Green 12, Central Michigan 8
Kent State 4, Ball State 2
Western Michigan 6, Buffalo 4
Stories courtesy of Home MAC Sports Information Departments
Ohio 7, Eastern Michigan 2
Boxscore
ATHENS, Ohio - The Ohio Baseball team (12-14; 2-3 MAC) scored five runs in the eighth inning on its way to its second Mid-American Conference victory with a 7-2 decision over Eastern Michigan Saturday afternoon at Bob Wren Stadium.
Freshman Jake Madsen (Cincinnati, Ohio) continued his success from the plate this season as he extended his hit streak to 19 games on 1-for-3 hitting, while senior Jason Moulton (Toledo, Ohio) improved to 2-2 on the season after pitching 6.1 innings, allowing five hits and recording five strikeouts. Senior Jensen Painter (Willshire, Ohio) also extended his own streak by getting on base for the 26th-consecutive game. Senior Ethan Newton (Norfolk, Va.) and freshman Cody Gaertner (Allison Park, Pa.) both went 2-for-4 on the day, while junior Marck Paliotto (Columbus, Ohio) and senior Shane Cole (Oakville, Ontario) saw action on the mound as well.
The Eagles jumped on the scoreboard first with a run from Sam Ott to grab the early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The Bobcats held Eastern Michigan scoreless in the next inning though, thanks to an individual effort on a double play from freshman Ian Mezlak (Lorain, Ohio) to help end the inning.
The hot bat from Madsen did not take long to make its appearance as the freshman lined a double to right field in the bottom of the second inning. Mezlak got on base with a single to advance Madsen to third base with two outs, but Ohio was unable to bring in a run to tie the game. Painter nearly nailed his 11th home run of the season in the bottom of the fourth, but was robbed at the wall by Eastern Michigan center fielder Bo Kinder.
With two Eagle runners on base in the top of the fifth inning, Moulton picked off Ben Magsig at first and Newton chased down a deep ball in center field to help Ohio end the inning. Moulton continued to control the pace of the game from the mound early on, allowing only three hits through five innings.
Mezlak, Gaertner and sophomore Garrett Black (Lima, Ohio) all tallied base hits with no outs on the board to start the bottom of the fifth and Newton flied out to bring in a run, tying the game at 1-1. Freshman Tyler Wells (Lexington, Ky.) recorded a single of his own to advance Black to third base and Painter walked to make the bases loaded once again, but Madsen was unable to get a hit to bring home a run and take the lead for Ohio.
Moulton kept Eastern Michigan at bay all the way up through the sixth inning before handing over the reigns to Paliotto, who stifled the Eagle offense in his first action on the mound. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Newton laced one to right field on his way to a triple before scoring on a wild pitch to give the `Cats the 2-1 lead.
Cole replaced Paliotto midway through the eighth inning and forced two quick outs with a runner on third base to end the inning and prevent any Eastern Michigan runs. Junior Dan Schmidt (Kamiak, Wash.) provided late game heroics with a single to right field, driving home a Madsen run, and Gaertner scored again after a RBI single from Mezlak to increase Ohio's lead to 4-1. Mezlak, Black and Schmidt would add three more runs before the end of the inning to make it 7-1.
Eastern Michigan would threaten with a late rally with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth, but Cole was able to put the game away with a strikeout and seal the win for Ohio 7-2.
Ohio Baseball wraps up its weekend against Eastern Michigan tomorrow, Apr. 1 for the finale of the teams' three-game series. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. Sophomore Sean Kennedy (Columbus, Ohio) will take the mound for Ohio. He will faceoff against EMU's Ryan Lavoie.
Miami 5, Toledo 3
Boxscore
OXFORD, Ohio -- After dropping a 7-6 decision in the completion of Friday's suspended game, Miami rebounded later Saturday for a 5-3 victory to pull even in the teams' Mid-American Conference baseball series at McKie Field.
Freshman Matt Honchel, who leads the team with a .417 average, had his first four-hit game, lifing the RedHawks (14-12, 2-3) to the victory. The multi-hit game was the 12th in the outfielder's young career.
Friday's game, which was suspended in the top of the fourth inning due to a thunderstorm with the teams tied 6-6, resumed on Saturday, but did not have any fireworks seen the night before. After the offensive outbursts by both teams on Friday, the remaining six innings were a pitchers' battle with the teams combining for one run and eight hits.
Charles Zubrod, who relieved Miami starter Mac Thoreson in the top of the fourth inning just before the storm rolled in, took the ball for the RedHawks when play resumed on Saturday and cruised through four innings, allowing just two hits and three walks through seven. But he began to show signs of fatigue late in the seventh and gave up a double to pinch hitter Jacob North to lead off the eighth.
Matt Rosinski entered the game in place of Zubrod after North's hit and retired the next two batters, but allowed a walk and RBI single before recording the final out and keeping the deficit to one run.
Trailing 7-6, Miami moved runners into scoring position in each of the final two innings, but couldn't tie the score against Toledo's bullpen. The Rockets' Ryan Wilkinson earned the win with Andrew Marra recording the save, while Zubrod (1-2) took the loss for the RedHawks.
In the second game, Honchel was the star, adding two runs batted in and one run to his line.
Starter Brooks Fiala was solid on the mound for the Red & White as he went 6.1 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits and four walks with four strikeouts. His counterpart for the Rockets, Matt Kuna, gave up three runs, all earned, in 5.2 innings on seven hits with three strikeouts but neither starter earned a decision.
Miami struck first, taking a 3-0 lead in the third frame when Kevin Bower hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field to score Ryan Curl, who had reached base to lead off the inning on a third strike wild pitch. Max Andresen followed that with a single to center to score Bryce Redeker and Honchel.
Toledo chipped into the Miami lead in the sixth inning with one run on one hit and a RedHawk error before Redeker ended the inning and preserved a two-run lead with a perfect throw from right field to the plate to nail a base runner trying to score from second.
The Rockets eventually did rally to tie Miami in the seventh inning as they chalked up three hits and two runs while RedHawk reliever Brian Thene threw two wild pitches.
The game remained deadlocked at 3-3 until the bottom of the eighth inning, where Honchel proved to be the hero for the RedHawks with a two-out double down the left field line to bring Curl and pinch runner Jordan Shusteric around to score.
Brandon Adkins (3-0), who entered the game for the final out of the eighth and pitched a no-hit ninth, earned the win while Tyler Scott (1-1) took the loss for Toledo.
The teams conclude the weekend series at McKie Field on Sunday with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
Akron 8, Northern Illinois 1
Boxscore
DeKALB, Ill. - A day after winning convincingly against Akron, the Northern Illinois baseball team was unable to string hits together against the Zips pitcher Pat Dyer and fell, 8-1. The Huskies were not able to score until the sixth inning off of Dyer, who pitched a complete game.
"It was a flat day for us and I'm not really sure why at this point. At the end of the day I do know that we could not solve their pitcher, we hit a lot of first pitch pop ups and ground balls," said Head Coach Ed Mathey. "We always talk about a winning series, that's our goal and that's our job. We were hoping to get it done today but we'll have to do it tomorrow - It's just a matter of executing and doing it."
While the Zips were putting together hits, they were at times unable to keep them away from the Northern Illinois infielders, as the Huskies turned three double plays in the contest. The Huskies totaled six hits in the game, NIU was only able to have one multiple hit inning, doing so in the bottom of the second.
Trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Jamison Wells leadoff the inning with a walk and quickly stole second base for his 16th steal of the season. With two down and Jeff Zimmerman at the plate, Wells ran with reckless abandon as Zimmerman drove a ball through the right side and scored Wells from second to cut the lead, 4-1.
The Huskies would collect hits in the eighth (Alex Jones) and the ninth (Joe Battaglia) but were unable to put together rallies to cut into the deficit any further.
Akron scored two runs in the second, seventh and eighth innings, and posted a run in the first an fifth on 13 hits and two errors.
Despite the volume hits from Akron, the NIU pitching staff kept the hitters off balance as they struck out nine Zips batters, catching Akron batters looking five times in the ball game. Eli Anderson fanned two looking in the sixth inning.
Northern Illinois will look to close the series with a win tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 p.m.
Bowling Green 12, Central Michigan 8
Boxscore
The Bowling Green State University baseball team defeated Central Michigan by a score of 12-8 on Saturday afternoon. The game was played at Steller Field on a cold afternoon, with temperatures only in the forties. Ben Singer got the win for the Falcons to move his record to 2-2, while Nick Bruns came on for the save, his fourth of the season. The Falcons improve to 9-17 overall, and win their first MAC game to move to 1-4. With the loss, Central Michigan is now 12-15 overall, and 3-2 in Mid-American Conference action.
The Falcons got off to a very quick start in Saturday’s game, scoring seven runs in the first inning. Jake Thomas led off the game with a single, one of his two hits in the inning. Logan Walker would double before Andrew Kubuski drove a run home with a one out single. The inning would spiral out of control for the Chippewas after they made two errors, which led to seven Falcon runs. Only two runs were earned in the first, as starter Rick Dodridge would labor through the inning.
The Falcons would add two more runs in the second, as Brandon Howard and Logan Walker each scored in the inning. Walker’s run was unearned, as he reached base thanks to an error by the Chippewa third baseman.
Falcon starter Ethan McKenney would run into trouble in the top of the third, allowing three runs. He would be replaced by Ben Singer, and Singer would get out of the bases loaded jam with a two out flyout to keep the damage at a minimum.
Singer, who picked up his second win of the season, went 3.1 innings in relief, allowing four runs. He did not allow a run in the first 3.1 innings, but would run out of gas in the seventh. He was replaced by senior left-handed pitcher Patrick Martin with nobody out in the seventh.
The Chippewas would score five runs in the seventh, to climb to within 12-8, but could not muster any more runs, as Nick Bruns came on for the four-out save. The save was Bruns’s fourth of the season. After allowing a two out hit in the top of the ninth, Bruns would crack down, and get the next Chippewa batter looking at strike three to end the game.
The Falcons outhit Central Michigan 12-11 on Saturday afternoon, and were helped out by five Chippewa errors. The Falcons committed two errors themselves.
Game three of the series will be the rubber match tomorrow, with first pitch coming at 1 pm from Steller Field.
Kent State 4, Ball State 2
Boxscore
MUNCIE, Ind. - For the second straight day the Ball State baseball team suffered an extra-inning defeat as the Cardinals dropped a 4-2 contest in 11 innings to perennial Mid-American Conference power Kent State at Ball Diamond. Sophomore Sean Godfrey (New Albany, Ind./New Albany) hit a towering home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the game into extra innings.
Ball State (4-18, 1-4 MAC) had the potential game-winning run 90 feet away for the second straight game as the Cardinals loaded the bases in the 10th inning but could not bring the winning run home. Kent State used the momentum from that inning to take the lead in the top of the 11th to improve to 5-0 in MAC play this season.
Kent State (13-12, 5-0 MAC) threatened first in the top of the second inning as it posted a leadoff single and a walk with one out to put a runner in scoring position. Sawyer Pollen followed with a single into right field but Godfrey charged the hit and made a perfect throw to home plate to easy get the Kent State base runner to end the threat.
Kent State broke through against sophomore right-hander T.J. Weir (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo) in the top of the third inning. Evan Campbell started the rally with a one-out bloop single in center field before Jimmy Rider hit his second home run of the series over the left field wall for a 2-0 KSU lead.
Ball State threatened in the bottom of the seventh inning against Kent State right-hander Ryan Bores. Junior Blake Beemer (Dayton, Ohio/Northmont) led off the inning with a single and moved to third on sophomore Mitch Overley's (Zionsville, Ind./Brebeuf) single to put runners on the corners. Kent State got out of the jam as it got an inning-ending double play to keep the Golden Flashes ahead 2-0.
Junior center fielder Wes Winkle (Muncie, Ind./Yorktown) extended his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games with an infield single in the eighth inning. Weir, who moved into the designated hitter role after pitching, lined a single into left field to put runners on the corners. Sophomore Cody Campbell (Muncie, Ind./Cowan) dropped an RBI single into right center field to make it a 2-1 contest. Bores was able to get out of the inning as he got Beemer to ground out to keep KSU in the lead.
Ball State was down to its final three outs in the bottom of the ninth inning but quickly tied the game. Godfrey led off the inning by crushing the first pitch he saw from Bores high over the left field wall for his first home run of the season to tie the game at 2-2 and send it into extra innings for the second straight game.
Ball State looked primed to win the game in the bottom of the 10th inning as Winkle led off with a single and was quickly sacrificed into scoring position. Kent State decided to intentionally walk Weir to set up the double play but hit Campbell to load the bases with one out. Ball State attempted a suicide squeeze with the bases loaded but Beemer did not get the bunt down and Winkle was out at the plate to end the threat.
Kent State used the momentum from that play in the top of the 11th inning against left-hander Devin Wilburn (Selma, Ind./Wapahani). Joe Koch led off the inning with a single and moved to second on a fielding error. Wilburn issued back-to-back walks to load the bases with just one out. Derek Toadvine fought off a two-strike pitch and blooped a single in front of Winkle in center field for the go-ahead run while Campbell put the Golden Flashes in front 4-2 with a sacrifice fly.
Wilburn (1-2) was charged with the loss as he allowed two runs on two hits in 1.0 innings of work. Weir got a no decision despite tying his career-high with 7.1 innings of work allowing two runs on seven hits. Left-hander Jon Cisna (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport Township) added 2.2 no-hit innings of relief for the Cardinals.
Brian Clark (2-0) picked up the victory in relief working the final 1.2 innings and not allowing a hit. Bores got a no decision despite working 9.0 innings and allowed two runs on nine hits while striking out eight.
Ball State and Kent State return to action Sunday afternoon in the series finale. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at Ball Diamond.
Western Michigan 6, Buffalo 4
Boxscore
BUFFALO, NY - The Buffalo baseball team dropped the second of a three-game series to Western Michigan Saturday afternoon, losing 6-4 to the Broncos (12-10, 5-0 MAC). The Bulls (7-14, 1-4 MAC) put the ball in play throughout the game but were unable to get the ball past the defense, striking out a season-low four times but only scoring four runs.
After being held scoreless in the Friday game, the Bulls got on the scoreboard right away, with an RBI single from Mike Burke to score Matt Pollock, setting the score at 1-1 after the first inning. The Broncos strung together runs in the third and fourth innings as the Bulls were held off the scoreboard again until the sixth inning.
The Bulls loaded up the bases with one out thanks to singles by Burke and River McWilliams and a walk drawn by Mike Scarcello. After a fielder's choice forceout to get Burke at home, Jason Kanzler punched a dribbling single between the shortstop and third baseman, scoring two runs to tie up the game. Western Michigan was able to retake the lead after a two-out, two-run triple on a ball that walked the tight rope down the right field line.
Western Michigan tacked on another run in the top of the ninth on another two-out hit, but the Bulls came out strong in the home half of the ninth. Kanzler led off with a soaring double to left field that fought the winds blowing in and made it over the head of the retreating Bronco. A pair of deep lineouts moved Kanzler around to score, but the Bulls ran out of breathing room, and failed to get any closer in the 6-4 loss.
Due to poor weather forecasted in the late afternoon, tomorrow's series finale will be moved up to noon from its original 1 pm start time.