The Chippewas built a lead and then turned the ball over to senior Lee Naplin. Naplin shut down the No. 2 seeded EMU tossing four scoreless innings, picking up his second save of the season.

“Lee goes out and throws. He is hard to pick the ball up from, and that allows him to control the pace of the game,” said head coach Judd Folske.

Naplin came on in relief of All-MAC representative Chad Pleiness. The senior gave up nine runs in four-and-two-third-innings before giving way to Joey Fahndrich who got the last out of the fifth inning to pick up the victory (2-1).

“I was supposed to start game three,” Naplin said. “But a situation arose. I just tried to hit my spots and get ground balls.”

Eastern scored three times in the second inning to grab an early lead. Pleiness walked Chad Jenkins, who later stole second before scoring on Ryan Ford’s single. Ford then scored on a two-run homer by Todd Kimling. CMU then came back in the third inning with nine runs on eight hits to take a 9-3 lead.

Junior first baseman Mike Gates had a three-run home run and singled in two more, while senior Tim Bullinger had two doubles.

“When we played them the first time they kept throwing me change-ups away. The first pitch they threw to me I took advantage of it. I pretty much had them figured out but I think we all had them figured out,” Gates said.

CMU had a two-out rally in the fourth inning as the Chippewas scored three runs. Junior Tim Groves and freshman David Latour had back-to-back doubles.

Groves scored on Latour’s double and Latour came home on a single by Bullinger.

Junior Ryan Krueger singled in two-runs in the sixth innings as the Chippewas built the lead to 14-9.

CMU added more insurance in the eighth when junior Danny Gibbons scored after he doubled, then stole second and came in when Krueger bounced out.

The Chippewas advanced to face Kent State, who beat Ball State 13-4.

Ford led the Eagles with three hits and five RBI, two on his second home run of the season.

Eastern lost Thursday morning to Miami (14-13) and had its season ended with a 30-28 record.

Kent State 18, CMU 8

Seven Kent State home runs led the Golden Flashes to victory over CMU Thursday.

The home runs tie the single-game tournament record.

In the top of the first inning, Kent scored four runs on three home runs off junior starter Jeff Garner.

“He had control problems,” Folske said. “The ball jumps off from the bat and with that wind blowing out, line drives are home runs. You have to prepare yourself for double-digit scoring.”

Kent added two more runs off from Garner in the second inning. CMU then turned to senior Gavin Gillette in the third inning. Gillette couldn’t stop the Golden Flashes as they score two more runs for an 8-1 lead.

Freshman Keith Sampsell got the Chippewas on the board in the second inning with a home run. Gates then knocked in two more runs in the third inning cutting the lead to 9-3.

CMU then cut the lead to 9-7 when Gates singled in another run and Sampsell hit another home run, a three-run shot, his seventh home run of the season.

Kent then put the game away with one run in the sixth, four each in the seventh and eighth.

CMU scored one run in the ninth when Bullinger doubled, his third of the tournament and scored on a double by Gibbons.

The loss set up an elimination game with No. 1 seeded Bowling Green on Friday.

Bowling Green defeated Miami (15-6) before losing to Ball State (20-11) to set up the first meeting of the season between the two teams.

CMU 11, BGSU 4

Junior starter Dan Horvath pitched a complete game to pick up the win.

It helped save pitchers for CMU as Folske had used eight pitchers in the first two games.

Horvath, who had been struggling with his control, found it and led CMU to victory. He gave up 10 hits, no more than two in any inning, while stranding 14 Falcons on base.

“I faced the same team last season in windy/breezy conditions. So the hitters I knew I tried to keep off balance and tried to keep the ball on the ground,” Horvath said.

Horvath was taken out of the rotation during the Toledo series to set up Pleiness as the game-one starter.

He gave up four runs, three earned while walking six and struck out six, to raise his record to 4-5.

“I wanted to establish myself as one of the top pitchers on the team,” Horvath said.

Horvath gave up a run in the bottom of the first but CMU took the lead 4-1 in the second inning. CMU scored when Groves singled in a run, before Bullinger doubled in two which set up Krueger’s RBI single.

Senior Scott Pickens singled in Gates in the third inning before a wild pitch scored Sampsell.

In the fifth inning junior Tommy Grubb hit his fourth home run of the season, a solo-shot over the right field fence.

BG cut the lead in the fifth inning when Tim Newell scored but Horvath got out of a bases-loaded jam.

CMU then took a nine-run lead (11-2) when Pickens hit a grand slam homer.

“The grand slam was huge,” said BG head coach Danny Schmitz. “That was the icing on the cake. But give Horvath credit. We had a chance to get to him early but we didn’t. He made the pitches that he had to.”

The Falcons added two in the bottom of the ninth off Horvath who threw nearly 170 pitches in the game.

The Chippewas had to play later that day against the Golden Flashes.

Kent 2, CMU 0

CMU turned to sophomore T.J. Johnson, who was making his first start of his career.

Johnson (1-2) threw a complete game four-hitter giving up two runs, while walking three and striking out five.

“I felt pretty comfortable out there. I mixed it up a lot, and I thought I pitched pretty damn good,” Johnson said. “I tried to change speeds and hit the corners.”

But the Chippewas were not able to get the offense going. They out-hit the Flashes but were unable to get the key hit, as they stranded runners on second and third in the fifth and seventh innings.

“That was an outstanding performance (by Johnson),” Folske said. “We just didn’t get any clutch hits, and we struck out too many times. We were a hit away from the title game.”

The game was scoreless until the seventh inning when Johnson walked Pat O’Brien. O’Brien scored on a double by Brady Glass. Glass moved to third after the relay throw got away from the Chippewas.

Glass’ double was hit to left field where Krueger picked up the ball and hit the cut-off man Groves. Groves throw from the grass behind third base bounced to the plate, allowing O’Brien to score.

“It’s a bang-bang play,” Folske said. “If we play catch, we have him out at home. I don’t know why we bounce the ball on throws like that.”

Tom Martin then had an infield single that allowed Glass to score.

Starter Matt Lorenzo went the first seven innings for Kent picking up the win (6-2).

He gave up five hits while walking one batter and striking out a career-high 10. He gave way to Gus Hlebovy who pitched two scoreless innings picking up his 11th save of the season.

The loss meant the end of the careers for six CMU players. Bullinger, Gillette, Naplin, Pickens, and Pleiness and Nick Zastrow where Folske’s first recruiting class.

“I am very much proud of them,” Folske said. “The loss of this class hurts.”

The six Chippewas will wait until the June 4-6 draft to see if they move on to the next level.

“It is hard to believe it is over,” Pleiness said. “All the hard work, games, everything. It is hard to believe that it has come to the end for good.”

NOTES: CMU finishes the season with a 31-25 record. The Chippewas set a MAC record for stolen bases in a tournament game with seven against Eastern. The old mark was five set by Miami in 1983 vs. Eastern Michigan. Grubb, Gates and Geldhof had two each. Bullinger tied the tourney record with four doubles en route to being named to the All-Tournament team.

The Golden Flashes are in the South Bend, Ind. regional. They play Friday against South Alabama (41-17). The other game in the region features Ohio State (36-18-1) against Notre Dame (44-15).

Kent State ends baseballs season

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