CMU baseball uses comeback to win home opener
Central Michigan wins its home opener against Cleary
Central Michigan baseball hosted the Cleary Cougars in its home opener on Wednesday afternoon in what turned out to be a tight game decided in the final inning. In the end, it was the Chippewas that pulled off the comeback victory, winning the game 6-5.
”Winning is hard,” head coach Jake Sabol said. “I don't care who you play, and for us in our program right now, anytime we get a chance to fight one out here at the end and be on the right side of it, we'll feel pretty good about it.”
Central Michigan gave the starting nod to freshman right-handed pitcher Dean Brown, his first career start in college. Brown collected two outs before Cleary finally got a runner on base. Central Michigan, however, was able to pick off the runner as he tried to steal second, earning the final out.
The Chippewas got their first hit of the game midway through the bottom of the first, as freshman shortstop Cayden Smith fired one down the middle of the outfield to reach first, also advancing a runner to second.
Central Michigan scored its first run of the game on the next at-bat. Junior second baseman Aaron Piasecki hit one into shallow left field and junior right fielder Cole Prout rounded third and slid into home plate to score the first run of the season at home for the Chippewas.
A single by sophomore designated hitter Jake Kutella added onto the Central Michigan lead as the hit allowed Smith to advance to home.
Cleary finished off the inning with no further damage done as the Chippewas held a 2-0 lead heading into the second inning.
With two outs in the top of the second inning, Cleary found itself with the bases loaded, but was unable to capitalize on the opportunity as a flyout gave the Chippewas their third out.
Central Michigan scored its third run as Prout rocketed a hit down right-center field, allowing sophomore catcher Carter Campau to cross home plate, giving Central Michigan a 3-0 lead at the end of the second inning.
The Chippewas brought in junior right-handed pitcher Jack Bach as their first relief pitcher to start the third inning.
Central Michigan surrendered its first run as Cougar junior catcher Joey Parinello hit a fly ball to get his teammate senior left fielder Gavin Kempainen home for Cleary’s first run. The Cougars added to their total as the Chipewas made an error allowing a second run. Central Michigan finished out the top of the third without giving up any more runs.
The Chippewas first hit of the third inning was a triple by Kutella, who was able to score on the next Chippewa at-bat, putting the home team up 4-2 at the end of the third.
Central Michigan brought out its second and third relief pitchers, sophomore right-hander Trevor Busyn and then junior right-hander Liam Stumpf, during the top of the fourth inning, both of whom kept Cleary scoreless in top of the inning.
The Cougars also kept the Chippewas away from home plate, with neither team recording a run in the fourth inning.
Cleary opened the sixth inning by loading the bases, which it soon converted into a run because of a passed ball mistake from CMU’s catcher. The Cougars added two more runs on the next two at-bats, taking a 5-4 lead mid-way through the second. The Chippewas ended the inning by grabbing the last out, but the damage was done.
The Chippewas continued to struggle on offense, going scoreless in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings.
“ I think we may have got ourselves into a little bit of a panic mode there, knowing what our expectation is when we come to the field every day, and when it's not happening, everyone tries so much harder to be the guy to do it,” Sabol said. “ We talk a lot about just being one of nine players, being who you are, and that's good enough for us if you do it to a max level.”
Cleary again loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the eighth, but couldn’t score any runs, leaving the score at 5-4, Cougars ahead.
The Chippewas had an opportunity to score at the bottom of the eighth with a runner at third but failed to convert, going into the final inning still down one run.
After keeping the Cougars scoreless in the top of the eighth, the Chippewas found some offensive momentum as their first two batters of the lineup found hits to start the final half of the inning. Central Michigan found use of the late game success and sophomore first baseman Nathan Ball hit an RBI walk-off single to win the game for the Chippewas.
Prout, Kutella and left fielder Mikey Murphy led the Chippewas through the afternoon, each registering two hits.
The Chippewas are on the road again as they travel to Northern Illinois to take on the Huskies in a series this weekend.
