CMU baseball collapse late in loss against Kent State
Central Michigan junior catcher Aydin Wright slides into second base as the baseman attempts to tag out in Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium, Friday, April 4, 2025. The umpire called Wright safe as the baseman did not tag Wright before hitting the base. (CMLife | Alivia Cranick)
With a runner on first and one out, Central Michigan baseball held a 4-3 advantage in the top of the eighth inning. As the pitch was dealt the runner took off for second, while the batter struck out.
The catcher came up firing, but the runner was safe at second. Immediately, head coach Jake Sabol made his way toward the home plate umpire believing that his catcher had been interfered with.
“From our vantage point there was a little contact made,” Sabol said. “I could be wrong when I go back and watch it, but it looked to me like he was across the plate a little bit there, and there was contact made.”
While the call on the field stood, the next batter stepped up to the plate roping a ball down the right field line for a triple scoring the runner on second and knotting the game at four apiece.
“That’s a big momentum switch there because they score right after that,” Sabol said.
The next three Kent State batters reached base safely promptly giving the Golden Flashes a 6-4 lead, a score in which the game ended in handing CMU its fourth-straight Mid-American Conference loss.
“Our short game wasn't very good today, we’re just relying on getting hits and throwing strikes and it's hard to win that way,” Sabol said. “There's so many dimensions of this game you got to be really good at and we just weren't very good at a lot of them today.”
Kent State opened up the scoring in the first with a single up the middle to bring the score to 1-0. CMU responded in the second with back-to-back doubles off the bats of Rees Campanale and Aydin Wright to tie the game at one.
After another Kent State single brought in a run in the fourth to retake the lead, CMU then took its first lead of the game in the fifth with a two-out triple from Mikey Murphy into the right field corner bringing the score to 3-2.
The Chippewa lead wasn’t long lived as the Golden Flashes tied it up in the sixth with a sacrifice fly. Again, CMU responded in its half of the inning after Kent State committed an error with the bases loaded allowing the Chippewas to retake the lead 4-3.
A scoreless seventh led to the drama filled eighth which led to Kent State taking the 6-4 lead, in which that lead would stick for the remainder of the game.
Right-handed pitcher Alejandro Espinoza was on the mound for the Chippewas and had a productive start allowing only five hits and two earned runs through five innings of work. Espinoza did have a problem with his command registering five walks to Kent State batters.
“I think we've been doing a better job the last couple of weeks, pounding the zone and limiting our free bases and, today we kind of let it get out of control,” Sabol said.
“If we're going to be any good, he's going to have a big part of it,” Sabol said on Alejandro Espinoza. “Him battling through five was fine. After, kind of struggling there early on to find the zone and putting a few guys on, it was nice to see him kind of settling in and giving us a chance.”
Central Michigan takes on Kent State in game two of the weekend series at Theunissen stadium on Saturday with first pitch slated for 1 p.m.
“That's what's my message there at the end to them was we have to be ready to go tomorrow,” Sabol said when asked about moving forward in the series.”
