The baseball team showed late-inning poise and composure while capturing its first Mid-American Conference sweep against Ball State this weekend.

The team came back to take the lead in Friday’s 7-3 win and Sunday’s 5-4 win and held off Ball State’s rally to win Saturday, 8-6.

CMU utilized both its offense and defense to secure the games and the sweep.

“It’s just like coach (Steve Jaksa) says,” said freshman second baseman Brendan Emmett. “We take every inning the same. We make adjustments to want the score dictates, but not letting the pressure of the game dictate how we play.”

Jaksa said he would rather the team not think of anything in the late innings.

“I just want them to play,” he said. “When you think, you think too much. We’ll live wit the results, but you get in trouble when you think about what the result may be.”

On Saturday, the team was able to hold off Ball State’s eighth-inning rally to keep lead and eventually the victory.

The Cardinals scored four runs on five hits including a three-run home run by Joe Mack and an RBI-single to center by Matt Stoeklen.

But junior right-hander Chris Kupillas was able to get two ground out and a strike out for a one-two-three ninth inning, preserving the two-run victory.

Jaksa has stressed winning the first game of the series and on Friday, the team scored four runs in the eighth to break a 3-3 tie.

CMU came out with three consecutive hits, added one more and were helped out by two BSU errors.

Senior right-hander Eric Lawrence came back for his ninth inning and got three consecutive outs to earn the victory.

“We have some toughness and intestinal fortitude to keep playing and plugging along,” Jaksa said. “It’s a mindset you have to reinforce – keep pushing and keep moving. I though we did that this weekend.”

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