Jordan Bischel earns MAC Coach of Year, players receive conference honors
Head Coach Jordan Bischel visits the mound against Ball State April 7 at Theunissen Stadium.
Central Michigan baseball coach Jordan Bischel was named the Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year. Meanwhile, five Chippewa players earned All-MAC awards.
Junior catcher/designated hitter Griffin Lockwood-Powell, junior shortstop Zavier Warren, senior right fielder Jacob Crum and senior right-handed pitcher Pat Leatherman were named to the All-MAC First Team. Junior pitcher Cam Brown was named to the All-MAC Second Team.
Lockwood-Powell earned his second-straight First Team nomination after ranking second in the league with 10 home runs. He also led the conference with 68 RBIs, ranks among the top 10 in the MAC in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs, hits, doubles and walks.
Warren led the MAC with a program-record 22 doubles, on-base percentage and runs. He was second in the conference in hits and RBIs.
Crum was fourth in the nation with eight triples. He was also third in the league in RBIs and fourth in slugging percentage. He finished in the top 10 in runs, hits, home runs and doubles.
Leatherman is tied for the league lead in wins (9) and is second in the conference for his earned run average and opponent batting average. He is third in runs allowed and earned runs allowed. Leatherman was an All-MAC Second Team selection the last two seasons.
Brown finished the season tied with Leatherman in wins and led the conference in innings pitched. He was fourth in ERA and fifth in opponent batting average.
The four First Team selections are the most out of the 10-team conference and the first time since 1994 that the Chippewas have had four or more members on that list. CMU had six players in 1986 and 1987.
In Bischel's first season, after four years at Northwood, his team has had a plethora of success, especially in the closing stretch of the regular season when his Chippewas won 15 straight games to capture the MAC regular season title.
CMU also lead the conference in batting average (.301) and ERA (4.06) while taking second in fielding percentage (.974). The team also led the country with 357 walks in the regular season and had a top 10 showing in the nation with on-base percentage, runs, runs per game, triples and win-loss percentage.
On top of those stats, the 2019 Chippewas' 22 wins in the conference is the most since 1998 when that team won 23 games in the MAC.
Bischel is the first coach since Steve Jaksa in 2015 to secure the award and the fourth Chippewa coach to do so. Dean Kreiner has the most out of CMU coaches with six Coach of the Year awards.
