And on Friday, head coach Steve Jaksa even took it a step further.

“We’re very friendly with him,” he said. “He knows us well.”

Last season, as a junior, the Kent State starting pitcher beat Central Michigan in the regular season. He beat them in the postseason. And now, he’s beaten them in back-to-back seasons.

Hallock threw seven innings of three-run baseball on Saturday as the Golden Flashes won the middle game of a three-game set at Theunissen Stadium, 9-3.

“We knew that if we won today, we would win the series,” Jaksa said. “And we knew that they would battle like hell today because they didn’t want to lose the series.”

Four errors and nine walks allowed sunk the Chippewas and Kent State took advantage of those opportunities, plating eight of its nine runs with two outs.

“Anytime you give somebody that many opportunities,” Jaksa said, “there’s going to be a significant difference in how the game is played.”

Junior right-hander Zach Cooper struggled with his command throughout the afternoon, allowing six runs on six hits while walking five through four innings.

Four of Cooper’s runs allowed were unearned.

“It was a tough day today,” Cooper said. “I didn’t have my best stuff and just tried to fight through it.”

After allowing a single to Kent State left-fielder Joe Koch to start the game followed by back-to-back walks, Cooper almost fought his way through the first inning unscathed, striking the next two batters out before being called for a balk, scoring Koch.

He struck out the following batter to end the inning.

“I didn’t pause,” he said of the balk. “There was definitely a point there where I was upset because obviously I could have gotten through that inning without giving up a run.”

The Chippewas tied the game with two runs in the third inning, but Kent State responded with four of its own in the fourth inning.

“We gave them momentum we didn’t need to give them,” Jaksa said.

Golden Flashes shortstop Jimmy Rider had a two-run double in the fourth and finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs on the day.

CMU (17-18, 6-5 MAC) scored a run in the sixth before Kent State (23-11, 9-2 MAC) answered with a pair in the seventh and a run in the ninth to put the game out of reach.

Senior first baseman Brendan Emmett had three hits.

“We put ourselves in position,” Jaksa said. “But we couldn’t come all the way back today.”

The series wraps up Sunday afternoon as senior right-hander Jake Sabol (3-2, 3.32 ERA) puts his shutout streak on the line against Golden Flashes left-handed junior David Starn (5-1, 1.68).

First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.

“I thought that would be easy,” Jaksa joked.

Jordan Dean said Jaksa told him to take the first pitch.

“Skip wanted me to see one,” Dean said.

And with Friday’s series opener against Mid-American Conference West Division-leading Kent State tied at one in the bottom of the ninth, the sophomore second baseman took two pitches, both sliders, before dropping a two-out fastball into center field and scoring Tyler Hall from third base as Central Michigan walked-off with a 2-1 victory at Theunissen Stadium.

“The coaches told me they were going to start me off with a slider,” Dean said. “I was just looking for anything in the zone, he left a fastball over the plate, I stuck my bat out and got one into center field.”

Dean’s single capped the Chippewas late-inning comeback after Kent State starting pitcher Andrew Chafin stymied the offense for much of the blustery afternoon.

Sophomore pitcher Dietrich Enns pitches Friday against Kent State. Enns earned the win after pitching the final 2/3 inning. (Andrew Kuhn/Staff Photographer)

Trailing by a run with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, junior outfielder Sam Russell tripled to the wall in right field before Jaksa called on senior infielder Tom Howard to pinch-hit.

“We told him to make sure he was ready,” Jaksa said.

And Howard was ready, laying off a first-pitch slider in the dirt before lining a fastball to left-center, just out of the reach of diving Golden Flashes left-fielder Joe Koch to plate Russell.

“I was sitting fastball,” Howard said. “Got one middle-in and put a good swing on it.”

“He’s been a spark off the bench all season,” Dean said. “He had like 20 guys giving him advice on the way to the plate, but knowing Tommy, he just stayed calm and hit the ball. It was huge.”

Starting pitchers Chafin and Trent Howard set the tone for a pitcher’s duel early, with both left-handers blanking their opponent through the first six innings.

Howard exploded out of the gate, striking out the first nine batters he faced, and finished with 11 strikeouts in seven innings. Chafin, an expected high pick in June’s Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, struck out 13 in eight innings. Both pitchers allowed a run on four hits.

“You couldn’t ask for more from Trent’s performance,” Jaksa said. “If he gives us that every Friday, we’re in every game.”

Kent State opened the scoring in the seventh, after third baseman Travis Shaw doubled and designated hitter Jason Bagoly singled him home.

CMU responded with a run in the eighth and, after reliever Dietrich Enns stranded a runner on third in the ninth, another run in the final frame to win.

“Across the board, it was a heck of a game played at home,” Jaksa said. “We knew we needed it.”

“Absolutely I could have,” he said.

And he should have been doing this two years ago; playing everyday at the Division I level, hitting, stealing and diving, one of the smallest guys on the field but always thriving.

“He’s usually been the best at every level,” his dad said.

And he probably would have been doing this two years ago; playing everyday for Central Michigan, hitting everyday for average and for power, but one of the smartest guys on the field hasn’t always been the smartest with school.

“We were tracking him for a long time,” his coach said.

“I’m hanging in with school a little better,” he said.

These days, Tyler Hall is doing it. He’s playing everyday at third base, the only Chippewas player to start every game this year. He’s hitting everyday, leading the team in batting average. He’s fielding at a new position. He’s an offensive catalyst in a familiar position.

And right now, in the first season in Mount Pleasant, the junior infielder is smiling.

“Things are going good for me right now,” Hall said. “I think it’s just about timing.”

And the time is right for Hall, who has roughly eased his way into a role as the Chippewas’ starting third baseman, filling a hole left by James Teas.

Roughly, because the adjustment from shortstop – where he played his entire career previously – to the hot corner has been a work in progress, highlighted by bumps, bruises, a team-high 19 errors and a bad hop off the shoulder blade earlier this season in Las Vegas.

“It’s been tough,” he said. “It’s a big adjustment and I’ve been putting in a lot of hours on the field to get adjusted to it.”

Easily, because Hall has picked up right where he left off at the plate, following up back-to-back seasons of hitting over .400 at Grand Rapids Community College by leading the Chippewas in batting average (.344), slugging percentage (.480), on-base percentage (.461) and stolen bases (11).

Through 33 games, Hall is leading the Mid-American Conference in batting average for players with at least 120 at-bats.
“Hitting is the strong point of my game,” he said. “For me, personally, I thought I was going to hit a little better than I am now.”

Kyle Hall knew the time was right when his son was a sophomore.

“We could tell that he was the kid that was going to make it to the next level,” the former Rockford and current Sparta High School varsity baseball coach said.

So father called son up to varsity, where he served as the rock of Rockford’s team at shortstop, and a few years later stood behind the batting cage for one of Hall’s first practices at GRCC, when amidst the noise of baseballs ping-ponging over the fence, he heard the guy next to him say, “Wow, that kid’s pretty good.”

The guy was former major league player and Grand Rapids native John Vander Wal.

“That told me he was, in fact, pretty good,” the elder Hall said.

And during his time at GRCC, Hall was more than pretty good. His first year, he hit .481. His second year, he hit .482, becoming only the fourth player in history to earn first-team National Junior College Athletic Association All-American honors in two consecutive years and earned a trip to the Netherlands as part of the NJCAA USA Baseball All-Stars.

“It was an experience I’ll never forget,” he said of competing against teams throughout Europe for a month last summer.

And it was an experience he would have missed had the 5-foot-10, 170-pound infielder kept his grades up in high school, which delayed his introduction to the MAC by a couple of years.

“School wasn’t really my thing in high school,” Hall said. “In high school you don’t think grades really have an affect on your life.”

But they did and even a good senior season academically couldn’t pass the cut to a four-year school, so he stayed at home while Chippewas head coach Steve Jaksa stayed in pursuit.

“He kept in contact with me and my parents,” said Hall, whose two older sisters also attended CMU. “I love the campus but coaching had a lot to do with it.”

And during the fall of his first year at GRCC, he committed.

“We knew that in high school, he was going the junior college route,” Jaksa said. “And we knew that he could hit. Fortunately enough, he wanted to come here so it was a good match.”

Hall may or may not be the smallest guy on the Chippewas roster – he thinks freshman infielder Pat MacKenzie has him by an inch – but on the field, he could be the team’s biggest force.

“I’m hard to play against,” he said. “People hate to play against me because I do the little things.”

He’s excelled at the high school level, in junior college, overseas and now at the Division I level.

“I think I lucked into a good situation here,” he said. “It was definitely good timing.”

He’s a junior that’s still improving, still learning a new position and new pitchers, trying to get his Division I batting average closer to that of his junior college seasons of yesteryear.

“What’s the biggest difference?” he wondered aloud, between the two levels.

“Probably the timing.”

A week later and the senior right-hander is only six (or seven) away.

On Sunday, Sabol and the Chippewas put an exclamation point on a weekend sweep of Akron with a 10-0 drubbing at Lee R. Jackson Baseball Field in Akron, Ohio.

“I’m really happy for Jake right now,” Jaksa said. “He’s throwing the ball well.”

Sabol stymied the Zips to the tune of four hits and four strikeouts on an economical 86 pitches to earn his second straight complete game shutout victory. The win was the fifth consecutive for CMU (16-17, 5-4 Mid-American Conference).

“From the outside looking in,” Jaksa said, “We got three wins. I thought we played well, but I thought we played well the first (conference) weekend when we lost three games.”

Sabol faced his only real adversity of the series finale in the first inning when, with a runner on third and one out and Akron’s best hitter — center fielder Drew Turocy — at the plate, he retired Turocy swinging and induced a fly out from Akron cleanup hitter Kurt Gamby.

“It was huge,” Jaksa said of the strikeout.

“It was definitely big,” Sabol said. “I think that set the tone.”

And in the second inning, the Chippewas offense set another tone with a big inning, plating six runs on three hits.

Tyler Hall’s two-run double was the first of four hits on the day for the junior infielder and gave Sabol more than enough breathing room the rest of the way.

“We’ve been swinging the bats really well,” Sabol said. “It’s definitely easier to pitch with a big lead.”

Sabol’s consecutive scoreless innings streak now stands at 18 innings, while Akron’s conference losing streak now stands at nine games.

After the strikeout of Turocy, Sabol never allowed another Akron runner to reach third base.

“They were pretty aggressive, swinging at a lot of first pitches,” he said. “I just tried to stay effective with my sinker, throwing first-pitch strikes and getting them out of the box quick. Just like last weekend.”

Hall had two doubles, three RBI, scored two runs and added a walk to his perfect 4-for-4 day. He leads the team with a .344 average and “Put some really nice swings on the ball,” according to Jaksa.

Saturday doubleheader

On Saturday, the Chippewas swept a doubleheader forced by Friday night rain in a pair of one-run victories.

In the opener, CMU took advantage of four Akron errors and junior left-hander Trent Howard picked up his third win of the season, allowing an unearned run on four hits in seven innings.

In the nightcap, sophomore reliever Dietrich Enns picked up his second save of the day, striking out back-to-back Akron batters looking to preserve an 8-7 victory.

CMU responded to three Zips runs in the first with six of its own in the second.

Senior infielder Brendan Emmett had four hits.

“We have some lineups we’re comfortable with,” Jaksa said. “The guys are in a good place but we need to keep marching forward.”

Junior Zach Cooper was the winning pitcher and all three Chippewas starting pitchers earned victories on the weekend.

“Right now, we’re comfortable with our top three guys in the rotation,” Jaksa said.

The team returns to action on Friday with a weekend series against Kent State at Theunissen Stadium.

“Now if he could only do it eight or nine more times,” joked Central Michigan head coach Steve Jaksa.

On Sunday, the senior right-hander threw a six-hit shutout, striking out four and walking one in the Chippewas 9-0 defeat of Ohio.

On Tuesday, he was named Mid-American Conference West Pitcher of the Week.

“It always feels good to be recognized individually,” Sabol said. “It was one of my goals at the beginning of the year to get one of those awards.”

The shutout and weekly award were both firsts in Sabol’s collegiate career.

“He really deserved it,” Jaksa said. “He pitched one heck of a game.”

Sabol allowed only one Bobcats runner to reach scoring position in the first six innings, completed the second game and won the third MAC game of his collegiate career. He is 2-2 with a 4.19 ERA in 34-plus innings this year, recording 21 strikeouts to six walks.

Sabol throws five pitches: two fastballs, a sinker, changeup and slider, with his fastball sitting around 90 miles per hour.

He models his pitching off Roy Halliday of the Philadelphia Phillies and Derek Lowe, a Michigan native and opening day starting pitcher of the Atlanta Braves.

“I like to throw a lot of sinkers,” he said. “To get contact and keep the guys behind me inside the game.”

In his career, Sabol has a 6.28 ERA in 37 appearances, pitching 91-plus innings.

He shared the weekly award with Cal Bowling of Ball State.

“Anytime you throw a shutout in our conference, it’s going to get noticed,” Jaksa said.

“I watched a lot of film trying to rebound from my last outing,” he said. “I wasn’t really getting on top of the ball or throwing a good two-seam fastball and I was trying to blow people away.”

And the tale of the tape was evident on Sunday, in the rubber game of a weekend series against Ohio, as Sabol pitched the Chippewas to a series victory in a 9-0 blanking of the Bobcats at Bob Wren Stadium in Athens, Ohio.

CMU jumped on top of Ohio early, scoring runs in each of its first six innings, while Sabol threw an effective two-seam fastball — limiting the Bobcats to only six hits — and didn’t try to overpower the Ohio lineup, striking out four with a walk.

“I thought the work really paid off,” he said. “I stayed focus, threw a lot of two-seam fastballs and made them put the ball in play a lot.”

The complete game shutout was the first of his collegiate career.

“I’m proud of him,” said Chippewas head coach Steve Jaksa. “He executed the game plan we set up for him and did a great job.”

Offensively, CMU (12-17, 2-4 Mid-American Conference) scored in every inning except the seventh, recorded 16 hits and hit two solo home runs.

After the Chippewas scored a run each in the first two innings, senior outfielder Matt Faiman homered to right field in the fourth, his second of the season, and junior outfielder Scott Phillion homered to left field in the fifth.

The five-run cushion halfway home was more than enough for Sabol, who needed 104 pitches to complete his first game since Feb. 28 of last year.

“It was just a real good baseball game for us today,” Jaksa said.

Sophomore second baseman Jordan Dean had four hits and two stolen bases, and junior outfielder Sam Russell continued his hot hitting, smacking two doubles.

In the series, Russell hit .500 (6-for-12) with five doubles.

“We’re pretty happy with where he’s at,” Jaksa said of Russell, who has emerged as the Chippewas utmost power threat, leading the team in home runs (3), RBI (21) and slugging percentage (.483).

Rest of the series

CMU dropped Saturday’s sandwich game, 6-5, committing four errors behind starting pitcher Zach Cooper.

“The guys didn’t play great defensively,” Jaksa said. “And they’ll tell you as much.”

Cooper struck out six in five-plus innings and Faiman had two hits.

In Friday’s opener, Tom Howard broke an eighth-inning tie with a three-run, pinch-hit home run, propelling the Chippewas to a 9-3 victory.

The senior infielder laid off a first-pitch breaking ball in the dirt before lacing a letter-high fastball over the center field fence for his second home run of the year.

“It was a huge at-bat in a big situation,” Jaksa said. “He was looking for one pitch, got it and kept it going with a big hit.”

Junior left-hander Trent Howard pitched seven innings for the win.

Faiman recorded a pair of hits in each game of the series victory, going 6-for-15 with four runs scored and five driven in.

The Chippewas have won three out of four game and host Michigan on Wednesday at Theunissen Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 3:05 p.m.

“Everybody’s getting in a good place,” Sabol said. “We’re playing well and have to continue to play well so we get back in the hunt.”

Two late-inning defensive plays, a line drive up the middle an inch away or a deep fly ball a foot away. But in a conference-opening series sweep by Miami University, they were the biggest plays.

“The bottom line is that we had two opportunities to win,” said Central Michigan baseball head coach Steve Jaksa.

In the bottom of the ninth inning of Friday night’s series opener at McKie Field in Oxford, Ohio, with the score tied at one, runners on first and second and the Chippewas at bat, Jaksa decided to pinch-hit senior infielder Tom Howard.

The move came just after RedHawks starter Mac Thoreson was pulled in favor of left-handed reliever Sam Dawe and after Thoreson previously stymied the CMU offense to one run on seven hits.

Howard lined a pitch up the middle, but off of Dawes glove and to RedHawks second baseman Jon Edgington, who turned an inning-ending double play.

“Unfortunately that ball didn’t go through,” Jaksa said.

The ball didn’t go through and, two innings later, the ball went over the head of sophomore second baseman Jordan Dean as a bloop single off the bat of Miami first baseman Kyle Weldon scored the winning run in the 2-1 extra-innings victory.

“It would have been nice to have gotten a little momentum in that first game,” Jaksa said.

Junior starting pitcher Trent Howard pitched nine innings, allowing one run on five hits and struck out 13. In relief, sophomore Dietrich Enns walked three and was tabbed with the first loss of his collegiate career.

In the second game, Miami scored three runs in the top of the ninth on back-to-back errors by senior shortstop Robbie Harman for a 3-0 victory.

An inning earlier, senior first baseman Brendan Emmett flied out to deep center field with two runners on before RedHawks center fielder Ryan Brenner made a running one-handed catch to end the inning.

“Six inches to a foot of a difference,” Jaksa said, “and that one falls in.”

Junior reliever Harvey Martin picked up the loss for CMU (9-15, 0-3 Mid-American Conference), after taking over for starting pitcher Zach Cooper in the eighth inning.

Cooper did not allow a run in seven-plus innings pitched. He struck out eight.

In the series finale, part of a Saturday doubleheader scheduled because of Sunday storms in the area, the RedHawks (12-11, 3-0 MAC) tagged starting pitcher Jake Sabol for seven runs on seven hits in the first three innings and cruised to a 9-4 win.

Tom Howard drove in two runs and hits leader Tyler Hall had two hits.

“Results aside, I think we pitched very well,” Jaksa said. “I think we played our first two games very well. But we didn’t convert hits well enough.”

The Chippewas return to action with back-to-back midweek games at Notre Dame and Michigan State beginning on Tuesday.

Then they won a few games. Then last Saturday evening, after dropping the first two games of a weekend series to Missouri, the rains came.

The Chippewas were just doubled up by the Tigers, 14-7, a day after falling a run short, and head coach Steve Jaksa wanted to talk to his team.

So he summoned them to the bus after dinner and, exactly a third of the way through the 2011 season, held a team meeting.

“We had a really good meeting with the guys,” Jaksa said. “It wasn’t about any one particular thing but collectively, as a team, what we wanted to do.”

And the next day, the Chippewas did what they wanted to do.

After losing the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader, CMU responded with an 8-1 drubbing of the Tigers on getaway day.

“I thought we played extremely well that day,” Jaksa said. “I was very pleased with where we were as a team and liked our attitude.

“Now we’re going to build on it.”

The meeting, Jaksa said on Thursday from his office, “Was just a meeting” and to not read too much into it.

But the meeting, he also said, concentrated on consistency, having toughness together and competing one game at a time.
“We’ve been kind of up and down,” said junior outfielder Andrew Thomas. “It was about toughness, playing consistent and not letting ourselves get into bad situations.

“Hopefully that meeting really gets us to turn things around heading into conference play.”

The Chippewas are 9-12 heading into Mid-American Conference play, which begins today at Miami University, as hopes of defending last year’s regular season championship get underway.

“Can we do it?” Jaksa asked. “If, as we move forward, we’re a little bit more passionate about what we’re trying to get at as a group.”

But Jaksa doesn’t confuse passion with hard play.

“The bottom line is that we’ve played hard,” he said. “And it’s going to be very important to continue to play like that and play that style.

“It’s the only chance we have to be good is to play as hard as we can.”

And despite the losing record, the team’s hustle has not gone unnoticed in the box score where, routinely this early season, the Chippewas have battled back from early deficits, big deficits, and on more than one occasion, erased deficits.

“We can’t ever get those games back,” Jaksa said.

And don’t count on the team looking at the past, with the heart of the conference schedule approaching fast.

“We have to find our identity and accept responsibility,” Jaksa said. “It’s not always how you play, but how you get ready to play.”

In the two games that followed on Sunday after the team meeting, the Chippewas didn’t record an error, a stark contrast from the handful of errors in the first two games of the series.

“We can do it,” Jaksa said. “Now they know that. No errors in 18 innings on foreign soil showed it.”

Now they have to build on it.

It was the top of the eighth inning in last Friday’s series-opener at Missouri, and head coach Steve Jaksa called on the junior outfielder to pinch-hit with two outs, nobody on base and the Chippewas trailing by two.

And for the first time in his baseball career, Thomas — standing with a bat in his hands inside of a batter’s box — was nervous.

“It was definitely nerve-racking,” he said. “I hadn’t seen a live pitch in over a year.”

After seeing a full count of live pitches, Thomas found the pitch he was looking for — a fastball — and singled, scoring two batters later to pull the Chippewas within a run.

“Once I saw the first pitch, it all started coming back to me,” he said.

But it wasn’t the first time Thomas felt it coming back. He felt it two seasons ago, when, fully recovered from a broken thumb that ended his freshman year, Thomas tore a labrum in his shoulder, effectively ending his sophomore year.

He felt it last winter, when, hot on the comeback trail once again, Thomas broke his wrist. And he felt it last spring, when, almost recovered from his broken wrist, Thomas injured his groin and was shelved for the 2010 season.

Now, he’s feeling it again.

“It feels amazing,” Thomas said. “It’s just amazing to be back on the field again.”

And after four surgeries in under two years time; first it was a broken thumb, then the torn labrum, then the broken wrist before hurting his groin last season, Thomas is back and figures to make a big contribution to the CMU lineup down the stretch.

“I think this is a boost to his morale,” Jaksa said. “He has a good attitude, works hard and most importantly, deserves the opportunity to play.”

And after missing the first 17 games of the season, Thomas made an appearance in all four games against the Tigers.

He was plunked twice on Saturday and started both games in a Sunday doubleheader, scoring a run in each.

“Once I was healthy, I told [Jaksa] I was ready to go,” Thomas said. “Hopefully I proved to him that my body is ready.”

But during the long months of rehabilitating from one injury to the next, the redshirt junior admits there were times he didn’t know if his body would ever be ready.

“It was real tough,” he said. “Always one thing after another. I couldn’t play then I couldn’t practice and honestly, I didn’t know if I’d ever be healthy again.”

But Thomas is healthy again, still receiving treatment on his shoulder daily and, after a clearing a few mental hurdles — a handful of at-bats, running the bases and making a diving catch last weekend — feels like his body is back.

“I knew that it was eventually going to be alright,” he said. “I just needed to get back out there.”

“I thought we played extremely well today,” said head coach Steve Jaksa. “I really liked where we were at with our attitudes and it showed.”

The Chippewas responded to dropping the first three games of the series to the Tigers with a big fourth inning, propelling them to victory in the second game of a doubleheader.

Junior catcher Will Arnold and junior outfielder Sam Russell delivered run-scoring singles, and the run production was enough for junior right-hander Zach Cooper.

Cooper pitched six innings, allowed one run on four hits and struck out three.

“Zach gave us a good game on the mound,” Jaksa said.

Arnold collected three hits on the game, driving in four runs and senior shortstop Robbie Harman had two hits.

After the Tigers scored a run in the bottom of the sixth to cut the CMU lead in half, the Chippewas responded with two runs in the eighth inning.

Junior outfielder Eric Wrozek led off the inning with a solo home run, and sophomore second baseman Jordan Dean scored on a RBI single off the bat of Arnold to put the game out of reach.

“We got some big hits out of our lineup,” Jaksa said. “Even in the first game, we put together some really good at bats.”

In the opening game, the Chippewas lost 8-6.

CMU fell behind early but hit its way back into the game late, scoring three runs in the eighth inning when senior infielder Tom Howard smacked a three-run homer.

Howard had two hits and drove in four runs.

“He put us in a position to come back,” Jaksa said.

Sunday’s doubleheader was forced by a Saturday rainout. On Saturday, the Chippewas fell 14-7.

Russell hit his third home run of the season and freshman catcher Matt Stevens drove in three runs.

In the series opener, junior left-hander Trent Howard was touched up for four runs in five innings as CMU lost on Friday, 7-6.

“I felt we did some good things this weekend,” said Jaksa. “Now we’re going to build on it.”