CMU 13, NIU 1: Seven-run second inning highlights rout, series sweep of Huskies
Consider it an exclamation point.
After taking the first two games of the weekend series, the Central Michigan baseball team gave starter Jake Sabol all the offense he needed Sunday, as CMU beat Northern Illinois 13-1 to sweep the series.
Sabol’s season-high seven strikeouts were good enough to keep the Northern Illinois offense in check for the majority of the afternoon, as CMU (24-20 overall, 12-6 Mid-American Conference) remains in a tie with Toledo and Eastern Michigan atop the MAC West.
“I’m ecstatic about the weekend, just to be able get a three-game sweep whether its home or away,” said CMU head coach Steve Jaksa. “I’m very pleased at how the guys finished the weekend.”
CMU used a five-hit, seven-run second inning to erase an early 1-0 NIU lead. The offensive overload didn’t take long to begin. Junior infielder Tyler Hall added to his .350 average, when he tripled on a line drive to center field on his first pitch of his at-bat. He scored one batter later on a sacrifice fly from Brendan Emmett to tie the game at 1.
After keeping the Huskies off the bases in the second, the offensive explosion really got going.
A double off the bat of junior Nate Theunissen kick-started the bottom half of the inning. Since returning home for the team's eight-game homestand, Theunissen has shown flashes of last year’s .380 batting average during the Chippewas' current four-game winning streak.
Jaksa praised the 6-foot-2 first baseman’s weekend performance, saying it’ll mean a lot if the team can get him back to where it thinks he can be.
“He’s starting to get a little bit better,” Jaksa said. “We are trying to put him in a spot to be successful. We keep reminding him to stay where he is with his swing.”
CMU added three runs in the fourth and two more in the seventh, leaving no room for a Huskie comeback.
It didn’t help that Sabol was on top of this game, recovering from a six-run, 10-hit loss last Sunday against Ball State.
He rebounded Sunday afternoon with a three-hit performance, not allowing a single earned run.
“I thought my performance was pretty good, stemming from last weekend,” Sabol said. “The offense really helped me out and kept me at ease.”
Sabol said the win helped a lot with his confidence. He said that getting ahead in the count was a major reason for today’s success, adding that he focused more on making changing his pitches when he got ahead in the count.
“I didn’t do too much different against Ball state, they just found a lot of holes,” he said. “I was staying on top of the ball (today), something I didn’t do as well last week.”
Saturday recap: CMU 3, NIU 1: Zach Cooper takes no-hitter into sixth in best start of season, By Aaron McMann Friday recap: CMU 7, NIU 6: Walk-off suicide squeeze moves Chippewas into first-place tie atop MAC West, By Aaron McMann
