CMU baseball mercy rules Toledo to even weekend series
An offensive explosion powers the Chippewas past Toledo
Central Michigan University junior outfielder Harrison Bowman walks through the dugout high-fiving teammates after scoring a run during the baseball game against the University of Toledo at Theunissen Stadium, Saturday, March 21, 2026. (CM-Life | Alivia Cranick)
Right fielder Harrison Bowman came to the plate for Central Michigan in the bottom of the eighth inning. With the bases loaded and one out, he launched a deep fly over the left field wall for a mercy-rule walk-off grand slam.
After a quiet day for the Central Michigan offense in game one, the Chippewas exploded for 18 runs on 21 hits, forcing the game to end early in the eighth via the mercy rule, 18-7. They surpassed their season high for hits in a game, which was previously 15 in a win vs. West Georgia.
The game started off hot with starting pitcher Tyson Potts stranding two Toledo baserunners in the top of the first inning. The Chippewas followed it up with a leadoff triple roped over the head of the right fielder by shortstop Bryson Webb, who slid headfirst into third base as the Central Michigan dugout roared.
Bowman stepped up to the plate immediately following the triple and hit a single up the middle past Toledo’s diving shortstop for the first run of the game.
“Webb has all the skills and leadership qualities that you want out of a guy hitting in the beginning of the lineup. The ability to be up 1-0 after the first hitter is important to us,” head coach Jake Sabol said.
This first inning set the tone for what was to come: clutch pitching and timely hitting by the Chippewas.
“He (Potts) made some big pitches, we made some great plays defensively to put up a zero and get out of that and let our offense go to work right away,” Sabol said. “That’s winning baseball.”
The Rockets took the lead in the top of the third inning after loading the bases and hitting two sacrifice flies, but it would be the last time they’d hold the lead, as Bowman delivered another RBI single in the home half of the third.
“He (Bowman) takes his craft very seriously. He wants to be really good, he makes great adjustments, and he comes up in the clutch,” Sabol said. “There’s probably nobody else right now we’d rather have up there in a big-time moment.”
That would hardly be his last big hit of the game, as he just missed a grand slam in the seventh by a few feet but still cleared the bases, then cashed in and ended the game in the eighth. He finished 4-for-5 with nine RBIs and a walk.
Left fielder Joey Milto was 2-for-4 with two RBIs, catcher Logan Keilen went 3-for-5 with three RBIs, and Zach Knowlton had two RBIs on a sacrifice fly and a single.
“I think the lineup in general today made my job tough, and tomorrow’s lineup, I wish I had a couple more spots where I could pick 12 guys,” Sabol said.
Potts was relieved in the sixth frame by Cameron Niehaus after he hit two Toledo batters. He finished with a line of six innings pitched, four runs allowed, two walks, two strikeouts, and four hit batters.
“I think the leadoff hitter was on four of the six innings, but he was able to minimize, and sometimes when you have a punch-out pitch, which Potts had today, and the ability to get weak contact in some big moments, he's just stacking good outings. It's not perfect by any means, but it's been good enough to get the job done and keep us in games,” Sabol said. “He’s just forced us to run him out there.”
Toledo rallied in the seventh inning, scoring four runs and cutting into the lead, but CMU responded with five runs to put the game out of reach and ended it on the grand slam in the bottom of the eighth.
It was a complete turnaround from the previous game and could be credited to Sabol challenging his team following the 10-1 loss on Friday.
“I think we probably challenged them a little bit. We’re 19 games in, we've had great things happen, we've had heartbreak, we've had it in between, and you try to keep pressing buttons until you find what works,” Sabol said. “We’ve seen this performance a lot more than we saw yesterday up to this point in the season. We're trying to make sure those guys know that they can do it if they just stick to it.”
CMU and Toledo will play again on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the series finale.
“We have no choice but to rebound and be ready for tomorrow. I’m fired up for them because we deserved to win that way we've been playing, but it’s never easy. I told them to enjoy the heck out of this one, but we got a chance to win a series tomorrow, and right now that’s all that matters.”
