MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The Miami University baseball team took the lead early and held Central Michigan at bay throughout the first half of the game on Friday, but the Chippewas' bats woke up in the final four innings as they came back and took an 11-4 victory. The RedHawks are now 36-16 overall and 15-10 in the Mid-American Conference. CMU is 42-12 overall and 21-5 in the MAC.
Miami was hitting the ball early, recording five hits in the first two innings. With one out in the top of the second, junior catcher
Cal Elvers singled to right center. An infield single by redshirt junior left fielder
Kyle Winkler moved him to second. Sophomore center fielder
Cristian Tejada loaded the bases with a single through the right side. A passed by put the RedHawks on the board as Elvers came home to score. A sac fly on a deep foul out by junior shortstop
Will Vogelgesang brought home Winkler and made it 2-0.
It stayed that way for a while as junior pitcher
Spencer Mraz kept the Chippewas without a hit through the first four innings. CMU led off the bottom of the fifth with a double. After a hit batter, the Chippewas used a sac bunt, a passed ball and a sac fly to score two runs and tie the score.
Miami got the lead right back when senior right fielder
Mackay Williams led off the top of the sixth with a solo home run. The ball bounced on the right field wall and over for his fifth round-tripper of the season.
Central Michigan used patience at the plate to load the bases with three walks in the bottom of the sixth. It was able to drive in two runs to take its first lead of the day at 4-3. The Chippewas would go on to score three runs in the seventh and four in the eighth to pull away late.
In the top of the ninth, junior second baseman
Landon Stephens singled home Tejada to make it 11-4 and complete the scoring for the day.
Williams finished the day 3-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored. Stephens and Elvers each had two hits for the RedHawks.
Miami completes the regular season with the series finale against the Chippewas on Saturday. First pitch is at 1 p.m.