1.Bowling Green (15-5, 6-0 MAC)
The Orange & Brown have become the first team this season with a 10-game winning streak after sweeping Akron and beating Purdue Fort Wayne and Dayton in two non-conference weekday matchups.
The 19-18 homerun-derby-style victory over Purdue Fort Wayne was imposing. The Falcons were down 11-5 in the fifth inning but fought back to win the game on a walk-off RBI (run batted in) single by junior second baseman Sam Seidel.
The winning streak puts the Falcons alone in first place and puts them three wins away from tying the program record for a winning streak. A sweep over Kent State this weekend could accomplish the feat.
2. Ball State (16-6, 5-1 MAC)
The Cardinals had a solid 4-1 week to improve to a conference-high 16 wins. Ball State had a 14-10 victory over Valparaiso, a 17-7 beatdown win over Butler, and also won two out of three games against Toledo.
Ball State pitching has now improved to having the lowest E.R.A in the MAC after giving up just 15 runs total in the Toledo series.
Ball State will travel southeast to Cincinnati, Ohio next to take on Xavier in a three-game weekend series. The Musketeers are 8-13 and in fifth place in the BIG East.
3. Eastern Michigan (9-8, 5-1 MAC)
Eastern Michigan won two of three against their archrival Western Michigan, including a massive 17-3 series finale win.
Catcher Brendan Kleiman had one of the best games of his senior season in the blowout victory, going four-for-five with three RBIs and two doubles.
The Eagles have a deep lineup from top to bottom and continue to look like one of the most improved teams in the MAC this season. EMU will take on Miami this weekend in a battle of second-year head coaches looking to take their revamped programs to the next level.
4. Miami (10-10, 5-1 MAC)
Miami’s offense was firing on all cylinders, outscoring Northern Illinois 33-15 over their three-game sweep of the Huskies.
Sophomore left fielder Ryan Novak was a key factor in this scoring outburst, going three-for-ten with two home runs and seven RBIs.
Miami will have a top-five matchup with Eastern Michigan this weekend in a battle of two of the MAC’s best-hitting teams.
5. Kent State (8-10, 2-1 MAC)
The Golden Flashes split their past four non-conference games, beating Hofstra two out of three times over the weekend and losing 17-13 to Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
Kent State had an offensive explosion against Hofstra, scoring double-digit runs in every game, including two seven-inning mercies.
Kent State will have a highly anticipated offensive showdown against Bowling Green this weekend.
6. Central Michigan (6-15, 2-1 MAC)
After a bleak 3-14 start to the year, the Chippewas have regained optimism by winning two out of three games against Ohio in their opening MAC series.
Junior left-handed pitcher Evan Waters had an impressive start in CMU’s 4-1 victory in the series opener, throwing for five innings with eight strikeouts, giving up two hits and only one earned run.
CMU will face the struggling Northern Illinois Huskies in DeKalb this weekend to try and continue their hot streak.
7. Toledo (6-13, 2-4 MAC)
The Rockets went 1-3 for the second straight week, losing 6-1 against Wright State and dropping two of three to second-place Ball State.
Toledo is the exact opposite of Ohio right now, having a league-worst .210 average but ranking second in E.R.A (6.03).
Leading the charge for the Rockets is sophomore left-handed pitcher Jacob Tabor. Tabor is ninth in the MAC in opposing batting average (.253) and has carried most of the workload for Toledo with a team-leading 23.2 innings pitched.
Toledo will need to continue their strong pitching outings in the next series against Ohio, which has one of the best power offenses in the MAC.
8. Northern Illinois (7-9, 1-5 MAC)
The Huskies had one of the worst weeks in the MAC, getting badly swept by Miami in three games.
NIU’s pitching gave up 33 runs to Miami over the weekend, which is 30% of the runs that they’ve given up all season.
The defense was also poor. NIU had an error in every game and six errors in total in the series.
NIU will try to bounce back against Central Michigan in their next series on Friday.
9. Ohio 4-14, 1-5 MAC)
Ohio lost both games against Central Michigan in their Friday doubleheader before winning the Saturday series finale in a 15-12 shootout.
It’s clear early in the season that Ohio’s 10th-ranked MAC pitching staff is holding the Bobcats back from winning games. Ohio gave up 10 or more runs in three of their past four games and 40 total runs over the 1-3 stretch.
Players like freshman second baseman Matt Ineich, the MAC leader in average (.452), will need to continue to keep the offense hot if the Bobcats want to win their next series against Toledo.
10. Western Michigan (2-16, 1-5 MAC)
The Broncos are slowly coming back to life after going 2-2 in the past week. WMU got their first win in a 14-4 blowout over EMU and later got an impressive 6-0 shutout victory over Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Redshirt senior left fielder Dylan Nevar bolstered the Broncos’ offense by going three-for-seven with a home run and four RBIs over the two wins.
WMU will face Akron this weekend to try and improve their MAC record and gain some consistency.
11. Akron (6-14, 0-6 MAC)
The Zips got swept for the second straight MAC series, losing three games to undefeated Bowling Green over the weekend. Akron then lost a Tuesday non-conference game to Pittsburgh 16-7 to extend their losing streak to four.
Akron’s pitching has really struggled as of late, giving up 40 runs over the four-game losing streak.
Akron will try to get the first MAC win in a bottom-two showdown against Western Michigan this weekend.
