Miami and Western Michigan each moved up a spot in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) standings after beating Kent State and Bowling Green in their weekend matchups.
Meanwhile, the fifth through eighth-place teams are within just two games of each other, as Central Michigan and Toledo got sound victories over Akron and Eastern Michigan.
At the bottom of the barrel is Northern Illinois. The Huskies got swept by Ball State, keeping the Cardinals in first place.
1. Ball State (27-11, 13-2 MAC)
The Cardinals extended their first-place lead on the rest of the MAC to one and a half games after a dominant three-game sweep over Northern Illinois.
Senior first baseman Nick Husovsky had a spectacular offensive performance for Ball State in the NIU series finale, going four-for-five with five runs batted in (RBIs), two doubles and a home run.
Ball State takes on a hungry Bowling Green team this Thursday through Saturday, hoping to keep the top spot in the conference.
2. Miami (19-17, 14-4 MAC)
Miami emerged victorious in a battle of prominent offenses, beating surging Kent State in two out of three games.
Shortstop Dillon Baker was a differencemaker in the 9-7 series finale victory for Miami, going three-for-five with three RBIs, two doubles and a home run.
The Redhawks will match up against the Chippewas this weekend with a chance of moving into first place.
3. Kent State (21-13, 11-4 MAC)
The Golden Flashes’ MAC season-high 12-game winning streak ended on Friday thanks to a 5-4 loss against Miami. Kent State gave up all five runs in the first inning and couldn’t climb out of the deficit.
Despite the opening series loss, Kent State is still just two games out of first place and will head back home this weekend for the first time since April 2 to take on struggling Ohio.
4. Bowling Green (24-11, 12-6 MAC)
The Falcons dropped two of three to the seventh-place Broncos over the weekend, scoring only six runs total over the three-game stretch.
Although the offense struggled, senior closer Connar Penrod got into the Bowling Green history books, setting the individual and team single-season saves records during the 3-1 middle-game win over WMU.
The Orange & Brown will try to get their offense firing on all cylinders this weekend against Ball State’s top-ranked pitching staff in the conference.
5. Eastern Michigan (14-17, 9-9 MAC)
The Eagles’ downward trajectory continued as they lost two out of three to Toledo. EMU is now 3-7 in their last 10 games and at a .500 conference record for the first time this season.
There is starting to be some serious concern for the Eastern Michigan pitching staff, especially the bullpen. Eagles’ relief pitchers gave up 14 earned runs and seven walks to Toledo’s last-ranked MAC offense.
EMU will get a break from MAC play this week with a three-game series against the University of Albany.
6. Central Michigan (15-22, 7-8 MAC)
The Chippewas nearly swept Akron on the road, winning the first two games of the series before completely choking the final game by allowing a five-run bottom-of-the-ninth comeback.
Central Michigan’s pitching was solid besides that final inning, only allowing 15 runs combined in the other 26 innings. The series victory was also the first MAC series win for CMU since sweeping Northern Illinois back in March.
We’ll get to see if CMU’s pitching is the real deal this weekend when they play Miami’s powerful offense.
7. Western Michigan (10-23, 6-9 MAC)
Western Michigan had one of the most impressive weekends of their season, silencing Bowling Green’s bats on their way to a two-win series.
Junior starting pitcher Ty McKinstry had a breakout game for the Broncos in the series opener, hurling seven scoreless innings with just four hits allowed.
WMU will take on Toledo this weekend in a series that could shake up the middle of the MAC standings.
8. Toledo (13-22, 7-11 MAC)
The Rockets’ offense finally came alive, averaging 8.67 runs per game in their series win against Eastern Michigan.
The biggest moment of the series was Toledo’s six-run eighth inning in the series opener that helped break a 1-1 tie and give them the first win. Senior centerfielder Luke Leto was Toledo’s catalyst in this offensive explosion, clearing the bases with a deep triple to right field.
The Rockets square off against the Broncos next with a chance to move up to seventh or sixth place with a series win.
9. Ohio (9-26, 4-11 MAC)
The Bobcats went 1-4 in nonconference play last week, losing to Marshall 10-5 on Wednesday, dropping two of three to VMI over the weekend, and falling 10-9 to Dayton on Tuesday.
The pitching improved slightly for Ohio, giving up an average of 7.33 runs per game to VMI. However, the star-studded offense declined. It was the first week this season that Ohio didn’t score double-digit runs in any game.
Ohio’s wild inconsistency will need to be fixed if they want to beat Kent State, a team looking to bounce back after losing to Miami.
10. Akron (10-25, 4-14 MAC)
The Zips’ season is starting to look increasingly unlikely that they’ll contend for a MAC Championship. However, they are a very exciting team to watch because they find late-game heroics to get the small number of wins that they do have.
For example, a bases-clearing walk-off double by sophomore second baseman Charlie Schebler gave Akron the series finale win over Central Michigan on Sunday.
Akron takes on Northern Illinois in DeKalb over the weekend in a battle of the MAC’s bottom two teams. The Zips have a real chance to move up the standings with a series sweep, whereas a series loss could essentially rip their postseason hopes to shreds.
11. Northern Illinois (13-22, 3-12 MAC)
The Huskies had an ugly series against Ball State, getting outscored 29-12 and slipping into last place in the MAC. Starting pitching was NIU’s biggest downfall in the series. 18 of the 29 runs given up were done so by the starters.
However, NIU bounced back with a 27-11 annihilation over Northwestern. The Huskies offense got 16 hits, four doubles and three home runs against the BIG-10 pitching staff.
NIU takes on Akron next with a chance to immediately get out of the last-place spot.
