2024 Mid-American Conference Baseball Tournament Recap

Western Michigan is the MAC Champions and faces the #2 overall seed Kentucky in the National Tournament on Friday!

Western Michigan won the MAC Tournament in dominant fashion but it was four days of baseball from the best teams in the conference. It was exciting and dominated by excellent pitching performances from the first game to the last.

Here’s a day-by-day recap of the action!

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Day One, May 22nd:

• Ball State 5, Toledo 1
• Miami 5, Kent State 2

The MAC Tournament opened on May 22nd with a banger. Ball State and Toledo played game one with a pair of aces taking the mound. Merritt Beeker was named the MAC Pitcher of the Year the day before the tournament and started for Ball State. Grant Umberger took the mound for Toledo as an All-MAC First Team starting pitcher. Runs were at a premium.

Ball State struck in the first inning with three singles with two outs to drive two runs across. Those two runs would’ve been enough to hold on, especially with the pitching effort from Beeker. He went the distance, allowed a single run, one hit and struck out 12 Rocket hitters.

Winning a double-elimination baseball tournament has two key components. The first is to win. It’s obvious but the path gets much longer and therefore more difficult in the elimination bracket. The second is to preserve the bullpen. Do not sacrifice winning to preserve the bullpen, that’s not always easy to do in a close game. A complete game win checks both boxes.

The Cardinals were set up perfectly to make a deep run after missing out on getting a first-round bye. They left 13 batters on base and a few more timely hits could’ve broken the game open, but Toledo didn’t give them the chance.

Miami and Kent State played in the second game of the first day and despite three Miami errors, Kent State could only score two runs. It wasn’t clear who Miami would start on the mound, but they made the sensible choice in Peyton Olejnik. It’s an absolute shame that he didn’t make the end-of-season awards list, but he’s been Miami’s best pitcher. He held the Rockets to one run on five hits, but they made him work for it. He needed 103 pitches to get through five innings and that ended his tournament.

Miami scored all of their runs in the first two innings and held on, even through a rain delay in the bottom of the seventh that caused this game to finish up around midnight Eastern time. Kent State couldn’t get a hit off either Miami reliever to finish the game and was forced to make the quick turnaround. The loser of this game was set to play Toledo at 10 AM the next day.

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Day Two, May 23rd:

• Toledo 8, Kent State 2
• Bowling Green 12, Miami 4
• Western Michigan 8, Ball State 0

Just ten-and-a-half hours later, Kent State played their next game against Toledo. Noah Johnson allowed two hits to the Flashes over 5.1 innings and kept the ball on the ground when it was in play. He struck out six and forced eight ground outs with two flyouts. The only runs allowed by the Rocket pitchers was on a Josh Johnson two-run home run. Camryn Szynski gave up the homer and each pitcher was responsible for one run.

The Johnson home run was the only extra-base hit that Kent State hit in either game. His counterpart, Garret Pike, also hit a two-run home run, but his capped a four-run inning that gave Toledo a 5-0 lead.

The second game of the day was close until Bowling Green scored six runs in the sixth inning. Jack Krause hit a bases-loaded double to score two runs, then a Leighton Banjoff single scored two more and the game was out of reach. Miami was doing their best to use the opener strategy and gave Nick DeMonica the ball the first time through the Falcon lineup. He pitched 3.1 innings and allowed a run, then gave the ball to Patrick Mastrian IV. He could’ve been the starter, and Miami hoped he would go deep into the game.

Unfortunately, the Falcons jumped on him for five runs in 1.2 innings. Jack Krause broke the dam in the sixth and had four hits, two doubles and drove in five total runs.

Bowling Green’s pitchers were all fresh and Nic Good turned in a quality start with Isaiah Seidel and Luke Krouse able to guide the win across the finish line.

The final game was between the Ball State Cardinals and the Western Michigan Broncos. Ball State had their entire bullpen and their #2 starter Keegan Johnson ready to go. Johnson was also an All-MAC First Team pitcher, but the Broncos didn’t care. Dylan Nevar hit a home run in the bottom of the first inning to open the scoring and Grady Mee hit a two-run dinger in the second. The Broncos would pile on the runs late with Mee driving in another, and Josh Swinehart and Cade Sullivan joining the party.

Happening at the same time, Brady Miller was cruising through the Ball State lineup. He allowed four hits, one walk and no runs while striking out six. Luke Thelen finished the final two innings without surrendering a base runner in 29 pitches. The Broncos’ calling card is run prevention, and that’s what they did.

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Day Three, May 24th:

• Toledo 8, Miami 4
• Ball State 4, Toledo 3
• Western Michigan 11, Bowling Green 0

Day three, elimination day, kicked off with Toledo continuing their run in the elimination bracket. Toledo starter Jackson Bergman went 8.1 innings in the win and preserved the bullpen. Three of the four runs he was responsible for came in the ninth inning when the game was out of reach. Kyle Pijaszek got the final two outs on three total pitches.

Toledo was able to use seven walks to move runners into scoring position and capitalize with base hits and sacrifice flies. Toledo applied the pressure to the RedHawk pitchers and left 12 runners on base in addition to the eight that scored. Nick Vardavas started for Miami but didn’t make it out of the first inning.

Immediately after that game ended, Toledo had their hands full with Ball State. This game was Toledo’s fourth of the tournament and they were officially past the pitching requirements of a regular season weekend. They gave the ball to Brennan McCune, normally a reliever. Spot starter Nate Blain took the ball for Ball State and both pitchers pitched well. McCune threw a season-high pitch count, went 3.1 innings and allowed a single run to Ball State. That’s about as much as Toledo could ask for.

Ball State got their big hit from Matthew Gonzalez, a pinch-hit home run in the sixth inning that scored three runs.

Nate Blain pitched eight innings in the win and didn’t really get into trouble until his final inning of work. Toledo had already scored a run in the inning to close the gap to 4-2. The bases were loaded with two outs and JP Wagner hit a single through the left side to plate another run. Left fielder Clay Jacobs picked up the ball in shallow left field, and I mean shallow, and Trey Wright was waved home to force a good throw.

Unfortunately for Toledo, Jacobs threw a one-hop strike to Hunter Dobbins and Wright was out by five feet. Wright didn’t give himself up and the Dobbins tagged him in the face as he dropped to slide, and Wright took exception. He got in Dobbins’s face and was ejected after review. He would’ve been the tying run, and Sam Klein put the Rockets down 1-2-3 in the ninth on eight pitches to seal the win.

The top seeds squared off in the final game on Friday and the Broncos jumped out to an early lead and didn’t look back. It took Western Michigan eight pitches to load the bases in the top of the first and by the end of the inning they had scored three runs. It took the Broncos until the sixth inning to score again, but Nolan Vlcek was in the zone on the mound. The WMU starter gave up three hits and struck out 10 in seven innings. Turner Doran pitched the final two innings and preserved the shutout.

Western Michigan has used four pitchers through two games and not allowed a run.

The top of the order did the damage for Western Michigan and combined to go 12-20 with a double, a home run and nine runs driven in. Bowling Green didn’t have an answer on the mound or in the lineup. They never got a runner to second base in this game.

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Day Four, May 25th:

• Ball State 10, Bowling Green 5
• Western Michigan 10, Ball State 3

Only the top three seeds remained on the final day of the tournament and the only minor surprise was Western Michigan as the undefeated team.

Bowling Green broke out of the hitting funk that Western Michigan had them in the day before when TJ Takats hit a grand slam in the bottom of the second inning.

The big inning was coming for Ball State. In the top of the fourth inning with the bases loaded and one out, Houston King took advantage of an infielder error to get a run home. Nick Husokvsky and Decker Scheffler each singled to total five runs across for Ball State.

Once the Cardinals took the lead, they gave the rock to Sam Klein and he pitched the final five innings of the game. He allowed Bowling Green one run, but it wasn’t enough for the Falcons.

The Cardinal hitters would add at least one run every inning from the sixth to the end of the game. The Falcons were unable to reach the championship game of the MAC Tournament after starting 17-0 in the conference. The hitting that led the way all year dried up when the pressure was highest.

After eliminating the top seed, Ball State needed to find a way to beat Western Michigan twice. The Championship Game was their fifth in the tournament compared to Western Michigan’s third.

Ball State was unable to score a run with the bases loaded and two outs, and Western Michigan made them pay for that. The first three Bronco hitters drew walks, Ball State changed pitchers without getting an out, and WMU scored three runs on a pair of singles and a fielder’s choice.

Ball State scored a run in the third inning off of DJ Thompson, the first WMU had given up, but the Broncos responded in the bottom of the inning. Josh Swinehart hit a solo home run and Grady Mee hit another single to make the game 5-1. The five through eight hitters for Western Michigan did the damage in this game and combined for 11 hits in 15 at bats with two walks.

Western Michigan used its bullpen well to get through the final game of the tournament. Joe Shapiro, Turner Doran and Luke Thelen relieved DJ Thompson to combine for nine innings and three runs allowed. The Broncos cruised to the win, the MAC Championship and a birth in the NCAA Tournament. They played a truly dominant three games and scored 29 runs and allowed three. The Broncos recorded 36 hits and 23 walks and allowed a combined 20.

Western Michigan will face the Kentucky Wildcats in the Lexington Regional on Friday at noon Eastern. You can watch that game on ESPN+.