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Bischel brings success to Chippewas

By Rich Palzewic
Sports Editor


MOUNT PLEASANT, MICHIGAN – Central Michigan University (CMU) baseball coach Jordan Bischel has been a winner every place he’s coached, so it was no surprise he led the Chippewas to success in his first year at the school.

The 1999 Notre Dame Academy graduate and former Green Bay Bullfrogs manager recently led CMU to a 47-14 overall record and a 22-5 mark in the Mid-American Conference (MAC).

“The kids did a really nice job this past season,” said Bischel, who played his college ball at St. Norbert. “We didn’t spend much time thinking about how many wins we wanted or where we wanted to finish in our league. If I’m to be honest, we probably overshot any expectations on how we’d finish. With the history of our program, we had one of the most successful seasons in school history.”

After winning the MAC regular-season title, the Chippewas also won the MAC conference tournament before bowing out in the NCAA regionals.

It was the third times since 1973 Central won the MAC conference tournament and the first time since the 1995 season it advanced to the NCAA Division I tournament.

“We knew we had a decent team coming in, especially on the front line,” Bischel said. “We didn’t have a ton of depth but some quality returning guys. I felt if everyone bought in, we could make some good headway. The guys exceeded what I thought they could accomplish. The process was rewarded – we had to get the guys back to enjoying baseball again. Baseball had gotten a little stale for them. You only get four years to play – it’s a big honor to participate in college athletics, so you can’t let the fun slip away.”

Bischel managed the Bullfrogs from 2009-12 and the Wisconsin Woodchucks in the Northwoods League.

Prior to his being hired at Central, Bischel spent four seasons at Division II Northwood University in Midland, Michigan.

He helped lead the team to a 137-76 record while there and was named the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) coach of the year in both 2017 and 2018.

Northwood had never won a GLIAC title before Bischel arrived.

He also had much success at Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska, wherein two seasons, the team was a combined 74-45 under his leadership.

“A big staple to the teams I’ve coached has been the fun times we’ve had,” said Bischel. “When I first started coaching, I naturally wanted to push guys to be focused and take everything seriously – obviously there’s merit to that, but it’s changed over the years. When I played at St. Norbert, I took every game very seriously. I’ve tried to dial that back a little and remind the guys they are playing a game, and you have to enjoy it. Winning helps.”

Bischel said team-bonding activities also helped, but it wasn’t the most important thing he did.

“One thing we do really well in the program is treating each athlete on an equal playing field,” Bischel said. “As an example, when it comes to carrying equipment, it’s not only a freshman thing – everybody chips in. When we go on the road, I’ll intentionally put a freshman with a senior so guys are interacting. You shouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a sophomore and a senior or a scholarship player compared to a walk-on. I encourage our team to care for each other.”

Bischel said the team lost four starters from the lineup, but that won’t be the biggest problem next season.

“We lost some quality guys, but I’ll be interested to see how we handle the success from this past season,” added Bischel. “After the year we had, it’s pretty easy to think you have it figured out, but now every team has you circled on its calendar. It’s easy to get complacent.”

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