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Final weekend series: Day 1

An update around the MAC: Ball State in, Ohio out, Kent State and Akron play 17 innings.

USA TODAY Sports

Standings
Seed Team W L GB Playoff
1 Buffalo 18 6 - -
2 Kent St 18 7 0.5 -
3 NIU 15 10 3.5 -
4 Ball St 14 11 4.5 -
5 Miami 13 12 5.5 0.5
6 Bowling Green 12 13 6.5 1.5
7 Toledo 12 13 6.5 2.0
8 Eastern Michigan 11 14 7.5 2.5
9 Akron 10 15 8.5 1.0
10 Central Michigan 10 15 8.5 1.0
11 Ohio 8 16 10.0 2.5
12 Western Michigan 8 17 10.5 3.0

Buffalo at BGSU

Game 1: UB wins 10-4

Falling down to the potential 7-seed isn't exactly how the Falcons wanted to start the series off, but there's not much they can do about that now. They're two games away from playing on Wednesday, so they better figure something out before they're known as "that one team that should've made the MAC tournament but ended up collapsing in the last weekend of the year".

Okay, so they probably wouldn't be remembered quite like that, but still.

CMU at WMU

Game 1: WMU wins 6-4

Western? You're not supposed to be winning right now, you're not even able to participate in the tourney next week! Central needs to win these last two games against their in-state rival... or else!

(They're actually one game out, but I just wanted to say "...or else!")

Toledo at EMU

Game 1: Toledo wins 4-0

The Rockets can breathe a little bit easier winning the series opener at Oestrike Stadium. Since Bowling Green swept Toledo in the regular season, BG wins the tie-breaker for the 6 seed. Akron's loss to Kent State gives EMU some breathing room, but not enough for comfort.

NIU at Ball St

Game 1: Ball St wins 3-2

Well, good news for NIU: no harm to them in the standings. Good news for Ball State: you won your one stinkin' game. Four more teams still have to play their way in by Saturday.

Kent St at Akron

Game 1: Kent state wins 5-4 (17 innings)

Serious '#MACtion' went down at Canal Park. It's a really corny hashtag, yes, but 17 innings later, you can use whatever the heck hashtag you feel like. Akron needed a win here to jump over EMU as the potential 8-seed, but they will live to fight another day or something like that.

Ohio at Miami

Game 1: Miami wins 12-7

Ohio's loss now has them as the second team to be mathematically out of the playoff picture. Miami is only a half game out of being the fifth team granted the golden ticket to the MAC tournament, which isn't much of a stretch.