Chippewas give up four unearned runs, Toledo avoids sweep
May 16, 2015: The last time the Chippewas swept a Mid-American Conference opponent in a three-game series.
The Central Michigan baseball team entered Sunday in hopes of being able to sweep the Toledo Rockets at home. However, the Rockets (9-31, 4-8 MAC) ruined the Chippewas’ (10-30, 5-7 MAC) chances, beating CMU 4-3.
Freshman right-handed pitcher Pat Leatherman started the game for the Chippewas and got in trouble early in the game due to defensive miscues. A sacrifice bunt attempt turned into an infield single as Leatherman had a bad throw to first.
With runners on first and second for the Rockets, the next batter attempted the same thing, and he also got on due to a bad throw by senior third baseman Morgan Oliver.
A sacrifice fly and a wild pitch put the Rockets up 3-0 without even picking up a hit.
"It was disappointing, that's the bottom line," said Head Coach Steve Jaksa. "We had a golden opportunity to play good defense and to let Pat do his deal. We played very good defense (on Friday and Saturday). Today for one inning, for some reason we didn't play defense. We know we're better than that in that situation."
Leatherman finished the game after 6 1/3 innings, three unearned runs, five hits, three walks and four strikeouts. He threw 90 pitches.
The Chippewas scored a run in the fifth and sixth innings thanks to an RBI double by sophomore left fielder Daniel Jipping and an RBI double by junior first baseman Alex Borglin.
Toledo scored a run of its own in the top of the seventh due on a wild throw on a pick-off attempt by junior relief pitcher Jordan Grosjean. All four of Toledo’s runs were unearned.
Jaksa said that Grosjean didn't trust the pick-off attempt and that if he did, the Toledo runner would've been thrown out.
CMU scored once more in the eighth inning after an RBI ground out by senior center fielder Ryan Heeke.
The Chippewa's offense was led by Borglin, who went 3-for-5 on the day with a pair of doubles and an RBI. Jipping went 1-for-2 with an RBI, one run and two walks.
"We had enough quality at-bats offensively," Jaksa said. "When you're playing from behind, it's harder to score the runs than if you're playing from ahead. There's a little different way you have to do things offensively. If we don't play the first inning the way we did, we'd probably end up winning that game."
CMU will play next at 3:05 p.m. Wednesday in Rochester as they take on Oakland University.
