Freshman Ty Dunham beats S. Illinois
Redshirt freshman Ty Dunham earned his first career win Sunday as the baseball team ended a five-game losing streak.
The team beat Southern Illinois 9-2 on the road one day after being swept in a doubleheader by the Salukis. The scores of Saturday’s losses were 12-4 and 6-1.
“Ty pitched an outstanding game. He said he could keep going, but we took him out after 112 pitches,” said Head Coach Steve Jaksa.
Dunham pitched seven innings and allowed only one run. The Bay City native is pitching this season for the first time in two years following arm injuries. He struck out five batters in the game.
“He is coming off major arm surgery last May, so he is only about nine months past that,” Jaksa said.
Central is 3-7 on the season while SIU improved to 8-8 over the weekend.
Senior outfielder Tommy Grubb led the offense with three singles and junior Dan Griesbaum Jr. added two RBI. Griesbaum was 5-for-10 during the weekend.
“We really hit well today and worked hard at competeing in every at bat,” Jaksa said.
Central scored two runs with only one hit in the first, but a five-run third gave CMU all the offense it would need Sunday. The inning was capped off by a successful suicide squeeze in which Brian Campbell bunted home Jim Geldhof.
Junior T.J. Johnson closed the game pitching the final two innings and allowing one unearned run.
Ryan Krueger had three hits in Saturday’s opener. Central opened the game with two first inning runs, and trailed 5-4 in the seventh inning. The Salukis then closed the game with seven runs in its last two innings. Nathan Emrick led SIU going 4-for-6 with three RBI.
Andrew Weber and Adam Snyder combined on a two-hitter in the second game in which the Salukis scored all of its runs in the first three innings. Weber threw five innings without allowing a hit but walked three.
Emrick added four more hits to complete his day.
Krueger had five hits over the weekend for CMU.
Central will play Thursday at IUPU-Fort Wayne. The game is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start. The team then will compete in the Butler Classic on Friday and Saturday in Indianapolis.
