Baseball aims for .500 record
The baseball team will look to extend its season-long winning streak today when it plays a doubleheader at Western Michigan.
The team’s fourth consecutive victory Wednesday brought the team to 16-17 on the year. Junior southpaw Ryan Cremeans earned the 4-3 victory against Michigan State at Olds Park. The team now has won six of its last seven games.
“We don’t really talk about getting to .500,” said Head Coach Steve Jaksa. “We are just concentrating on playing the next game and playing at a high level which we have been doing lately.”
Today’s doubleheader is the first two of four games that the in-state rivals will play this weekend. The teams will return to Theunissen Stadium Sunday for another doubleheader. Both days games will begin at 1 p.m.
“Anytime you play a rival, the intensity will be up a bit. The approach doesn’t change, but you are very tuned in and focused,” Jaksa said.
Senior Tommy Grubb, freshman Jason Gotwalt, and sophomore David Latour Jr. each had two hits in the win against the 12-25 Spartans. Freshman Mark Lundquist and junior David LeMieux combined for 2 1/3 innings of shutout relief to preserve the win. LeMieux was credited with his seventh save of the season.
Central scored two unearned runs off starter Chris Toepper in the second. Freshman Brian Lautzenheiser and Gotwalt scored the runs on two errors by MSU infielders.
Grubb knocked in senior Ryan Krueger in the fifth the extend the lead to 3-0.
The Spartans reponded with a run in the sixth before senior Mike Gates scored Grubb in the seventh on a double that closed the CMU scoring.
Cremeans was replaced by Lundquist in the seventh after allowing two unearned runs. Cremeans finished with three strikeouts and only one run was earned.
CMU is 5-5 on the conference season while the Broncos are sixth with a 9-7 MAC record. The top six teams in the conference qualify for the postseason conference tournament, and Central is in a three-way tie for seventh place.
“I think we are swinging the bat very well. The guys have been getting some very good quality at-bats lately,” Jaksa said.
The two teams met at the Butler Classic March 21, with WMU taking a 2-1 victory. Western also won three of the four matchups between the teams last season.
Senior outfielder Tom Fabrizio leads the Broncos with a .425 batting average and 30 RBI. All four probable starting pitchers have ERAs under 4.00.
Central will put junior T.J. Johnson against WMU’s left-hander Brad Mumma in Friday’s first game. Senior Joey Fahndrich will throw Friday’s second game for the Chippewas.
