Baseball eyes .500 mark, MAC Tourney
Greg Burghardt
When your program has had only one sub-.500 record in the last 35 years, winning is somewhat expected.
Baseball Head Coach Steve Jaksa isn’t too concerned with becoming the second team to lose more games than win.
“We’re aware of the fact that we could be the second (team), but we’re still battling to get back into the conference race,” Jaksa said.
CMU defeated Buffalo 7-4 Saturday to reach the .500 mark for the first time since the team started the season 1-1.
Leading the way for the Chippewas was senior Ryan Krueger with four hits and one run scored. It was Krueger’s first game back after missing eight consecutive with a knee injury.
“He’s a veteran who has been through it a few times. He did what he had to do to get ready to play, and he came back and was great for us,” Jaksa said.
Getting the win for the Chippewas was junior Jeff Opalewski (1-2). The right-hander went 6.1 innings, allowing four hits and two runs, striking out seven.
In the second game of the weekend series, all anyone needed to do was read the box score to know how the game went.
Buffalo had 11 hits and CMU had five errors in a 6-5 loss. With a one-run lead in the top of the ninth, junior David LeMieux had an opportunity for his ninth save of the season but gave up a two-run home run to Kevin Nesteruk. Once the ball went over the wall, the chances of CMU making the MAC Tournament went very dim.
The team was back in action Monday against Detroit, and the first four innings was all CMU needed. The team scored all nine of it’s runs in those frames, holding on for a 9-8 victory.
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The Chippewas scored six runs on six hits in the fourth inning to blow the game wide open. Sophomore Keith Sampsell had his second hit of the season with a two-run home run over the 400-foot mark in right center. Senior Tommy Grubb added a two-RBI single, followed by senior Mike Gates’ RBI double.
Detroit followed with a big inning of its own, scoring five runs in the top of the fifth. Senior starter Joey Fahndrich was relieved in the middle of the inning, but his relief wasn’t much of any. Sophomore Nick Patterson went 0.1 innings, garnering three hits and three runs, while walking another.
The Chippewas face in-state foe Michigan State at 3 p.m. today at Theunissen Stadium. The teams have met twice this season with CMU winning both times, 9-2 and 4-3.
“We’re going for the tri-fecta against them, and sure this is a tune-up, but it’s a tune-up against a team that we want to beat,” Jaksa said.
After the single game with the Spartans, CMU will take on Northern Illinois in the final series of the regular season.
“We’ve got to win the first one and then go from there,” Jaksa said.
For the Chippewas to make the MAC Tournament, they must sweep the four-game set from the Huskies and cheer for in-state rival EMU to sweep Ohio.
“There’s a tendency to be frustrated with the fact that they (the players) know they can play but things haven’t always gone our way, but we can’t dwell on that,” Jaksa said.
The MAC Tournament begins May 21.
