CMU loses 7-3, sets up rubber game against Bowling Green on Saturday
It was too good to be true.
With an opportunity to advance straight to the Mid-American Conference tournament championship undefeated, the Central Michigan baseball team lost 7-3 against Bowling Green on Friday at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio.
As a result, CMU will play fifth-seed BGSU for the third time in as many days at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. A win advances the Chippewas to the MAC tournament championship game later in the day.
"All four teams that are left are all good teams," said coach Steve Jaksa. "We got to bounce back tomorrow and break the tide. We have to go to win two tomorrow, but we have to win the first one first."
While collecting nine hits in the game, CMU had trouble stringing them together to score runs. After falling behind 1-0 in the first inning, senior Dale Cornstubble (1-for-4, RBI, run scored) homered to start the second and tie the game.
The Chippewas left a pair of runners on base in the third inning and loaded the bases in the fourth, but could not come up with a big hit to take the lead.
"We left 10 runners on base and it just wasn’t our day," Jaksa said. "We tied it up 1-1 and it stayed like that for a while. We had a couple of opportunities with two outs and we just didn’t convert today."
A failed pick off attempt in the fourth and a pair of singles in the fourth allowed the Falcons to break the tie and take a 3-1 lead.
CMU (35-21) threatened but came up empty again in the sixth. With 1 out and runners on first and second, junior Robbie Harman (1-for-4) beat out a ground ball to third that forced senior Ricky Clark out at second. Clark, however, was ruled to be sliding aggressively, resulting in a double play.
"The play developed on an interference play call and it took us out of another inning that gave us an opportunity to score," Jaksa said.
Bowling Green would get a two-run home run from designated hitter Pat Pitzulo in the bottom half of the sixth to extend its lead to 5-1.
"(If) that doesn’t happen, we’re still in it and the game could have changed a little bit," Jaksa said. "But it didn’t happen that way. They had the momentum and we couldn’t stop them."
The Falcons would add two more in the seventh before sophomore Scott Phillion (3-for-4, two RBIs, run scored) hit a two-run home run in the eighth to keep the game from getting out of reach.
Sophomore Zach Cooper (4-3) took the loss, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits in five innings pitched.
Senior Billy Anderson went 2-for-4 while senior James Teas and junior Brendan Emmett each had a hit.
Patrick Martin pitched five innings in relief, allowing two runs on five hits, to get the win for Bowling Green (30-22-1).
Saturday's tournament schedule No. 1 CMU vs. No. 5 BGSU, 11:30 a.m. No. 2 KSU vs. No. 7 EMU, 45 minutes following first game MAC tournament championship, 45 minutes following second game (Ball State and Toledo were eliminated on Friday)
