Baseball picks up three wins, loses final game of four-game series at Marshall
The baseball team dropped the finale of a four-game series against Marshall on Sunday after winning the first three of the weekend.
"Obviously, four would’ve been better, but, as I reflect on it, 3-4 coming out of the weekend is really good," said head coach Steve Jaksa. "We were a hit away from winning that ball game."
The Thundering Herd defeated CMU 6-4, but not before the Chippewas tried to mount their second comeback of the series.
They trailed the entire game, going into the ninth inning down 6-1, but ready to put up a fight.
With two guys on, a double by senior Tom Lally bringing in a run looked like a rally was in the cards.
A wild pitch brought in sophomore Tyler Huntey, followed by freshman Logan Regnier hitting in Lally to make the score 6-4.
The comeback was squashed when sophomore Pat MacKenzie struck out.
Marshall grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the first and a home run in the second inning extended that lead to 3-0. CMU tried to answer in the top of the third with two men on base ready to score, but they were left stranded when senior Jordan Adams grounded out.
It was a bit of déjà vu in the fourth when, again, the Chippewas left two on the bags.
Marshall was able to score another run in the fourth, despite the pitching change from senior Rick Dodridge to freshman Taylor Lehnert.
Jaksa said, despite the team battling back at the plate in the ninth, pitching was a weak spot during the game.
"We came up a bit short, and it was probably by a pitching standpoint," Jaksa said. "One guy can make a difference, and if we could’ve kept their score to three to four runs, I think it would've been different."
Dodridge pitched three innings, giving up six hits, walking two and striking out two. Lehnert also pitched three innings, allowing seven hits and three runs.
Junior Joe Ucho and freshman Blake Louscher also pitched for the Chippewas.
The sixth was when the Thundering Herd added two more runs, while CMU still was scoreless. As freshman Logan Regnier stole second, CMU scored its first run on an errant throw by the second baseman.
"We just need to be able to compete all nine innings and all the games in a series," Jaksa said.
Friday
CMU was victorious leading up to the last game, claiming the win in the three of the four games in the series. The team won both games in a doubleheader on Friday, 7-3 and 9-7.
Sophomore starter Jordan Foley pitched the first game for the Chippewas, showing his consistency by picking up another win. Foley pitched six innings, only giving up four hits and one earned run before being relieved by freshman Jimmy McNamara.
Freshman Neal Jacobs had a standout game, producing more than half of the team’s runs with four RBI. In the fifth, Jacobs homered to center field, earning two of his RBI for the game.
Sophomore Alec Ornelas also had a home run in the game, hitting his in the third and putting the Chippewas on the board for the first time.
Marshall responded with two runs but couldn’t get another until the eighth.
CMU, however, didn’t have any trouble scoring. Freshman Zack Fields had two RBI in the sixth from a double, and sophomore Cody Leichman had an RBI single to right field. The Chippewas tacked on the final two runs when Jacobs singled up the middle to bring in Leichman and sophomore Nick Regnier.
In the second game, Dylan Rheault had the start, pitching six innings and allowing six hits, four runs and getting three strikeouts.
Marshall held the lead in the first two innings before Fields doubled to score two in the third.
The Thundering Herd responded, scoring three runs, but the Chippewas came right back with five runs of their own in the fifth.
Saturday
CMU defeated Marshall 10-8 in a ninth inning comeback in Saturday’s game.
Trailing 8-7, sophomore Nick Regnier set things in motion for the Chippewas, singling to shortstop to get on base.
Regnier stole second, followed by a Jordan Adams single to join him on the bags and put Regnier in scoring position.
Two runs came in for CMU after an error by Marshall, giving the Chippewas the lead before they added another run for the final 10-8 score.
The team is scheduled for a 3:05 p.m. game Tuesday against Northwood at Theunissen Stadium, serving as the team's home opener after last Tuesday's game against Madonna University was postponed.
