Baseball beats Ohio 4-2; gets first MAC season-opener sweep since 2007
It was the bottom of the ninth inning, with the bases loaded and no outs.
Central Michigan starting pitcher Nick Deeg pitched the entire game up to this point.
With a 4-1 lead, CMU was looking for its first Mid-American Conference season opening sweep since 2007.
Reliever Tim Black came out to the mound for the Chippewas, hoping to extinguish the threat. Black calmly closed out the ninth inning, giving up one hit to secure the 4-2 CMU victory and sweeping the Ohio Bobcats.
Deeg’s winning performance can’t be downplayed, as his final stat line showed complete domination, going eight innings and allowing seven hits and one earned run.
Head coach Steve Jaksa said every game plan starts with Deeg’s fastball. The rest of his pitching arsenal comes from the ability to pitch off the fastball.
"He really has a great angle with it, especially against right-handed hitters," Jaksa said. "He now has the ability to throw his secondary pitches for strikes. He can keep the hitters guessing on the second and third time facing them.”
When the outside fastball is working for Deeg, he knows he will have a good day.
"Going out there, I like to establish my fastball," Deeg said. "That's basically what all my pitches work off from. It's good to throw an outside fastball because it has a heavier angle. My off-speed works better when I have the fastball going. When I put it all together, I know it's going to be a good day."
There was a lot of pressure for Black to come on and close out the game for the Chippewas, but Jaksa said Black looks at it as an opportunity rather than pressure.
"He doesn’t let the situation get too big; he likes to compete," Jaksa said. "Pressure affects you adversely, for him, it was just another opportunity for him to do what he does. The only hit they got was a six-hole bagger that didn’t even get to the outfield.”
Handing the ball to another pitcher with the game on the line – as well as a potential win in your stat line – can be nerve-racking.
Deeg was confident giving the ball to Black and watching him have fun.
"He always seems to get people out," Deeg said. "He brings a lot of presence to the mound. He doesn't really care what else is going on, he just pounds the strike zone. He is a lot of fun to watch."
A two-sided threat
While Deeg and Black shut down the Bobcats, the Regnier brothers – Logan and Nick – and Tyler Huntey sparked the offense.
CMU’s top third of the batting order had success with the Bobcats pitching.
Center fielder Nick Regnier, right fielder Logan Regnier and catcher Huntey each had two hits, one run and an RBI.
“You want to build the top of the order,” Jaksa said. “You have a little speed up there, the order is set up for a reason, you have people doing things in different ways. We had some really nice quality at-bats with other guys, too.”
When told that CMU hadn’t swept a MAC season opener since 2007, Jaksa said he couldn’t believe it had been that long.
That year was a good year for CMU baseball, as Jaksa remembers, as he hopes this season will go as well.
“We played well, I think the most important thing that it means is that we got a sweep on the road, that makes you feel pretty good," Jaksa said. "We have one weekend in the books and you can’t do any better than we did.”
