Baseball looking to repeat against Michigan State, clinch series
Since 2009, Central Michigan and Michigan State have been playing a three-game series with each team hosting a game and one taking place at a neutral stadium.
The Chippewas won the inaugural series, but haven't won it since. They have a chance to clinch the series at 3:05 p.m. Wednesday when the Spartans visit Theunissen Stadium.
CMU ended an eight-game losing streak lasting from 2011-13 on April 8 when it beat MSU 10-1 in East Lansing.
"When you look at how many you lost in a row, it will wear on you," said head coach Steve Jaksa. "Hopefully we can keep it going on our side for a while."
The Spartans won't be surprised when they take the batter's box, having faced sophomore Adam Aldred once this season. He picked up the win on April 8 by pitching 6 1/3 innings and giving up one run on seven hits, walking two and striking out four.
"Adam will be going again," Jaksa said. "He's good at what he does. He's got a good mix and repertoire of pitches and a good game plan."
Aldred and his team was aided by a MSU defense that recorded eight errors in the game, while CMU tallied one.
Since then, it has been the Chippewas defense helping teams with 17 errors in four games.
"We look at all the errors individually," Jaksa said. "Was it a physical thing, a mental thing, what put them in the position where they didn't succeed? I think we addressed those things with some of the drills we did (Tuesday) and I think we'll get right back out there and play well again."
Fortunately, the team's bats have been able to make up for errors recently by averaging 9.75 runs in the last four outings.
"I like out hitting approach, but I think there is still room for improvement," Jaksa said. "The guys still see room for improvement. Right now we're in a pretty good place and we (have) got to stay in place because we've got another game (Wednesday)."
The team was forced to practice inside Tuesday due to snow, but the weather won't be a factor Wednesday, with the field at Theunissen Stadium cleared to play.
After the team put in work to get Theunissen Stadium ready for the Mid-American Conference opener against Buffalo two weeks ago, cleaning up a nights worth of a snow was no issue, Jaksa said.
