Baseball's seven-game winning streak ended at Michigan, 6-3
Two singles, a triple and an error gave Michigan a three-run sixth inning during Wednesday's game in Ann Arbor as Central Michigan's seven-game winning streak ended, 6-3.
Sophomore left-handed pitcher Adam Aldred got the start against the Wolverines and threw five and one third innings before being relieved following a leadoff single and getting a ground out in the sixth inning. CMU sophomore right-handed pitcher Jason Gamble entered the game and struggled by giving up a triple and a single allowing two runs to score while an error allowed the third to give the home team a 4-2 lead.
"(Aldred) did a great job of keeping his pitch count down," said head coach Steve Jaksa. "We misplayed the triple in right and (Gamble) left his pitch up. That was his biggest problem today was leaving his pitches up."
U of M added two more unearned runs off a double given up by sophomore left-handed pitcher Jimmy McNamara to build the lead to 6-2.
The Chippewas showed some life at the plate in the eighth and ninth when sophomore left fielder Neal Jacobs hit a RBI single to cut the deficit down to three runs. He was able to reach second to get in scoring position, but was unable to come home.
CMU got off to a strong start by scoring a run in the first inning with a RBI single by junior first baseman Cody Leichman. He added a double in the fourth to start the inning and would later put the team up 2-0 when he scored off of a sacrifice fly by sophomore designated hitter Zach Fields.
The Wolverines cut the lead in half in the bottom half of the fourth inning with a sacrifice fly of their own before the onslaught of runs in the sixth and seventh.
"We just didn't play very good defense," Jaksa said. "We didn't do a very good job on the bases on three separate occasions and that was about it. We pitched well enough and we weren't real pleased with how we swung it, but we would've been right in the game"
