CMU baseball aiming to end season strong against rival WMU, secure No. 1 seed
As the Chippewas fight for a No. 1 overall seed in the Mid-American Conference Tournament next weekend, their rivals at Western Michigan University are aiming to secure one of the three final spots left.
"It's going to be a big series for both of us," said CMU coach Steve Jaksa. "They're playing to get into the tournament and we're playing to stay where we're at."
CMU holds the No. 2 seed and sits two and a half games behind No. 1 Ball State heading into the end of the regular season.
In order to move forward, the Chippewas must sweep WMU and hope Ball State loses all three of its games to Northern Illinois this weekend.
"We're going to force Ball State to win that last game," Jaksa said. "We don't want to give them anything, we want to make them beat Northern Illinois somehow, someway."
Meanwhile, WMU is playing to extended its season. However, the momentum is moving in favor of the Chippewas after sweeping Michigan State University on Tuesday at the annual "Clash at Comerica" matchup.
The game ended in a 7-4 Chippewas win over MSU.
"That was a good win going into the Western Michigan series," said CMU junior catcher Tyler Huntey. "It's a big series for us against a conference rival to get even more momentum going into the MAC tournament."
In addition to the MSU sweep, the Chippewas are building even more confidence as they head into the regular season home series finale riding on a six-game winning streak.
"As an overall perspective as a team, we're at a good spot," Huntey said. "We need to keep that rolling through Western Michigan and into the MAC tournament."
