Baseball heads to MU for three-game series
The last time the Chippewas and RedHawks faced off, a 4-3 loss to Miami University (Ohio) knocked the Central Michigan University baseball team out of the 2014 Mid-American Conference Tournament.
CMU (15-10, 2-1 MAC) kicks off a three-game series with the Redhawks (4-16, 2-1 MAC) beginning at 6:05 p.m. Friday.
Head Coach Steve Jaksa said overlooking MU based on its record is the last thing his team will do.
“A team’s record doesn't indicate what the team is,” Jaksa said. “I’ve looked through their schedule series-by-series to see how they’ve played. If we based everything on records we would never win games. I know Miami is a good team.”
Sophomore pitcher and Lake Orion native Nick Deeg (3-2, 2.50 ERA) will get the start for the Chippewas Friday. Junior pitcher Adam Aldred (1-1, 3.95 ERA) will take the mound Saturday and junior Jason Gamble (3-1, 1.91 ERA) will close the series out on Sunday.
Last weekend MU won two of three games against Western Michigan University with a 8-5 victory Friday and an extra-inning win Saturday 3-2.
RedHawks senior outfielder Matt Honchel leads the team in batting average at .421 and has 32 hits this season. He has reached base in all 20 games this season for MU.
Six pitchers have started at least one game for MU this year. Two pitchers have started six times including senior Ryan Powers (2-4, 5.24 ERA and sophomore Jacob Banks (1-4, 3.25 ERA).
The Chippewas’ explosive offense will look to exploit some of MU’s pitching weaknesses coming into the weekend averaging 5.28 runs per game.
CMU has a lot of speed top to bottom in its lineup with a total of 43 steals this season on 51 attempts, a success rate of 84.3 percent.
Three Chippewas have 10 steals including junior right fielder Logan Regnier, senior center fielder Nick Regnier and senior second baseman Pat MacKenzie.
Sophomore pitcher Blake Hibbitts said based on how MU played last season, he knows this weekend’s will be another challenging series.
“We played them on our home field last year and it was definitely a tough series,” Hibbitts said.
Logan Reniger leads the CMU offense including batting average, .333, hits with 30 and runs batted in with 19.
Reigning MAC West Player of the Week, senior catcher Tyler Huntey, is heating up at the plate after a cold start to the season.
Last weekend against Ohio, Huntey hit .500 and finished with five hits in the three-game series.
Huntey said the reason for his improvement at the plate has been his ability to trust himself while being ready mentality for each at-bat.
“When you’re struggling, it’s hard to get out of that. I had to realize that I played well last year and that I can play well this year,” Huntey said. “I never gave up on myself and just kept swinging the bat. Last weekend things just turned around.”
The Chippewas are ready for their first sweep of the season during their first road conference series of the year.
“No matter what when it comes to any conference game, anybody can beat anybody,” Huntey said. “You come in and you have to bring your best game. It doesn't matter who your playing.”
