Baseball takes fifth consecutive conference series, defeats Buffalo 6-1
Junior infielder Joe Houlihan bats against Eastern Michigan April 10 at Theunissen Stadium.
With a 6-1 victory on Sunday over the University at Buffalo, the Central Michigan University baseball team has won all five Mid-American Conference series it has played this season.
CMU (27-13, 12-3 MAC) outscored the Bulls 13-3 in the final two games of the series.
Senior center fielder Nick Regnier, who started his first game since March 29, led CMU with six runs batted in and seven hits during the weekend.
Senior catcher Tyler Huntey and senior second baseman Pat MacKenzie each finished with six runs scored during the three-game series.
The Chippewas will play Northwood University at 4 p.m. Wednesday in Mount Pleasant.
Sunday
The Chippewas scored six unanswered runs early and never looked back thanks to a solid outing from junior pitcher Adam Aldred.
Aldred threw a complete game giving up one run on two hits and five strikeouts moving to 3-1 on the season.
CMU finished with nine hits Sunday.
Nick Regnier led all Chippewas with three hits and three runs batted in.
CMU led 2-0 after the first inning.
MacKenzie was hit by a pitch in the second inning loading the bases for CMU with one out. Huntey had a two-RBI double in the second inning, making it a 4-0 Chippewa lead.
Aldred shut the Bulls’ offense down during the final seven innings.
Saturday
A near-flawless performance from reliever-turned-starter Sean Renzi along with a Regnier-powered Chippewa offense led CMU to a 7-2 win Saturday against the Bulls.
Renzi (2-1, 2.27 ERA) didn’t allow a hit until the sixth inning, which was only the third baserunner of the day for the Bulls.
The junior from Plainfield, Ill. finished his second start of the year going six innings, allowing one hit, three walks and no runs.
“I thought Renzi threw a hell of a ballgame,” said Head Coach Steve Jaksa. “The guys behind him did a nice job of being defensively solid. Those are the staples. Then we scored some runs.”
Junior right fielder Logan Regnier and brother Nick Regnier combined for all of CMU’s RBI’s combining for two runs and four hits including a double and a triple.
“We needed every single run we could get because that team was only a swing away from getting right back into the game,” Jaksa said. “Credit our guys for how we competed today too, we were up for the task.”
Junior pitcher Jimmy McNamara came on in the ninth inning for CMU, allowing Buffalo to score its first two runs of the game.
Friday
Sophomore pitcher Nick Deeg started for the Chippewas (25-13, 10-3 MAC). Deeg went three and one third innings, giving up nine earned runs on 10 hits and two walks.
UB's 11 runs and 18 hits on Friday was the most CMU has given up in a game this season.
Logan Regnier, junior third baseman Joe Houlihan and freshman shortstop Zach McKinstry led the Chippewas with two hits apiece. Houlhan finished with two RBI’s as well.
The Bulls scored four runs in the third inning to take the lead 6-4 heading into the fourth. From there the momentum would shift in the Bulls’ favor offensively.
UB jumped on Deeg (6-3, 2.89 ERA) in the fourth inning, scoring three more runs making it a 9-4 lead, which ended Deeg’s day.
