COLUMN: Baseball down but never out
Members of Central Michigan University baseball team place their hats over their hearts as the national anthem is sung.
It’s never too late for a comeback. Where most teams feel the pressure not to lose, the Central Michigan University baseball team feels nothing, except the will to win.
Wednesday night was another example of how the Chippewas continue to shine in late inning situations no matter the score.
As the eighth inning began, CMU was down 7-0 and the offense was struggling to find any consistency.
MSU began to struggle on the pitching mound and the Chippewas took advantage of some opportunities at the plate.
It would lead to eight runs over the final two innings.
Junior infielder Morgan Oliver, who drove in the winning run Wednesday night at Comerica Park, said in those pressure situations the team simply never gives up.
“It’s about trust,” Oliver said. “There is never a doubt that we look down. We’re brothers in that locker room. We do everything together. It's just a brotherhood really. We just never give up until the last out.”
Head Coach Steve Jaksa said although the game did not start out the way he wanted, he was pleased with how the team responded in the late innings.
“That was a little bit of a sloppy game to start from our standpoint,” Jaksa said. “It’s a credit to the guys that we just kept playing. “Morgan (Oliver) got an opportunity off the bench and he managed those opportunities.”
Heading into the ninth inning, the Spartans held onto a 7-2 lead.
Two of the first three batters walked for CMU in the ninth inning, but it was Oliver who led off with a double to left center field.
Oliver said using that momentum to their advantage was all it took for a five run deficit to turn into an 8-7 victory.
“It’s about momentum,” Oliver said. “We were down the entire game until the ninth inning. I was talking to coach (Jeff) Opalewski saying “if we just get a little bit of momentum that’s just going to be a snowball effect. No one can stop us once we get that momentum going.”
In the ninth inning CMU was able to put together some solid at-bats running many counts full, which in turn drew some walks and forced the pitcher to make adjustments.
Jaksa said the ability to go deeper into counts and having a good approach allowed the team to put more pressure on MSU.
“We were able to take advantage of quality at-bats by going deeper and deeper in counts and drawing walks,” Jaksa said. “Things all of a sudden started to change a little but and you can feel that momentum, you can sense it. We just kept playing.”
Feb. 21, against Stetson, CMU was tied 6-6 heading into the ninth inning and came away with an 8-6 win.
Feb. 28, against Texas State. This game stands out in my mind.
The Chippewas were down 5-0 heading into the seventh inning. CMU scored 14 runs over the final three innings to win 14-6.
Those are just a few games out of many that prove the strength of this Chippewas baseball team is a mindset.
A mindset that knows the game is never over until the final out.
