Baseball breaks five-game losing streak, beats SVSU 7-4
Freshman Dazon Cole got his first start of the year as the Central Michigan baseball team (6-23, 1-2 Mid-American Conference) defeated the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals (11-15) 7-4 in front of a lively Theunissen Stadium on Tuesday.
Cole (1-1, 3.86 ERA) pitched five innings giving up one hit and four walks while striking out three. He threw 78 pitches in his first pitching start since high school.
"He was able to throw multiple pitches for a strike," said Head Coach Steve Jaksa. "He's a strong kid and he's starting to do some things we thought he could do. You can see that his confidence is growing."
Cole said starting against SVSU "brought back a lot of memories and excitement" since it was his first start since high school. He also said he was "shocked" to start a game this year.
The scoring got started early on in the second inning as freshman right fielder Daniel Robinson reached on an error and freshman second baseman Jason Sullivan doubled. Robinson scored on an RBI ground out by senior center fielder Ryan Heeke. Sullivan later scored on an error by SVSU's third baseman.
Sullivan started the fourth inning with another double, his second of the day. He scored three batters later on an RBI single by junior catcher Robert Greenman.
"We did some good things offensively," Jaksa said. "I thought (junior first baseman Alex Borglin) swung the bat, moved him back to lead-off spot. Slipped (sophomore left fielder Daniel Jipping) into that three-hole. We thought that was going to be a good place for him. Overall, even though we had a couple sporadic at-bats that we'd like to have back — not bad.
Sullivan continued the offensive surge with an RBI single that was part of a three-run fifth inning. Sullivan finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs.
Cole exited the game in the sixth inning and gave way to CMU senior relief pitcher Jimmy McNamara.
SVSU scored its first three runs in the seventh inning with an RBI single and a two-RBI double. McNamara gave up all three of the runs in the seventh. Senior relief pitcher Brady Williams gave up a run in the eighth inning after a wild pitch.
The Chippewas will take on Oakland at 3:05 p.m. on Wednesday at home.
