Baseball drops fourth straight with loss to Villanova
The Central Michigan baseball team dropped its fourth consecutive game Saturday, losing to Villanova 4-3 in Port Charlotte, Florida.
The loss dropped CMU to 3-6 on the season.
“It was a tough loss across the board for us," said head coach Steve Jaksa. "We're playing well, but we're not getting rewarded."
Through the first five innings it was a pitchers duel with the score tied at zero.
Villanova struck first in the sixth inning with an RBI double to go up 1-0.
CMU bounced back in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI single by freshman Zach Gilles to tie the game up.
Villanova struck again in the seventh with an RBI triple and a sacrifice fly to retake the lead 3-1.
In the eighth, CMU cut the lead in half with an RBI groundout by Gilles. Sophomore Evan Kratt hit a single but sophomore Ty Rollin was thrown out at home to end the inning for the Chippewas. CMU went into the ninth down 3-2.
Villanova extended the lead to 4-2 with an RBI double in the top of the ninth.
CMU made the game interesting at the end. After a groundout to start the ninth, CMU picked up three straight hits. Sophomore Daniel Robinson had an RBI single to cut the Villanova's lead to 4-3.
CMU had men on first and second with only one out, but couldn’t drive in the tying run after Villanova switched pitchers.
Jaksa said he was happy with the effort his team gave on defense despite the loss.
“We played great defense today," he said. "Defense is a big part of the game and we take pride in playing defense well each game."
Sophomore Dazon Cole started for the Chippewas today and went six innings giving up two earned runs and striking out three.
“He threw well for us today and did a great job keeping us in the game” Jaksa said.
Senior Alex Borglin led the Chippewas with three hits and Gilles drove in two runs for CMU.
“It’s a tough loss but we have to move on and prepare for our next game tomorrow” Jaksa said.
What’s next:
The Chippewas return to the field at 3 p.m. Sunday to take on Northeastern.
