Baseball returns to MAC play with win over Toledo
Junior pitcher Pat Leatherman makes a pitch during the first game in the series against Kent State at Keilitz Field on April 7.
Following a one game out-of-conference road trip to Oakland on Wednesday, resulting in a 24-9 victory, the Central Michigan baseball team returned to conference play with a win on the road in Toledo, 5-3.
Originally on the schedule as a three-game weekend series hosted in Mount Pleasant, weather forced the game to be played in Toledo. The Chippewas (12-20-1) and Rockets entered the game with an identical record in the Mid-American Conference sitting at 5-4.
With the win, CMU now sits alone in third place in the MAC standings with a 6-4 conference record, jumping Toledo (5-5) and Eastern Michigan (5-5).
Junior Pat Leatherman earned his second win of the season (2-4) pitching five innings in the Chippewas 5-3 victory over the Rockets. The right-hander finished with three strikeouts, while allowing four hits and one earned run.
Relieving Leatherman in the fifth inning, junior left-hander Jack Collins threw for three innings and allowed one hit from in nine at-bats. Toldeo managed to make a small run late in the ninth inning after freshman left-hander Brandon Reed gave up two runs off two hits.
Leading the offense for CMU was junior Jacob Crum, who recorded a team-high three hits and scored 2-of-5 Chippewa runs.
According to the CMU athletics department, the following two games of the series will be played, however sites and start times are still to be determined.
