The baseball team won 15-6 in the second half of a doubleheader Saturday against UNC-Asheville to salvage a weekend series.

CMU (3-5) lost its two previous two games to the Bulldogs on the weekend, 7-4 earlier on Saturday and 12-4 on Friday.

“We started out kind of slow,” said sophomore outfielder Matt Faiman. “But by the third game we finally stepped up. We just had to focus more.”

The final game of the series, scheduled for noon Sunday, was canceled because of poor weather conditions.

Faiman had four runs batted in on four hits in the win. His performance matched his season total heading into the game.

Freshman designated hitter Nate Theunissen went 2-for-4 and added three RBIs.

Freshman pitcher Zach Cooper earned the win after giving up no earned runs in 3.2 innings pitched.

“We started to play CMU baseball in the third game,” said coach Steve Jaksa. “We got off to a slow start, for whatever reason. We just lacked the enthusiasm.”

The team lost 12-4 Friday after giving up seven runs in the third inning.

The Chippewas lost 7-4 on Saturday despite rallying for four runs in the eighth inning.

“We had one bad inning in the first game. We weren’t giving up errors, they were just stringing hits together,” Jaksa said. “We have to learn to get out of the inning. In most cases it just takes one more big strikeout or a diving catch, but someone has to make the big play.”

The team has a four-day break before traveling back to Florida to face Northeastern on March 6.

“We’ve shown that we can be strong in the field and at the plate,” Faimen said. “But we have to work on being more consistent”

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E-mail the author: Brian Manzullo