Questionable call leads to big second inning for Falcons baseball

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Steve Jaksa took his time walking back to CMU’s dugout in the second inning of Saturday’s first game against Bowling Green.

The CMU baseball coach had leaped from his seat on the bench moments earlier to confront first base umpire Mike Wallace, who called BGSU’s T.J. Blanton safe despite a diving catch by right fielder Matt Faiman.

“He clearly caught it,” Jaksa said. “I don’t see how (the umpire) could have missed it.”

The crowd above the home team’s dugout praised Jaksa with an extended round of applause for backing his right fielder.

Instead of Faiman making the second out and possibly ending the inning by doubling-up the runner on first for leaving early, everyone was safe and a run scored.

“There’s a big difference between zero and six,” Jaksa said. “There’s a lot of momentum in a game like that. That probably could have put the dagger in (BGSU) with that catch – they don’t score is a big difference from the next four guys getting hits.”

Faiman miss-stepped, taking one step in, but quickly recovered to make what appeared to be a diving catch just in front of the right field wall.

With a face full of warning-track dirt, Faiman picked himself up only to see Wallace signal “safe.”

“I was very surprised,” Faiman said. “I turned around and there were guys on first and second.”

The boos came quickly from the Central cheering section.

Faiman, knowing that runners were on the corners with one out, expected to rise after the catch and double up BGSU’s Ryan Schlater, who was standing on second base. It would have ended the inning.

Instead, there were now runners on second and third and a run had just scored – still with only one out.

The Falcons took over the inning, scoring six runs on eight hits while sending 11 batters to the plate.

The lack of momentum caused by the barrage of hits and runs forced Jaksa to go to his bullpen early, pulling freshman starter Trent Howard after just 1 1/3 innings.

Faiman, after already showing his ability to make great catches on a diving grab in the first, said he never really recovered and kept that play with him for the remainder of the game.

“It was just a bad day,” he said, after going 0-for-4 with an RBI. “Especially at the end of the game, knowing they could have had zero runs in that inning.”

The Chippewas chipped away at Falcon lead and came within three runs, but they couldn’t close the gap after a lopsided second inning.

sports@cm-life.com