Baseball within reach of MAC West title heading into series against EMU
It all comes down to this.
For most of the season, the Central Michigan baseball team was on or near the top of the heap in the Mid-American Conference West Division.
Now, for CMU to achieve one of its pre-season goals and win the program’s first division crown since 2006, it must pull off its second consecutive series sweep this week … and get a little help to boot.
The Chippewas open their last series of the season at 3:05 p.m. Thursday against in-state rival Eastern Michigan at Theunissen Stadium.
“It’s only a big weekend because we’re still in the race,” said coach Steve Jaksa. “The reason you are here is because you played a lot of other weekends well.”
Senior right-hander Jesse Hernandez (7-2, 4.52 ERA) will get the start in the important series opener, a must-win if the Chippewas want to stay in contention for a division title.
Hernandez began conference play 4-1 but cooled down a bit, taking a loss against Northern Illinois on May 1 and a no decision in CMU’s 9-8 extra innings loss in Toledo on May 7. He earned his first win in three outings on Friday in CMU’s 12-7 win against Western Michigan, despite allowing six runs in 6 1/3 innings pitched.
“I’m just going to stay with routine, but there’s definitely that extra motivation to want to go out there and win a game,” Hernandez said. “It really just comes down to me staying within myself and not trying to do more than I’m capable of doing.”
EMU will send Kendall Lewis (5-1), who boasts the seventh-best ERA (2.91) in the MAC, to the mound.
OUTSIDE FACTORS
CMU (30-20, 17-7 MAC) was forced to sweep the Broncos over the weekend to stay on pace with Ball State (18-6), which swept Northern Illinois to maintain its division lead.
To complicate things, the Cardinals begin a series at Toledo on Thursday. The Rockets (17-7) are tied with the Chippewas for second and could also finish the weekend with a division title.
For CMU to have at an opportunity to clinch a championships, they must first sweep EMU (25-27, 13-11 MAC). In MAC play, the Eagles enter the series ninth in hitting (.284 average) and sixth in pitching (5.50 ERA).
“I have a lot of confidence in our guys, they’re going to come out there and swing the bat well,” Hernandez said. “They know what they got to do. It really just comes down to sound baseball and hopefully things work out for us.”
From there, all eyes will be on Scott Park in Toledo, Ohio.
A CMU sweep and Toledo series win against Ball State clinches the division for the Chippewas. However, a Ball State series win – it has won 11 consecutive series going back to last season – clinches the division for the Cardinals.
“We need to go out and pitch well on Thursday and if we do that I feel good about our chances,” Jaksa said. “As you play every game, you just knock them off. You take it one a time.”
Toledo could win the division with a series win and CMU loss.
