Baseball loses 4-2 at MSU despite Adams' home run
A home run from senior Jordan Adams wasn’t enough to get the baseball team a win against Michigan State on Tuesday.
It fell 4-2 to the Spartans at McLane Stadium in East Lansing in game one of three of the season-long series.
“We just left too many on base,” said head coach Steve Jaksa. “We just hope as we go on we’ll get more relaxed in those situations and gain energy. When that happens, we’ll score a few more runs and get that ‘W.’ I think we’re getting closer to that point.”
The Chippewas trailed 3-0 going into the sixth inning, but the home run from Adams put them within a run of tying the game.
But, throughout the next three innings, they struggled at the plate.
“We thought we were playing well, swinging the bat well, and that homer put us within one run,” Jaksa said. “But, it came to the seventh and the eighth, and we got guys on but couldn’t move them over, unfortunately.”
CMU had three hits in the game, compared to the seven from MSU.
The Chippewas started out the first inning promising, with a double down the left field line by junior Noel Santos.
Santos advanced to third base after freshman Logan Regnier grounded out, hoping to put CMU on the scoreboard early.
But, a pop up from Fields got the third out, and the Chippewas took the field.
Three men left on base in the third was a squandered opportunity to get an early lead.
Sophomore Alec Ornleas was hit by a pitch, followed by sophomore Pat MacKenzie getting walked to put two on.
The leading RBI hitter, sophomore Nick Regnier then stepped up to the plate but flew out to centerfield.
The bases were loaded when Santos also was walked, but neither Logan Regnier or Fields could come up with a hit to drive any of their teammates in.
The Spartans, however, were able to come up with a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third by stringing singles together and moving their runners around the bases.
In the fourth, MSU was able to tack on another run to extend the lead to 3-0.
Both teams went down 1-2-3 in the fifth inning, but the sixth is when the Chippewas battled back to score their two runs.
Freshman right-hander Taylor Lehnert started out on the mound for CMU.
Lehnert had seven strikeouts in six innings, allowing five hits and two walks, with three runs scoring, only two earned.
Junior Kenton San Miguel took over for Lehnert in the seventh, throwing two innings and giving up two hits and walking two.
San Miguel had two strikeouts, but MSU’s fourth run also came in while he was on the mound.
CMU is at it again today at Michigan with first pitch at 4:05 p.m.
“Baseball is a game of rebounding to get ready for the next one,” Jaksa said. “We’ve got to focus on playing well and having a good approach at the plate, because they’re a team we want to go get after and have a good ball game.”
