Lack of consistent hitting still a problem for baseball
A cold offense factored into the series loss the baseball team was handed by Toledo.
“I can’t say we’re overly pleased with what we did at the plate this weekend,” head coach Steve Jaksa said. “We’d like a little more consistency in our lineup than what we had, and we’ve got to keep working on that.”
CMU had just three hits in the 11-0 shut-out loss Saturday in the first game of the three-game series.
Sophomore Nick Regnier and junior Noel Santos and sophomore Pat MacKenzie were the only three to get a hit in the game.
Regnier leads the team with the highest batting average, though he went 1-for-4 to start the weekend in Toledo.
“On Saturday, we never gave ourselves a chance to be in that ballgame,” Jaksa said. “We got down 2-0 … then they pretty much scored every inning. We hadn’t played a game like that in a while. We just never got in a good place offensively and with pitching.”
On Sunday, the Chippewas were better in the series’ second game, but just marginally.
CMU had five hits in the 4-3 loss, while the Rockets had just one more. That was enough to propel them to the win.
Regnier again had a hit, along with senior Jordan Adams and sophomore Tyler Huntey, and, as the designated hitter, sophomore Cody Leichman stepped up with two hits in the game.
But, the five total hits in 29 at-bats fell short for CMU.
The final game was the best showing in terms of number of hits for the Chippewas, yet they still only managed to score two runs from eight hits.
Regnier, MacKenzie and Santos continued to contribute as Regnier led the team with two hits, and Santos and MacKenzie had one apiece.
Fresh faces were added to the mix with freshman Dylan Goodwin and sophomore Joe Houlihan also recording a hit in the third game of the series.
Noticeably absent from the offense was redshirt freshman Neal Jacobs.
Jacobs had climbed into the No. 3 spot for his batting average and leads the Chippewas with five home runs—the most recent being a grand slam in a 10-0 win against Calvin College.
But, Jacobs went 0-for-10 this weekend.
While Jaksa continues to push for offensive consistency, he said the team also needs to step up in other areas.
“Defensively, we’ve got to play,” Jaksa said. “You can’t always control if you get hits, and it will help if defensively we play like we are able to.”
