Baseball looks to Aldred to bounce back
After a rough weekend for the Central Michigan baseball team, the men are looking to rebound on the road at Oakland today.
The Chippewas were swept by Ball State at home last weekend, losing hold of their first-place conference standing which they had previously held since the Mid-American Conference schedule began on March 21.
CMU turns to sophomore left-handed pitcher Adam Aldred to deliver another mid-week start while the team attempts to snap a three-game losing streak.
Aldred has been a consistent starter since the MAC season began, starting a majority of the midweek non-conference games and enjoying relative success.
The lefty began the season as the No. 4 starter in the rotation behind junior Jordan Foley, senior Patrick Kaminska and freshman Nick Deeg. Aldred started against UNLV, Troy, Villanova, Bucknell and Incarnate Word posting a 2-3 record with an ERA of 3.18 before the MAC season started.
Since the season opened, Aldred has pitched the non-conference games against Michigan, Notre Dame and Michigan State twice. He picked up wins against the Fighting Irish and Spartans while getting no decisions in one MSU game and one against Michigan. CMU is 3-1 in those games.
The Golden Grizzlies of Oakland are much different opponent then the last four Aldred has faced. Oakland (19-24-1) has struggled this season. One of OU's 19 wins this year came in Mount Pleasant.
Oakland beat CMU 14-8 in a game that saw six Chippewa errors, a problem the team has faced in midweek games when Aldred does not get the start.
Senior pitcher Kenton San Miguel took a loss in the first meeting between the inter-state rivals, where he went 1 1/3 innings giving four unearned runs.
San Miguel was able to get the win in another midweek game against Madonna where he threw 4 1/3 innings in relief of redshirt freshman Blake Hibbitts, who gave up five earned runs in his start that day.
When Aldred takes the mound in midweek games, the offense tends to support his effort.
In his four outings since becoming the midweek starter, CMU has five errors compared to 10 in the two games he has not pitched.
A one-game winning streak looks a lot better than a four-game losing streak with another home MAC series and the team 2 1/2 games out of first in the standings.
