Baseball opens conference schedule at home against Ohio University
Central Michigan Life File Photo
The starting pitching rotation for CMU this weekend will be freshman Nick Deeg (3-1, 2.10 ERA) on at 3:05 p.m. on Friday, freshman Pat Leatherman (2-0, 2.55 ERA) on at 2:05 p.m. on Saturday. Jason Gamble (2-1, 2.62 ERA) will close out the three-game series at 1:05 p.m. on Sunday.
CMU (13-8) comes into this weekend’s matchup with OU (11-6) on a two-game losing streak while OU has won its last two outings.
Head Coach Steve Jaksa said being consistent in “all phases of the game” will allow the Chippewas to open the MAC season on a winning note.
“I feel we have done some really good things on numerous occasions (this season),” Jaksa said. “We just have to get right back to being consistent defensively. We need to get back to our style of play again.”
The Bobcats are led by sophomore left fielder Mitch Longo and junior center fielder Manny Dejesus. Longo leads OU with a batting average of .395 and has 30 hits this season.
Junior shortstop Joe Houlihan said playing at home for the first time this season will ignite an offense that has been struggling recently.
“Our last couple of games haven’t been what we wanted offensively,” Houlihan said. “We’re going to be really excited to be back home. I think that will get some fire under our butts a little bit.”
DeJesus has the second-best batting average (.393) of all Chippewas. He also leads his team in runs scored with 20 and on-base percentage with an average of .486.
Six of OU’s starters have a batting average higher than 300.
Coming into this weekend’s matchup with the Chippewa,s the Bobcats are averaging 7.7 runs per game.
Senior pitcher Tim Black said the CMU pitching staff must not deviate from its game plan against Bobcat hitters.
“I think we have a pretty good staff,” Black said. “What we have to do is just stick to our gameplan. We’ve proven we can pitch with the best of them.”
OU’s starting pitching has been anything but consistent, giving up 106 runs this season, an opponent’s average of 6.2 runs per game.
Three pitchers have started a game for OU this season with a combined 6.61 earned run average.
Black said the key to scoring runs is getting hits at the right times.
“It’s about timely hitting,” said Black. “We were right in the game with Notre Dame if we would have done that. We had a lot of chances to score.”
Leading the starting staff of OU is junior pitcher Connor Sitz. He is 4-1 on the season with a 3.20 earned run average in 25.1 innings pitched.
Recently the Chippewas have had trouble driving in runners.
Jaksa said having a relaxed approach at the plate while making adjustments as the game progresses will be important for CMU as well.
“They have to stay relaxed. They have to make sure they are doing a good job of keeping themselves in the moment while not trying to do too much,” Jaksa said. “W
hen you do that then (you can) do something good with it.”
