Baseball explodes for 15-2 win, takes final home series
On a day for the Central Michigan University baseball seniors to shine, it was a couple of juniors who helped the Chippewas clinch a home series win over Northern Illinois University.
Junior left-handed starter Adam Aldred struck out six over 5 1/3 innings and junior first baseman Morgan Oliver drove in three runs as CMU defeated the Huskies 15-2 to win the series at Theunissen Stadium Sunday. CMU had a season-high 20 hits.
The win puts the Chippewas record at 30-17 and 15-6 in the Mid-American Conference.
Head Coach Steve Jaksa was impressed with his team’s performance, especially after dropping Saturday’s contest 6-5.
“We wanted to win the series, playing at home,” Jaksa said. “I thought we had the tough loss yesterday where a couple of things didn’t go right. We wanted to put ourselves in the best position to win the series.”
CMU plated two runs in the first inning to take an early 2-0 lead. They exploded for seven runs in the third to take a 9-0 lead.
One of the key plays of the inning came from freshman designated hitter Daniel Jipping. A known power hitter who hit a home run Friday, Jipping sent a bunt down the third base line that was called fair to load the bases with nobody out for CMU.
“Daniel’s been working really hard so we thought it was a good situation,” Jaksa said. “He reacted really well. It is something he had never really done before. He’s more of the guy who likes to pick up the stick and swing it a little bit. He’s athletic and he knows what he’s doing.”
Oliver then singled in Huntey and Regnier to make it a 5-0 game. Junior third baseman Joe Houlihan then had his own RBI single to make it 6-0. CMU added a run via squeeze play from right fielder Colton Bradley, a sacrifice fly from sophomore left fielder Alex Borglin, and a RBI single from MacKenzie.
CMU scored one run in the fifth inning, three runs in the seventh and two in the eighth. In the seventh inning, Huntey doubled in the left-field corner to score two runs, while pinch hitter senior Cody Leichman doubled to left-center to bring him home.
In the eighth inning, CMU scored its two runs off a RBI double from backup catcher sophomore Robert Greenman and MacKenzie added another RBI single to bring Greenman to the dish.
MacKenzie, Huntey, and Nick Regnier had two RBIs each to go along with Oliver’s three.
"It was nice to be able to continue to score runs. You always got to be able to score runs,” Jaksa said.
On the mound, Aldred went 5 1/3 innings, giving up four hits, one run, four walks, and six strikeouts. CMU also had relief work from junior right-handed pitcher Connor Kelly, sophomore right-hander Blake Hibbitts, junior southpaw Jimmy McNamara and senior closer Tim Black.
This marked the final home series for CMU and the final MAC game at home. The Chippewas will play twice more at Theunissen Stadium against the University of Michigan and Michigan State University.
It was a chance for the home fans to say goodbye to seniors Huntey, MacKenzie, Nick Regnier, catcher Alec Ornelas, Leichman and Black.
“It’s kind of disappointing knowing it was our last MAC series here but with the results it makes you feel a lot better,” Huntey said.
Jaksa praised his seniors for their leadership throughout the season.
“It’s a celebration but they know that an end is going to come at some point,” Jaksa said. “As (the last day) gets closer, you relish every opportunity you have to play.
“I thought they have played hard, played well and showed the kind of leadership that we thought they could do.”
CMU will host Michigan at 4 p.m. Wednesday before heading to Muncie, Ind. next weekend for a three-game series at Ball State University.
