Central Michigan baseball begins season 0-3, swept out of Arkansas
Junior infielder Zack Fields bats during the Central Michigan University baseball team's win over Oakland April 8, 2015 at Theunissen Stadium.
Central Michigan baseball started its season against the No. 22 Arkansas Razorbacks, getting swept in the three-game series.
Friday
After a record-breaking opening-day crowd of 9,620, the Razorbacks scored four runs in the eighth inning to beat the Chippewas 6-1. CMU was held to two hits, both coming from freshman second baseman Jason Sullivan.
Senior right-hander Sean Renzi started for the Chippewas on Friday, giving up two runs on five hits and two walks in six innings. Out of his 96 pitches he threw, 67 were strikes.
A big eighth inning for the Razorback started after a walk and a throwing error, advancing Arkansas’ baserunner to third base. A hit batter and a wild pitch later, Arkansas freshman left fielder Jake Arledge hit a bases-clearing triple. He eventually scored on a throwing error by Sullivan, giving the Razorbacks the 6-1 lead.
Saturday
The Chippewas took their first lead of the game in the fourth inning. After third baseman Joe Houlihan singled to begin the fourth, outfielder/designated hitter Daniel Jipping doubled to right center, scoring Houlihan from first.
Jipping advanced to third and scored on a groundout to second by outfielder/pitcher Dazon Cole, giving him his first RBI as a Chippewa. He went 2-for-3 on Saturday.
Arkansas took back the lead in the fifth with two runs. The deciding run came in the eighth which gave them a two run lead. CMU scored one run in the ninth, falling short of a comeback, 4-3. Chippewa starting pitcher Nick Deeg went five innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks with six strikeouts.
Sunday
There wasn’t much scoring early in the game, but Arkansas struck first thanks to a sacrifice fly by second baseman Rick Nomura.
However, CMU took the lead in the top of the fifth after an RBI single by right fielder Daniel Robinson, a bunt-single by Sullivan and a sacrifice fly by catcher Robert Greenman.
The lead didn’t make it out of the fifth, as Arkansas scored two runs off three errors on the same play. Two errors were made by Robinson and another was made by Greenman. The score was 3-3 after the fifth. Three more runs were added for Arkansas in the sixth, and a three-run home run by Razorbacks’ left fielder Luke Bonfield made the game 9-3.
The Chippewas used five pitchers. Starter Pat Leatherman went four innings and the longest any of CMU’s relievers went was 1 and 1/3 innings.
"(Sunday) was a disappointment defensively," said CMU Head Coach Steve Jaksa. "The first two games overall we played pretty good defense. We had a blip here or there but I think we're gonna play good defense and I think (Renzi and Deeg) are going to throw well. I thought Leatherman threw today really well. He competed was able to mix his pitches."
CMU added a run in the eighth but eventually dropped its third straight game to start the year.
"We had some guys make some good adjustments through the course of the series," said CMU Head Coach Steve Jaksa. "I think that's always imperative that way when we do that, but I also think that the type of pitcher we faced today was different than what we faced the other two days."
Arkansas had 28,492 fans this weekend, a new opening-series attendance record for the Razorbacks.
The Chippewas went a combined 16-for-85 this weekend, a combined batting average of .189. Sullivan led the team in hits this weekend and went 4-for-10. Cole went 3-for-9 with an RBI and two runs.
CMU will look to win its first game next weekend in Phoenix, Arizona. The Chippewas will play Grand Canyon on Thursday, Saint Mary’s on Friday, Grand Canyon again on Saturday and Tennessee on Sunday.
