Baseball drops first Mid-American Conference series this season
The Central Michigan baseball team needed just three pitches to win one game on Easter Sunday. About three hours later, it tasted defeat.
CMU fell 5-2 to Kent State at Theunissen Stadium to lose the rubber match of the series. The Chippewas drop their first Mid-American Conference series this season.
At 12:05 p.m., CMU and KSU completed a suspended game from Saturday in which the Chippewas were leading 13-10. There were two outs in the ninth inning and CMU needed one more to secure its first MAC win of the season.
Junior right-handed pitcher Jordan Grosjean dealt to KSU infielder Dylan Rosa, who grounded out to senior third baseman Joe Houlihan after three pitches.
After a 35-minute break, the Chippewas began game three. Kent State used a three-run seventh inning to close the door on CMU.
The Golden Flashes had runners at second and third with nobody out in the seventh. CMU junior left-handed pitcher Brady Williams gave up a single to KSU right fielder Luke Burch to give them a 4-2 lead. After Burch stole third base, second baseman Zach Beckner used a sacrifice bunt to score him to take a 5-2 lead.
“We gift wrapped a few too many runs," said Head Coach Steve Jaksa. "That was disappointing. We didn’t have an answer offensively like we did (Saturday).”
The Chippewas committed three errors while the Golden Flashes had zero. CMU committed two errors in the top of the seventh.
“We ended up making a couple mistakes that put us in a position where we couldn’t keep it tied or put us in a position to put more pressure on them," Jaksa said.
CMU trailed 2-0 after 4 1/2 innings, but grabbed its first run in the fifth inning. Houlihan laid down a squeeze to score junior first baseman Alex Borglin. Borglin reached on a bunt single to start the inning.
The Chippewas picked up another run in the sixth inning. Freshman rightfielder Daniel Robinson grounded out to score freshman second baseman Jason Sullivan to tie the game 2-2.
Kent State southpaw Eli Kraus went seven innings and gave up two runs while striking out three Chippewas. His counterpart, freshman right-handed pitcher Pat Leatherman, exited after 5 1/3 innings. Leatherman surrendered four hits, two runs and three walks with one strikeout.
Grosjean pitched the final 2 2/3 innings for CMU after appearing in the wrap-up of the suspended game. He stuck out five.
CMU was led offensively by Borglin, who went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored. Sullivan, sophomore shortstop Zach McKinstry and senior outfielder Ryan Heeke had a hit each to make up CMU's five hits.
“Today, we didn’t swing the bat and sometimes the pitcher has something to do with it, but we weren’t as crisp in our offensive approach," Jaska said. "A couple guys who swung the bat yesterday well were a little bit long today. You can’t be long in your swing. You’ve got to be able to be the same every day."
The Chippewas will travel to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
