Baseball falls to 5-19, Jaksa cites lack of consistency
Before Feb. 19, the Central Michigan baseball team was 0-0. The Chippewas were gearing up for a season in which they were projected to win the Mid-American Conference West Division.
By Sunday evening, the team compiled a 5-19 record, including dropping two of three to Kent State to open MAC play.
Head Coach Steve Jaksa said the team is looking for "consistency of play."
Entering Sunday, only two players who played in the first 22 games of the season had a batting average over .300 — sophomore shortstop Zach McKinstry (.344) and sophomore leftfielder Daniel Jipping (.310).
On the mound, every Chippewa pitcher on the roster has compiled an earned run average above 3.50. Junior left-handed Nick Deeg has started the most games with six and has amassed a 1-5 record with a 6.55 ERA.
Jaksa said his team needs to be more consistent on the mound, mainly from the starters. He said the bullpen has been a "shuffling deck" and added four players are out with injuries, including two for the season.
"On the mound, we’ve still got to get a couple of guys pitching the way we know they can," Jaksa said. "They haven’t done that yet.”
Jaksa praised junior right-handed pitcher Jordan Grosjean. He pitched twice on Sunday and hurled 2 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball in the finale with five strikeouts.
“We need to consistently get that kind of pitching," Jaksa said.
The team has a 7.18 ERA and has surrendered 228 hits this season. The Chippewas’ offense amassed 176 hits entering Sunday.
Jaksa said he was pleased with how his team swung the bats in Saturday's 13-10 win over Kent State that was suspended to Sunday.
“We did keep scoring runs and did show that we can do that, which is really important," Jaksa said.
The Chippewas did not win a game in February. CMU did not pick up its first win until March 5 when it defeated Villanova 9-5.
CMU has lost a few close games this season, with its closest loss a 4-3 decision to Stetson in DeLand, Florida on March 6. Eight days before that, it lost to Tennessee 20-1 in its fourth game of the season.
The Chippewas have been worse than their opponents in the field, where they have committed 40 errors. Opponents have committed just 20 errors.
Jaksa said he believes the defense has been strong lately. He noted the play of McKinstry, despite his team-high eight errors at shortstop, including one on Sunday.
“We’ve been fielding the ball very well lately," Jaksa said. "Zach’s been playing great at short. He just bobbled one ball. I love Zach. I think he’s doing a great job for us at short.”
Jaksa said he was disappointed with a season-opening sweep at the hands of Arkansas and then a four-game sweep at the Grand Canyon Classic in Arizona after, but noted they played good teams.
He added he has a "resilient" bunch and believes his team will still be a factor during MAC play.
"We can’t win it with the way (we played) this weekend," Jaksa said. "To be as good as I want us to be, we’ve got to get better in some areas. I’d like to think we are going to get there. But some guys just got to buckle up their pants a little bit tighter and make a difference for us like they have in the past."
