Bowling Green ruins CMU's opening day, Chippewas drop four straight


Central Michigan baseball Head Coach Steve Jaksa mentioned last week that the Chippewas “play well at sunny Theunissen Stadium.” 

The rain started to fall early in the game and so did the runs for Bowling Green, as Bowling Green defeated the Chippewas 4-0 on opening day at Theunissen Stadium.

CMU (4-16) played on the road at BGSU (8-13) last week for its opening day game. The Chippewas upset the Falcons’ opening day with a 10-5 win.

"Any time you got your home opener and you get shut out, you gotta be disappointed," Jaksa said. "You gotta try and figure out what caused it. I thought we swung the bats really well early on in the first three innings. We just never could get on track."

Freshman Grant Wolfram got the start for CMU Tuesday. He went 3 and 2/3 innings, giving up four earned runs on six hits and four walks. He struck out two.

The Falcons scored their first three runs in the top of the third. Wolfram managed to get the first out of the inning, but after a walk and a double, a sacrifice fly scored the first run of the game. One batter later, BGSU designated hitter Greg Basalyga hit a two-run home run to the 375-mark in left-center field.

When Wolfram left the game, the bases were loaded with two outs in the top of the fourth. Junior relief pitcher Brady Williams entered the game and got the batter, left fielder Matt Smith, to fly out to center field to escape the jam. Williams finished the game with 4 and 1/3 innings of work. He gave up three hits, zero runs, one walk and struck out three.

"Brady did a great job," Jaksa said. "He threw really well for us when we were in Xavier too. We extended him a little bit today. It was kind of a decision we made so he got up to almost 60 pitches. We were gonna top him out at 60 going into that last inning so we got him out of there, but he did a nice job and it's part of that depth in the bullpen."

Wolfram also pitched last week against BGSU. That day, he also went 3 and 2/3 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on eight hits and one walk.

CMU’s offense started clicking in its half of the fourth inning as the first two batters — freshman right fielder Daniel Robinson and sophomore left fielder Daniel Jipping — both got singles, the first hits of the game for the Chippewas. However, the Falcons recorded three straight outs to end the inning.

"I thought we were in a good position," Jaksa said. "We had (Alex Borglin) coming up who's had a couple really nice games for us when he was in. We had a choice whether we wanted to bunt for a hit, I gave him swing away and he ended up popping up."

"All around we are a team that hustles so defense is very important for us," said freshman center fielder Dazon Cole. "The coaches talk defense a lot and that was our main focus today. Defense is the most important thing that we have to do."

BGSU’s freshman pitcher Brad Croy made his first start of the year, giving up zero runs on two hits and two walks. He struck out one.

The Falcons' bullpen allowed only one hit, two walks and zero runs, while striking out six.

The Chippewas will travel to East Lansing Wednesday to take on the Michigan State Spartans at 3 p.m.

Share: