Opening day, MAC play begins for baseball team


Central Michigan baseball, the Mid-American Conference West Division favorites, looks to jump start its season Tuesday against Bowling Green in its first game of the year at Theunissen Stadium.

CMU has been playing for more than a month in nonconference road games. It entered Sunday 4-14 overall. The Chippewas dropped their first eight games of the season, but managed to break their losing streak against Villanova in Deland, Florida as part of the Westin Lake Mary Stetson Invitational.

As of March 19, CMU is batting .242 with 144 total hits and 80 runs. Opponents are batting .313 against CMU pitchers with 188 total hits and 132 runs.

CMU’s pitching thus far has a combined ERA of 7.07, giving up 117 earned runs and 132 total runs. Opposing pitchers have an ERA of 3.85, giving up 68 earned runs and 80 total runs.

“We expect that we’re going to win and we expect that we’re going to play to win,” said Head Coach Steve Jaksa after a 8-5 loss on Saturday against Xavier. “We competed really hard (on Saturday) and things didn’t go our way. We had a couple really tough calls go against us. We had opportunities with people in scoring positions to get another hit. We did get some nice hits, but not enough to get a (win).”

Since 2005, the Chippewas are 148-62 at home. They have only been under .500 once during that span, in 2013. CMU started 13-8 before playing its first home game in 2015 and 10-10 in 2014.

CMU will also begin MAC play this weekend as the Chippewas host Kent State (11-4) for a three-game series starting on Friday. The Golden Flashes were picked to finish first in the MAC Baseball Preseason Poll, which is voted on by the league's 11 head coaches.

“You get really excited about playing at home,” Jaksa said. “We play well at sunny Theunissen (Stadium). We have a great crowd behind us and we have big traditions. When it comes time to be ready to play on Tuesday, we’ll be ready to play. Then we have a weekend home with the MAC. That’s going to be a big opening weekend so we’ll be ready for that too.”

Since 2005, CMU is 186-105 during the MAC season and only fell under .500 two times during that span (2009, 2013). The Chippewas went 20-7 in MAC play last year leading up to their MAC regular season title.

Of the Chippewas' 21 MAC games this season, 12 of them are at home while nine are on the road. Their three road trips include stops at Eastern Michigan (5-10), Ohio (5-6) and Northern Illinois (1-10). 

Projected lineup

1. Junior first baseman Alex Borglin, .232 BA

2. Sophomore shortstop Zach McKinstry, .342 BA

3. Freshman right fielder Daniel Robinson, .196 BA

4. Sophomore left fielder Daniel Jipping, .298 BA

5. Redshirt freshman center fielder Dazon Cole, .221 BA

6. Freshman second baseman Jason Sullivan, .279 BA 

7. Freshman designated hitter Jarrod Watkins, .281 BA

8. Senior third baseman Joe Houlihan, .158 BA

9. Junior catcher Robert Greenman, .080 BA 

Starting pitchers

Junior Nick Deeg (1-4, 5.46 ERA) 

Freshman Michael Brettell (0-1, 5.62 ERA)

Redshirt freshman Pat Leatherman (0-2, 6.23 ERA) 

Freshman Grant Wolfram (0-1, 7.98 ERA)

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