Chippewas' season ends in MAC Tournament semifinals with loss to Western Michigan
Western Michigan 4 | Central Michigan 0
Heading into Saturday, the Central Michigan Chippewas were a Mid-American Conference Tournament loss away from packing their bags and heading back to Mount Pleasant.
After a victory against Western Michigan in the first semifinal game of the day, the Chippewas forced a second game against the Broncos for a ticket to the MAC Tournament finals.
But CMU's season came to an end, losing to WMU 4-0 in Avon, Ohio. It was the fifth time the Chippewas were shut out in 2016
The game one victory came without the help of senior outfielder Ryan Heeke and freshman pitcher/outfielder Dazon Cole. Heeke was hit in the face by a ball in Friday's game against Miami (Oh) and suffered a broken nose and several broken bones in his face. Cole was hospitalized last night after suffering from dehydration. Heeke was in attendance for both games Saturday, but Cole was absent.
"Watching how our guys overcame things in the tournament was similar to how we overcame things in the year," said Head Coach Steve Jaksa. "They overcame a lot of things during the season and that helped us in the tournament. Losing (Heeke and Cole) was very tough. We had some people step up and do some real good things. At the end of the day, we probably ran out of a few bullets but we didn't run out of effort, heart or character."
The Broncos went up 1-0 in the first inning, but the rain started falling at All Pro Freight Stadium as the game headed into the second inning. The teams quickly ran off the field and the tarp was pulled on. The rain delay lasted an hour and 18 minutes.
Senior pitcher Jimmy McNamara started for the first time in 2016 for the Chippewas. McNamara pitched two innings and gave up three runs (two earned) on four hits and two walks before he was pulled for sophomore pitcher Colton Bradley. Before Saturday, McNamara had the second most pitching appearances with 21 and held a 6.84 ERA with a 2-1 record.
The Broncos came out of the rain delay with their bats still hot as they scored two runs in the second inning on a two-RBI single. The Bronco’s first three runs were given up by McNamara.
"We felt the matchup (for Jimmy) was a good matchup. We would've extended him further if we thought we could. Knowing Jimmy, he probably would say (the rain delay) didn't have an effect on him."
Bradley gave up the fourth run after an RBI-single by Bronco’s catcher Mitchell Ho.
Junior first baseman Alex Borglin led off the ninth inning with a double, but the Chippewas were unable to bring him home after freshman second baseman Jason Sullivan and sophomore shortstop Zach McKinstry hit fly outs and sophomore left fielder Daniel Jipping struck out swinging.
The Chippewa’s offense failed to reach base in five out of the nine innings.
