Baseball drops season opener to East Tennessee State


The Central Michigan baseball team opened the season with an 18-6 loss to East Tennessee State Friday, in the first of a three-game series with the Buccaneers.

"Going into the eighth inning it was a three run game," said head coach Steve Jaksa. "At the bottom of the eighth (inning) the well went dry so to speak and the floodgates opened."

The Chippewas used six pitchers in its game and gave up nine runs in the bottom of the eighth inning which put the game out of reach. 

CMU used six pitchers in the loss. Three of those pitchers, Brady Williams, Cameron Brown and Jack Collins, were used in the eight inning alone. 

CMU sophomore starting pitcher Pat Leatherman struggled. He pitched for 3.2 innings where he gave up eight hits and seven earned runs while facing 21 ETSU batters.

"We had three or four guys who are new to the game and haven't pitched for us," Jaksa said. "Pat Leatherman would tell you that was an uncharacteristic start for him but I'm fully confident he'll bounce back from that."

After the fourth inning, ETSU led 7-1. The lone score was from Nick Stokowski's solo home run in the second inning. CMU then battled back to score four unanswered runs in the fourth and fifth inning, but ETSU responded with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

CMU's sophomore designated hitter Daniel Jipping had three runs batted in during Friday's ballgame. He posted one solo home run and one double and was 2-4 on the day. 

Jaksa said that they are going to throw the ball better in the next game.

Game 2 of the series begins at 2 p.m. Saturday. Sophomore pitcher Michael Brettell is expected to be on the mound for the Chippewas. 

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