Baseball tops Ohio to complete weekend sweep, remain unbeaten in MAC play


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Players welcome back Junior Outfielder Daniel Jipping after his two-run home run, Mar. 26 at Theunissen Stadium. Josh Barnhart | Staff Photographer

The only undefeated team in the Mid-American Conference remained undefeated as the Central Michigan baseball team defeated Ohio, 4-2 Sunday. 

CMU swept the three-game series against the Bobcats and are on a seven-game win streak. The Chippewas improve their record to 17-14 overall and 6-0 in the MAC. CMU is the only remaining undefeated team in the conference.

Head coach Steve Jaksa said that the team has to keep going one game at a time and the success will come.

Scoring Summary

CMU bats finally began to make contact in the third inning when Reed Adams singled and reached third base after a passed ball and Alex Borglin's groundout. Jason Sullivan drove in the runner with a single towards Ohio's shortstop. 

The Chippewas added another run in the fourth inning when Nick Stokowski drove in Evan Kratt. Stokowski's RBI ended up being the winning run for CMU.

CMU padded its lead in the seventh inning with two runs from Daniel Jipping and Jason driven in by Kratt.

Pitching Summary

Sophomore Pat Leatherman got the start on the mound for the Chippewas. He pitched seven innings and posted seven strikeouts while facing 27 batters. Leatherman allowed six hits and one earned run.

"I thought (Leatherman) threw the ball really well," Jaksa said. "He walked a couple guys but other than they he was pretty good. We played really good defense behind him too."

Jake Raether came in to relieve Leatherman, but he didn't last long. Raether faced two batters, let up one hit and one run. After Raether's one-third of an inning, Michael Brettell came in and finished out the game for the Chippewas. 

After facing a scare in the bottom of the eighth inning when Ohio loaded the bases with one out, Brettell finished out the inning only letting in one run and escaped the situation with minimal damage.

Right-handed pitcher Colton Bradley was brought out to close the game for the Chippewas in the ninth inning. Bradley struck out one batter and recorded his sixth save of the season. 

"Brettell, Bradley and Raether all had good weekends for us," Jaksa said. "They were able to keep Ohio at bay.

"We are going to enjoy this one tonight but there's a game on Tuesday. Then, we are going to have our arch rival coming into the weekend, so we don't want to get ahead of ourselves." 

What's Next

The Conference-leading Chippewas take on Oakland at 3:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 11 in Rochester. Following the Tuesday game, Western Michigan comes to Theunissen Stadium for a three-game series this weekend.

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