Baseball tops Lawrence Tech behind Buczkowski’s arm, 14-1
Freshman right-handed pitcher Logan Buczkowski earned his first career start for the Central Michigan baseball team and delivered four scoreless innings en route to a victory.
The Chippewas (4-15-1) took down Lawrence Tech (19-11), 14-1, on March 19 at Theunissen Stadium in a nonconference battle.
“It was a good win,” said CMU head coach Steve Jaksa. “Nice and crisp today. I like how we came ready to go and continued to fight to get wins. This is a team that had been playing really well and we knew that.”
CMU’s first four runs scored were unearned runs given up by Lawrence Tech sophomore right-hander Matt Baker due to errors by the Blue Devil infielders.
In the bottom of the second inning, freshman infielder Zavier Warren extended the lead on a two-RBI single to score junior outfielder Jacob Crum and junior infielder Jason Sullivan. Redshirt freshman infielder Chase Rollin followed up Warren’s hit with an RBI single of his own, pushing the Chippewa lead to 7-0.
Baker was pulled early in the action after allowing seven runs (four earned) on four hits and four walks. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound man on the mound earned just one strikeout.
CMU made the game 8-0 on a walk drawn by sophomore infielder Reed Adams, automatically driving in sophomore infielder Zach Heeke. The run was given up by sophomore left-hander Matt Blunk, who went 2.0 innings before giving way to sophomore right-hander Simon Lidwell.
Buczkowski exited the game after throwing four scoreless innings, giving up just one walk. The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder struck out six batters in his CMU starting debut.
“Buczkowski came out and set the tone and we got seven runs to back him up,” Jaksa said. “We were able to take advantage of a couple mistakes. We got really good pitching right on down the list.”
Sophomore infielder Tyler Cleasby logged the first hit for Lawrence Tech off CMU freshman right-hander Jordan Patty in the top of the sixth inning. The Blue Devils earned another hit in the same inning, but never managed to drive in a run.
The Chippewas scored five runs off senior right-hander James Castiglione in the bottom of the seventh inning, but only one was an earned run. An error on a throw home made it a 13-0 edge for CMU, chasing Castiglione from the game.
A standup double by Sullivan pushed in junior outfielder David Cole in the seventh, handing CMU a 14-0 margin against Lawrence Tech.
Senior right-hander Colton Bradley entered the game in the top of the eighth inning and slammed the door on the Blue Devils.
Lawrence Tech scored one run in the top of the ninth inning, but CMU managed to hold on for the 14-1 victory at home.
Up Next
The Chippewas travel to take on Michigan State at 3 p.m. on March 21. The game will be played in East Lansing at McLane Baseball Stadium.
“We got a game against Michigan State and the conference play starts,” Jaksa said. “Our energy is going to be good. We are going to be ready to play.”
