Chippewas win both in doubleheader, improve to 4-2
In game one, the bats earned the win. Then, it was pitching in game two, as the Central Michigan baseball team earned victories in both games of a Friday doubleheader.
Senior right-handed pitcher Pat Leatherman and junior right-hander Cameron Brown both earned wins, while junior infielder Zach Heeke drove in seven runs.
The Chippewas (4-2) topped Prairie View A&M, 15-2, and followed it up with a 4-2 defeat of Lamar University in the Cardinal Classic at Vincent-Beck Stadium in Texas.
"It's great after a long travel day to get two wins," said CMU coach Jordan Bischel.
Game 1
Leatherman (1-0) went six innings for his first victory of the season. In his 2019 debut, starting the season opener against Troy on Feb. 15, Leatherman took a no-decision.
Heeke hit a two-run single in the second inning and added a two-run single in the fourth to hand the Chippewas a 4-0 lead over Prairie View A&M.
After Leatherman surrendered two runs in the fifth, an eight-run sixth inning made it a 12-2 edge for CMU. In the seventh, senior Bryan Jakiemiec ripped a triple to score two runs for a 12-run lead.
Bischel's group added yet another run in the seventh inning to help secure a 15-2 victory.
Heeke finished 5-for-6 with seven RBIs.
Game 2
Against Lamar, sophomore slugger Griffin Lockwood-Powell roped his second homer of the season to put CMU on the board, 1-0, in the top of the second inning.
Senior Jacob Crum's two-run triple, along with sophomore Chase Rollin's RBI single, put the Chippewas up by four runs in the fourth inning.
Lamar scored runs in the fourth and eighth inning, but it wasn't enough in a 4-2 loss.
Brown (2-0) went 7 1/3 innings for the Chippewas, striking out five. He allowed just two runs on two hits and one walk in the victory. Sophomore righty Cameron Miller earned his second save of the campaign while Lamar's Jason Blanchard (1-1) took the loss.
"Cameron Miller s a strike thrower and he came in and did just that, pounded the strike zone," Bischel said. "He did a great job trusting himself and his teammates."
Up next
The Chippewas finish out the Cardinal Classic on Feb. 23 against Prairie View A&M at 1 p.m. and Feb. 24 against Lamar at 2 p.m. in Beaumont, Texas.
