Baseball starts season 7-3
The CMU baseball team won seven of its 10 games on their season-opening Florida trip.
Leading the way for the Chippewas were several transfers and freshmen.
Tommy Grubb led the bats on his way to being named MAC player of the week with a .600 average in the Stetson Invitational.
“He used the whole field. He’s a left-handed power/pull hitter but he’s able to use the whole field when he falls behind in the count,” Folske said.
The Chippewas hit .286 and outscored their opponents 59-51.
“We need more hitting throughout our line up. We need to cut down on the strikes,” Folske said.
Another freshman making a splash in his first action for the Chippewas was Travis Osborn. The redshirt frosh out of Adrian batted .317 as a designated hitter and pitched three and one-third innings earning two saves on four strikeouts and no runs.
“He is a power pitcher,” Folske said.
“He came in and helped us out with a couple saves. He has been living at 89 (miles per hour) and has gotten it up to the low 90s a little.”
Returning Chippewas did not miss out on the fun as the Chippewas placed second to the host Stetson Hatters at the Stetson Invitational.
Junior Mike Gates led the way offensively with 14 RBI and a .405 average. Gates had 12 of his 14 RBI in the Stetson.
The strength of the CMU team was its pitching; the Chippewas held opposing hitters to a .251 average and posted a 4.60 ERA.
What did hurt the Chippewas pitching was the 51 walks.
“We had too many walks and we need to find the strike zone and we have to throw more strikes,” Folske said.
Another point of improvement is defense. CMU committed 22 errors, resulting in 19 unearned runs.
“You never expect that, but we lost some pretty talented defensive players last year,” Folske said.
“A lot of these were pitchers and catchers, but we need to get better fielding and throwing the ball, and the men are working on that.”
