Baseball plays MSU at Dow Diamond
The baseball team will try to avenge a 17-run loss to Michigan State on a neutral site today.
Losing 20-3 to MSU on April 1 in East Lansing, the two teams will meet at Dow Diamond in Midland, Mich., home of the Great Lakes Loons, a Low Class A minor league affiliate of the Los Angelos Dodgers. CMU is considered the home team and the first pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
"We love our stadium here, but we wanted to do something in the Mid-Michigan area," said coach Steve Jaksa. "Dow Diamond has never had a Division I game in there. We would like to have a good presence over there. And it is a nice change of pace for our guys."
Sophomore shortstop Robbie Harman said he will get an extra boost playing at Dow Diamond. He saw his eight-game hit streak end Saturday in an 0-for-3 performance against Ball State. Harman went
11-for-34 during the stretch (.324 batting average), improving his batting average to .260 on the season.
"It is going to be exciting," he said. "I haven't been to the stadium before, but I have heard a lot of good things about it. Hopefully it lives up to its reputation."
Central controls the all-time series against MSU 58-44. The team has not lost to MSU twice in one season since the 2005 season.
"We are disappointed with how we played against them the first time," Harman said. "We are a better team than that and hopefully we can show how much we have improved since then."
Despite being labeled the home team for the game, CMU's last game at Theunissen Stadium was on April 4, an 11-4 loss to Bowling Green.
Michigan State recently won two-of-three games against rival Michigan. However, the team suffered its first home loss of the season last Sunday in a 9-2 loss to the Wolverines.
The game is the second of three meetings between the two schools this season. This is first time since the 2003 season the programs have met more than twice.
CMU students will have free admission with their student I.D. The doors to the stadium will open at 5:30 p.m.
"We are approaching it like any other three-game series," Jaksa said. "They won the first game of the series. This is game two. We want to even the series at one apiece and hopefully win the series on May 12."
sports@cm-life.com
