Baseball blows out Valparaiso, faces MSU today
The CMU baseball team gets its first shot this season at beating an in-state rival when it plays Michigan State at 3:05 p.m. today in East Lansing.
Junior right-hander Matt Faiman (0-0, 2.57 ERA) will make his second start of the season. Faiman has pitched seven innings in two appearances. He started CMU’s 13-3 win against Concordia on March 17, allowing one earned run on four hits in five innings.
Michigan State is 16-4 on the season and has won 10 consecutive games, including a four-game sweep of Oakland University this weekend.
“They (the players) know who it is,” said coach Steve Jaksa. “I think they’re aware that we have been playing pretty good ourselves. We’ve had quality games against them and we’re looking forward to it.”
CMU won two out of three against Michigan State in 2009, defeating the Spartans 7-6 at Dow Diamond in Midland and 9-8 in 10 innings at Theunissen Stadium. MSU beat CMU 20-3 at Cooley Stadium (formerly Oldsmobile Park) earlier in the season.
The Chippewas are 60-44 all-time against the Spartans.
TUESDAY WIN
Senior Dale Cornstubble went 4-for-5 with three runs batted in and a run scored as CMU defeated Valparaiso 17-4 Tuesday at Emory G. Bauer Field in Valparaiso, Ind.
Junior right-hander Bryce Morrow picked up his first win of the season, giving up three earned runs on seven hits in five innings pitched. Junior Mike Nixon allowed one hit in two innings of relief, while freshmen Scott Marinier and Brock Guetzke also pitched an inning of shutout relief.
“They did a nice job,” Jaksa said. “We’re pleased with Bryce — it was his first start in a couple years and he got to 80 pitches in and we knew he was probably getting a little tired. (Nixon) threw two really efficient innings with a low pitch count, and once we broke it open, we were able to open up the bullpen.”
CMU (11-9, 2-1 MAC) opened the game with two runs in the first inning on a Valparaiso throwing error. A triple by senior Ricky Clark (2-for-4, one RBI) in the third gave it a 3-0 lead through the top of the third.
Valparaiso fought back in the fourth inning and tied the game at 3 after a pair of singles, a throwing error by freshman Jordan Adams and double by Valparaiso second baseman Paul Heinkel.
“They hit the ball and we made one mistake,” Jaksa said. “We were able to put ourselves in the distance in the second half.”
Both teams traded runs in the fifth inning before Cornstubble connected with a two-out single that scored the go-ahead runs and put CMU up 6-4.
“There was a base open so I knew they were going to throw an off-speed pitch and I layed off the first two,” Cornstubble said. “He gave me a fastball and I hit it. I just did the job — if everyone does their job, we’re going to win a lot of ball games and we all did that today.”
CMU hit for eight runs on eight hits in the eighth inning to extend its lead and put the game away. Cornstubble and sophomore Nate Thuenissen both picked up two hits in the inning as the Chippewas batted around the lineup.
“Coach brought us all in and told us to kick it up a little bit,” Cornstubble said. “And, to be honest, we did when we came back with that eight-run inning. From there, it was just having fun and playing basics.”
Theunissen, who finished the game 3-for-6 with three RBIs and two runs scored, hit his third home run of the season in the fifth inning. CMU added three more in the ninth, including a pinch-hit, two-run double by sophomore Scott Phillion.
Senior Billy Anderson went 3-for-6 with an RBI while junior Brendan Emmet finished 2-for-4 with four runs scored.
