Baseball plays BGSU in non-MAC game
The CMU baseball team looks to bounce back at 3:05 p.m. today when it travels to Bowling Green, after losing a series against Illinois State last weekend.
While both teams are members of the Mid-American Conference, the game is not a scheduled conference game and serves as a lead-in to MAC play this weekend.
“We don’t have enough weekends to play a three-game series against everybody,” said coach Steve Jaksa. “We play everyone in our own division and, in crossover play, we play four of the six (teams) on the other side. So there’s a two-year span where we don’t play two teams and it rotates after that every two years.”
Sophomore left-hander Rick Dodridge (1-1, 1.93 ERA) gets the start for CMU after his last start, Saturday’s game against Illinois State, was canceled due to rain.
Dodridge gave up two earned runs on three hits in six innings in his last outing, an 11-5 win against Davenport on March 16.
Jaksa said Dodridge’s pitch count will be monitored so he is still available this weekend when CMU begins conference play at Miami (OH).
“He’ll probably go the first 75 pitches or so,” Jaksa said. “We want to get him some innings and work in so he’s ready to go by Sunday.”
CMU (7-8) upset No. 1 seed Bowling Green 6-2 in the first round of the MAC tournament last season. The Chippewas lost the regular-season series (1-2).
Bowling Green (6-8-1) comes off a 10-7 loss against West Virginia on Tuesday, snapping a five-game unbeaten streak that included a three-game sweep of Eastern Kentucky last weekend.
“We know each other really well so, therefore, we want to make sure we’re ready to go,” Jaksa said. “It’s conference play, basically, even though it’s not a game that counts in your (MAC) standings. You want to put your best foot forward, no question, in this particular game.”
CMU leads the all-time series 59-31.
