Baseball plays Michigan today, beats UIC at Theunissen
The CMU baseball team will play its second in-state rival at 3:05 p.m. today when it travels to Ann Arbor to play the University of Michigan.
The Chippewas carry a four-game winning streak into the game, also having won six of their last seven.
Junior right-hander Bryce Morrow (1-0, 7.71 ERA) gets the start. Morrow allowed three earned runs on seven hits in five innings pitched to earn the win in CMU’s 17-4 win against Valparaiso on March 30.
“It’s Michigan — it’s an in-state rival,” said coach Steve Jaksa. “These in-state rivals are always important. We’re going to go down there and compete.”
CMU (15-10) defeated the Wolverines 10-2 in Ann Arbor in last year’s meeting, giving up two runs on six hits. Jaksa said he hopes for the same pitching performance this time around.
“We think we’re in a pretty good spot right now, and we like a lot of things that we’re doing,” he said. “Pitching is always going to be that key thing. If you can run a guy out there that can throw strikes and get people out, you have a chance to be in every game, and that’s why we’ve been in every game.”
TUESDAY’S WIN
A four-run sixth inning propelled CMU to a 4-1 win against Illinois-Chicago on Tuesday at Theunissen Stadium.
After an error on UIC third baseman Jason Ganek, a walk and a wild pitch, senior James Teas connected on a pinch-hit single to start the scoring for the Chippewas. Sophomore Scott Phillion (1-for-3, one run batted in) and freshman Jordan Dean (2-for-4, one RBI) followed with RBI singles before senior Ricky Clark topped the score at 4-0 on an RBI fielder’s choice.
Sophomore right-hander Zach Cooper earned his first win of the season in relief of freshman starter Dietrich Enns, who gave up just one hit in five innings of work.
“(Cooper) pitched great,” Enns said. “It’s nice to know that guys come out of the bullpen and have your back as a starter.”
UIC (7-17) sent eight pitchers — one per inning — to the mound, holding CMU to six hits in the game.
“They have to treat that like seeing a reliever,” Jaksa said. “Basically, what you’re looking at is relying on your quality at-bat and stay with your game plan in that particular situation more so than worrying about what he’s doing. We didn’t get a lot of hits and runs, but that’s baseball sometimes.”
CMU swept Mid-American Conference opponent Ohio in a three-game series over the weekend, improving its conference record to 5-1. It is now in a tie with Toledo and Ball State in the West Division.
“We’re in a bit of a hot streak and it feels good,” Enns said. “We just got to keep it going through the week and into the conference weekend.”
