Theunissen snaps slump with walk-off hit in CMU's 1-0 win against Bowling Green
It was just the fifth hit of the game for the CMU baseball team, but Nate Theunissen made it count.
The junior first basemen has struggled all season, batting .173 going into Tuesday's game, but head coach Steve Jaksa showed some confidence by pinch-hitting Theunissen in the ninth inning.
Theunissen got a strike down in the zone and hit a line-drive over the center fielder's head, scoring Jordan Dean to win the game 1-0 on Tuesday at Theunissen Stadium.
“My swing has not been real comfortable (and) I have been working on it making little tweaks,” Theunissen said. “We have got a lot of season left so I am looking forward to it.”
Senior right-hander Bryce Morrow had it going on the mound for CMU all afternoon. Morrow threw 8 2/3 innings of shutout ball, while striking out seven and walking none.
Senior Mike Nixon relieved Morrow in the ninth and struck out the last batter of the inning. The Chippewas magic in the ninth gave Nixon (1-0) his first win of the season.
Morrow was the victim of some bad luck in not picking up the win, but it was a good outing confidence-wise for the senior who has thrown well in his last two starts.
“In order to win these kind of games that we have you have to pitch it. Our guy did and we put up a goose egg,” Jaksa said. “He had great command. I know he is down (for not getting the win), but it’s a great team win and a lot of credit goes to him.”
On the other side of the mound was Bowling Green's Matt Malewitz, who shined for the Falcons, pitching five innings of shutout ball. Malewitz only allowed two hits but walked five batters.
CMU (21-20, 9-6 Mid-American Conference) has a big weekend series at home this weekend against first-place Northern Illinois, but will first travel to face Oakland today in another mid-week game.
Junior right-hander Jon Weaver will start today’s game, which will start at 3 p.m. at the OU Baseball Field in Rochester. He will be on a pitch count as multiple pitchers will be expected to see some time throughout the game.
Theunissen, who upped his batting average to .182, will look to keep getting good at-bats and try to find his way back into the lineup.
“He hit that one a long way,” Jaksa said. “If we can get him (Theunissen) back to where he is comfortable with himself that will help and hey, (he needs to) just play the game.”
CMU has now won four of its last five games and nine of the last 11 on the road.
