A full year after finishing a game short of its first NCAA tournament bid since 1995, the Central Michigan baseball team opens Mid-American Conference tournament play today in Chillicothe, Ohio.

While they don’t hold the tournament’s No. 1 seed like last season, the Chippewas claimed their second consecutive West Division title on Saturday after rallying to win two out of three against Eastern Michigan in Ypsilanti.

As a result, they will take the No. 2 seed into their 4 p.m. game at VA Memorial Stadium against rival and seventh-seed Western Michigan, a rubber match of sorts after both teams split a shortened series earlier this month.

“We’ll most likely face the same exact guy that we faced (May 13), and that’s fine,” said CMU head coach Steve Jaksa. “We’re looking forward to that opportunity. Every time you win you move toward your end goal.”

On May 13, the first of the two-game set, CMU lost 6-5 despite outhitting the Broncos 11-7. The Chippewas left 14 runners on base, while WMU starter Brian Stroud allowed just two runs — one earned — on seven hits in 7 1/3 innings. Junior left-hander Trent Howard was also impressive, allowing one run on two hits in 6 1/3 innings, but received a no decision on his record.

Howard will get the start today, despite recording no decisions in his last three starts. He enters tournament play with a 4-3 record and 2.55 ERA.

“My approach isn’t going to change from last time — we went out there and played really well against them, things just didn’t go our way,” Howard said Monday during the team’s final practice in Mount Pleasant. “I’m just going to treat it like it’s any other game and not put added pressure on myself.”

While WMU is first on the schedule of the double-elimination tournament, other possible tournament opponents loom, namely Kent State, which beat CMU in the tournament championship game last year.

The Golden Flashes, boasting a conference-best 39-14 record, locked up the MAC regular season title and No. 1 seed last week, setting up a possible rematch scenario should both teams make it to the title game again. This season, CMU won two of three against Kent State at Theunissen Stadium.

And then there’s No. 3 Miami, the only conference team to sweep the Chippewas this season. The RedHawks play No. 6 Toledo today and very well could play CMU on Thursday, depending upon what happens with both teams.

“We’re going to take it one game at a time – nothing more, nothing less,” Howard said. “Hopefully we see a couple of teams along the way, like Miami and Kent State in the championship. But we’re not going to worry about that right now. All we’re worried about is going out there and beating Western.”

Jaksa, not one to look ahead at possible future opponents, agreed.

“I don’t think I have to talk about that all,” the skipper said of last year’s result. “There’s still more to be done. We waited to get back in this tournament and we wanted to accomplish some things, and we accomplished one of those things winning the West crown on the last day of the season. Now we’ve got to enter the next phase, and that’s the conference tournament.”

Wednesday’s MAC tournament schedule: *All games to be played at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio No. 4 Northern Illinois vs. No. 5 Eastern Michigan, 9 a.m. No. 3 Miami vs. No. 6 Toledo, 12:30 p.m. No. 2 Central Michigan vs. No. 7 Western Michigan, 4 p.m. No. 1 Kent State vs. No. 8 Bowling Green, 7:30 p.m.

Keep checking cm-life.com all week for complete coverage of the Mid-American Conference baseball tournament from Chillicothe, Ohio. Follow @AaronMcMann and @CMLifeSports on Twitter for instant updates.