Baseball team starts fall season
With the weather getting colder and football in full swing, most put baseball on the back burner until spring.
Until October, that is.
After beating the Ontario Blue Jays Jays 11-1, the Central Michigan baseball team is ready to hold their annual Fall Ball World Series at 3:30 p.m, Oct. 2.
CMU has an interesting twist with its world series. It’s an intersquad scrimmage where the seniors choose the teams and it takes place over a couple of weeks.
“Our seniors sit down for a week or so and draft the teams,” said head coach Steve Jaksa. “It’s very competitive.”
The Chippewas have nine seniors choosing the teams for this season’s world series. That list includes: pitchers Zach Cooper, Rick Dodridge, Ryan Longstreth, Jon Weaver; infielders William Arnold, Tyler Hall, Nate Theunissen; infielder/outfielder Eric Wrozek and outfielder Sam Russell.
“We weren’t put in many situations in our last game, so we’ll put ourselves in the situations because we have to practice that they will come up,” Jaksa said. “It’s fun to have a crowd, umpires, you have a full uniform and you get to play.”
But this weekend, CMU focused on its annual International Game.
The Chippewas dominated the Blue Jays, with impressive outings from Cooper and Dodridge, combining to throw 49 pitches and striking out 10 batters in the first four innings.
Meanwhile, junior middle infielder Jordan Dean and sophomore outfielder Nick Regnier led the team at the plate. Each went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Sophomore outfielder Randon Henika and Russell each recorded two hits.
“I was pleased with the overall effort from the guys,” Jaksa said. “We started Cooper and we held him and the other three guys on a 49-pitch count and they all threw well.”
Cooper returns for his senior year, despite being drafted by the Florida Marlins in the 46th round earlier this summer. The Chippewas return 15 other upperclassmen from last season’s Mid-American Conference West Championship team.
