Baseball bats shine, but drop two of three to Tennessee Tech
Big-inning scoring swings were prevalent throughout 2-1 weekend for the Central Michigan baseball team against Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, Tenn.
CMU allowed a four-run eighth inning in Saturday’s 7-4 loss, and a crucial four-run seventh inning was too much for the Chippewas to handle as they lost 14-13 in the series finale Sunday.
Senior Nate Theunissen had an opportunity to tie the game Sunday with junior shortstop Jordan Dean representing the tying run on second base, but Theunissen, who went 1-for-5 with three RBIs, failed to score Dean grounding out to the first baseman.
TTU’s Evan Frazier knocked in two RBIs with a single down the leftfield line and after an RBI single from Ben Burgess, Tevis Sherfield scored the winning RBI with a single to the shortstop for TTU in the four-run seventh.
“There’s a lot of fight in our guys,” Dean said. “Not anybody, one through nine, that I don’t have confidence in that can do something at the plate or in the field. We need to keep playing and keep battling and stay in the game one through nine and I think you’ll start to see a change in the record here.”
The Chippewas had their bats going in full force Sunday.
They brought 12 batters to the plate in the sixth inning as they regained the lead by slowly gaining ground on the Golden Eagles with walks, singles and doubles and the momentum was in CMU’s favor.
Prior to the 12-batter inning, CMU’s starting pitcher Jordan Foley was working with a lead through the first four innings as CMU scored a run in each of the first three innings and two in the fourth. It didn’t last for Foley though.
Austin Wulf highlighted fourth for TTU with a three-run home run after Sherfield walked and Dylan Bosheers doubled.
Foley pitched 3 1/3 innings, allowing nine hits and eight runs. Dylan Rheault relieved Foley, but wasn’t the answer.
He finished 3 1/3 innings pitched, four hits and six runs (two earned).
“I thought it was a pretty good hitting team we were playing,” Jaksa said. “I thought Dylan, today, was much better with (walks), even though he walked a few guys. I thought he was much better with his presence and how he held himself.”
Saturday’s late inning loss
CMU was clinging to a one-run lead entering the eighth inning, but it didn’t last.
TTU home runs from Zach Stevens and Burgess plated two runners apiece, providing a four-run inning and helped the Golden Eagles to a 7-4 win in the middle game of the three-game series.
Ryan Longstreth relieved Rick Dodridge in the seventh inning, but what started well, ended poorly.
He allowed four hits and four runs – all earned.
“(Longstreth) got the first five guys out striking out three of them, and I thought the pitch was down, but (Stephens) is a pretty good hitter,” Jaksa said after Saturday’s loss. “There wasn’t anything wrong with Longstreth, really I thought he pitched well.”
Lone win Friday
The Chippewas failed to close the game out in the ninth inning, but made the most of their second attempt with a thrilling 12-11 victory in the 10th inning.
CMU regained the lead in the top half of the inning when Theunissen singled down the right line, scoring Dean.
Patrick Kaminska, who couldn’t hold the lead in the ninth, held it in the 10th, but not without some help from Randon Henika.
With two outs and the tying run on second base, Jordan Hopkins singled to right field and Seth Lucio (runner on second) decided to test Henika’s arm.
Henika made the throw in plenty of time and Arnold applied the tag, ending the game.
“We talked a little bit about a little bit of adversity, but I thought we responded very well and pleased with that,” Jaksa said after the series-opening triumph.
Eric Wrozek, who hit a grand slam in the sixth inning, finished with seven RBIs.
The Chippewas have a four-game homestand starting at 3:05 p.m. Tuesday against Northwood before Mid-American Conference play begins with a three-game weekend series against Buffalo.
