Baseball hopes comeback sparks success during road trip
Senior first baseman Nate Theunissen hopes the 14-13 comeback victory Sunday against Buffalo at Theunissen Stadium is the spark that keeps the Central Michigan baseball team successful throughout a five-game road trip beginning at 3:05 p.m. Wednesday against Michigan State.
Theunissen’s single scored the winning run in the victory as the Chippewas won the first Mid-American Conference series of their season.
“That win was huge,” Theunissen said. “You never know at the end of the season, what’s going to happen. Every MAC win is important.”
Buffalo, who was ranked near the top of almost every hitting category in the MAC, is polar opposite of MSU.
The Spartans, who were the 2011 Big Ten champions, have a 2.82 team ERA entering their game yesterday against Bowling Green, which is a conference best.
CMU head coach Steve Jaksa said he might not know who their starting pitcher is until the morning of the game, but his team will make adjustments accordingly.
“You have to trust what you’ve been taught and you have to do what you’ve been taught,” Jaksa said about the gameplan against a strong pitching team. “So from a hitter’s standpoint, we’ll look at who they’re going to throw, and we really don’t know who that is yet.”
“We’ll talk to our guys about what we think his strengths and weaknesses are, and we’ll talk about our approach and what we think it will be versus him.”
Freshman Matt Trowbridge, who will start against MSU, risks a perfect 3-0 record when he takes his 4.12 ERA to the hill Wednesday.
The Spartans are 4-0 at home this season, but the all-time series give the Chippewas the edge with a 62-48 record.
“I’m sure when you talk recruiting and when you talk all-time record, that’s all a part of conversation that you’re going to have with recruits and recruits see it,” Jaksa said of the rivalry between both teams. “Both teams are going to want to put their best foot forward. We have a lot of respect for their program, and I’d say they probably have a lot of respect for ours.”
Starting with the MSU game, CMU opens a five-game road trip that includes a weekend series against BGSU and a midweek game against the University of Michigan.
“It’s huge,” Theunissen said about starting the road trip with a victory. “You always want to get the momentum going into the weekend, especially with another MAC series coming up.”
