Baseball loses one-run game to even MAC opening series with Buffalo
Runs and hits were at a premium Saturday as the Central Michigan baseball team dropped the second game of its series with Buffalo 11-10.
An eight run third inning from the Bulls (7-10, 1-1 MAC) off junior starting pitcher Rick Dodridge gave them an 8-2 lead after the Chippewas (10-13, 1-1 MAC) got one in both the first and second innings with RBI singles from senior catcher William Arnold and junior designated hitter Reid Rooney.
The Bulls, with two outs and two runs already across in the third inning, had the bases loaded and then sophomore third baseman Michael Scarello hit a grand slam giving them the 6-2 lead. Two batters later junior outfielder Matt Pollock hit a 2-run home run later in the inning making it an 8-2 Bulls lead.
“It just ended up being a little too much and we couldn’t overcome,” head coach Steve Jaksa said.
The Chippewas didn’t sit back and take the loss lightly however; it battled back with one run in the third and three in the fourth inning making it an 8-6 game.
CMU fans would argue that the game should have been a one run game after four innings after a controversial call at home plate ended the inning.
With two down and the bases loaded junior shortstop Jordan Dean took off from third base in attempt to steal home and appeared to have beaten the pitch, but the home plate umpire saw otherwise.
“We saw he (senior starting pitcher Jeff Thompson) was going to be out of the wind-up and we thought we could do something and I thought it worked exactly how we planned it, but the final result didn’t go our way,” Jaksa said. “It was a tough call and clearly we had a difference of opinion.”
Neither team was done hitting as Buffalo got another run off a solo home run in the sixth giving it a 9-6 lead, but CMU battled again to make it 9-8 with two runs in the seventh off an RBI double from senior left fielder Sam Russell, and another RBI single from Rooney.
“We have a lot of great guys in the clubhouse and we never feel we’re out of the game,” Rooney said. “College baseball with aluminum bats, you never know what can happen they had an eight run inning we could have one too.”
CMU junior second baseman Tom Lally led off the inning with a home run to right field.
CMU got the game within one run again in the ninth after senior third baseman Eric Wrozek hit an RBI single making it a 11-10 game but it ended after that hit with runners stranded on first and second when Lally struck out looking.
“You can see it on the guys faces that it’s pretty tough to lose this one,” Rooney said. “But baseball is a game of failure and we’re going to come back tomorrow and we’re going to win.”
Senior Ryan Longstreth is scheduled to take the mound in the pivotal rubber match tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. as the Chippewas look to start the Mid-American Conference season with a series win.
