Baseball opens MAC play against big Buffalo bats
Zach Cooper, Rick Dodridge, Ryan Longstreth and the rest of the Central Michigan baseball pitching staff has their work cut out for them this weekend against Buffalo at Theunissen Stadium.
Those three will be the starting pitchers as CMU and Buffalo open Mid-American Conference play at 3:05 p.m. Friday.
UB has the most potent offense in the MAC statistically by far. The Bulls lead the MAC in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs scored, RBIs, doubles, home runs, total base among several other statistics.
The intensity level will be high as both teams enter what some coaches in the MAC call “the second season.”
“There is a different level of intensity for this weekend because this is the beginning of conference play,” head coach Steve Jaksa said. “My hope would be that we do similar preparation and just make sure we continue it for a full game. The whole thing is to play nine full innings.”
The Chippewas posted a 9-12 record through non-conference play, but senior pitcher Jon Weaver said those games are in the past and the team needs to focus on MAC play because those are the games that have the most meaning.
“We just need everything to come together,” he said. “The games before were good preparation for MAC play, but these are the ones that really count.”
Jaksa said he wants his team to take it one game at a time and not look ahead.
He said the team needs to focus on the game it is playing in and not look ahead to other games throughout the weekend. Because he pointed out if the team splits the first two games, it has to start all over on Sunday’s game to win the series.
“The level of your focus has to be good for the whole game and not looking forward to Saturday and Sunday,” Jaksa said. “Friday is the only game that matters.”
Despite Buffalo's potent offense, the team has a 6-9 record.
These struggles come from a lack of quality pitching. Buffalo isn’t ranked in the MAC’s top 10 in earned run average, so expect high-scoring games throughout the weekend.
This will end the Chippewas homestand as they head to Michigan State on Wednesday and Bowling Green next weekend. The Bulls haven’t played at home this season.
