Baseball team gets first home win beating Davenport 15-7
In what seemed to be a marathon, the Central Michigan baseball team beat Davenport Wednesday afternoon at Theunissen Stadium 15-7.
CMU blew a 3-0 lead against Madonna Tuesday, but avoided a catastrophe during a bases-loaded threat from Davenport in the fourth inning, winning in front of 305 fans in a game that lasted three hours and 17 minutes.
“We were really excited yesterday to start at home with the nice weather and it was a bit of a disappointment, so I think it was a little bit of a wake-up call,” junior Jordan Dean said. “We had two nice crowds, so getting the win today was definitely huge.”
Freshman starting pitcher Matt Trowbridge pitched out of the jam, allowing one run and left three Panthers batters stranded in the inning.
CMU pulled a 360-degree turnaround on Davenport in the bottom half of the inning when it accumulated a bases-loaded threat of its own, but capitalized.
Nick Regnier started a five-run outburst with a single to the shortstop. After walks by Randon Henika and Tyler Huntey, Panthers pitcher Corey Hammond walked his third-straight batter, scoring Regnier.
Dean plated two runners with a single and senior William Arnold hit a sac fly, scoring Tom Lally.
Dean swiped second base and after senior Nate Theunissen advanced him on a groundout and senior Sam Russell scored Dean after reaching on error.
CMU scored five runs on just two hits in the inning, but had a 7-1 after the fourth.
“We got a few hits that we weren’t able to get yesterday,” head coach Steve Jaksa said. “Jordan Dean got a big hit in that situation there, right over the second baseman’s head. And then we got a sac fly and then we just kept the thing rolling from there.”
Huntey started the fifth inning with a double off Zach Liebman and scored when Dean singled up the middle.
Arnold then doubled-in Dean and Davenport went to the bullpen for the fifth time. Then, Russell singled-in Arnold, but the run stopped when Reid Rooney grounded out for a fielder’s choice, but not before the Chippewas posted a 10-1 lead.
The Panthers posed a threat in the sixth inning when it forced Trowbridge out of the game with a three-run rally, but it wasn’t enough to surpass the two-inning implosion from CMU.
Trowbridge pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing six hits, four runs – all earned and struck out four batters on 107 pitches for the win.
Dean went 3-for-6, with five RBIs and Arnold went 1-for-4 with three RBIs.
The Chippewas travel to Cookeville, Tenn., Friday where they face Tennessee Tech in a three-game series before a four-game homestand against Northwood/Buffalo.
