Zach Cooper moves up in all-time list for strikeouts
Central Michigan starting pitcher Zach Cooper’s 119th pitch in Friday’s 7-2 victory against Buffalo was a memorable one.
The senior struck out Thomas Richards in the bottom of the eighth, moving him into a tie for 10th place all-time in strikeouts at CMU.
“It says I’ve gotten better over time here,” he said. “It’s an accomplishment and hopefully I can continue to make my way up there.”
Cooper entered the season with 172 strikeouts, 41 behind former CMU pitcher Trent Howard for 10th all-time. After Friday’s game, he improved his record to 16-8 all-time and has accumulated 213 strikeouts.
“When you don’t think about it, it just naturally happens,” head coach Steve Jaksa said. “Coop came here and he’s given us three and a quarter good years and we want to finish out these last three quarters on top.”
In the midst of a record performance, Cooper was able to stifle a Buffalo offense which entered the game leading the Mid-American Conference in batting average, slugging percentage, runs scored, RBIs and home runs.
He pitched eight innings while striking out 10, allowing two runs, one earned.
“It just seemed that everything happened to be working today,” Cooper said. “They are a good hitting team and I was just happy to be able to hold them to two runs today.”
After giving up nine runs in his previous start, he said he hopes this performance is a confidence booster.
“My slider was a little inconsistent the last couple of starts, so I got that back today and hopefully I will keep being able to move forward with that,” Cooper said.
He was a 46th round draft pick of the Florida Marlins in 2011.
