Zach Cooper strikes out ten as baseball wins MAC opener
Central Michigan starting pitcher Zach Cooper accomplished the tall order of containing the most potent offense in the Mid-American Conference opener Friday at Theunissen Stadium.
Cooper struck out 10 batters in eight innings as CMU beat Buffalo 7-2 in the opening game of a three-game series.
“It seemed that everything happened to be working today,” Cooper said. “They are a good hitting team and I was just happy to keep them to two runs today.”
The Bulls lead the MAC in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs scored, RBIs, doubles, home runs and total bases, but Cooper stifled the lineup.
The Chippewas had a three-run first inning, which was enough for Cooper to work with, but credit Tyler Hall might of had the play of the game.
With one out, Hall made an over the shoulder grab after a deep fly ball was hit by Dan Scahill. Hall gathered himself after the catch and doubled-up Tom Murphy for the final out of the inning.
“I don’t think there’s any question that that was an early-momentum game changer,” head coach Steve Jaksa said.
Tom Lally was hit by a pitch and later scored on a throwing error by Murphy. Senior William Arnold used a sacrifice bunt to score Jordan Dean and Sam Russell singled to left field, scoring Hall during the first-inning offensive showcase.
Cooper, who earned his first victory of the season after starting out 0-2, made history in the victory.
He struckout Thomas Richards with a changeup to end the eighth inning, and with it, he tied Trent Howard for 10th on the CMU all-time strikeout list with 213 strikeouts.
“That’s the Coop we saw in his second outing,” Jaksa said.
Arnold went 3-for-3 with a RBI and a run scored. Russell and Nick Regnier were the RBI leaders with two apiece in the first MAC victory of the season.
“It’s huge,” Cooper said about starting MAC play 1-0. “It gets you to start on the right foot, continuing to work toward another (MAC) West championship, so it’s a good thing.”
The Chippewas continue the homestand at 2:05 p.m. Saturday against Buffalo.
