CMU baseball completes sweep of Ball State; Enns continues scoreless streak on mound
The Central Michigan baseball team is closing out the season on a few streaks.
By defeating Ball State 7-0 on Sunday, the Chippewas (28-25, 15-9 Mid-American Conference) have now won 10 consecutive games.
While CMU is continuing its streak, pitcher Dietrich Enns is continuing his.
In only his second game as a starting pitcher this season, Enns has now thrown 17 consecutive scoreless innings.
Enns has kept the same mind set whether he starts or comes in as relief.
“I’m just trying to stay ahead, and keep our team in the ballgame,” Enns said. “It’s the same mindset, I just attack hitters, try and get ahead and throw a lot of strikes to keep our team in the ball game.”
Enns doesn’t think about the pressure of continuing the winning streak.
He wants to be the pitcher on the mound that keeps the streak alive.
“I like to be on the mound to keep the streak going,” Enns said. “Luckily I was able to do that and the team was able to get another win, and keep the streak going.”
The Chippewas continued to hit the ball well against Ball State (11-36, 6-18 MAC). After collecting 20 hits in Saturday’s game, the Chippewas managed 11 more on Sunday.
Second baseman Pat MacKenzie led the attack by going 3-for-3 with an RBI and scoring a run.
After struggling against the Cardinals in the first game of the series, CMU responded by scoring early and often.
“I just thought we were really anxious on Friday when we started,” said CMU head coach Steve Jaksa. “It was a combination of things that got us going, we said 'hey let's play to win' -- we hadn’t been like that. The next few innings we responded and the last few games we have responded.”
Center fielder Tyler Hall and right fielder Nick Regnier both had two hits, two runs and 1 RBI.
Jaksa is enjoying the offensive surge CMU has produced the last few games.
“Once again we swung the bats really well,” Jaksa said. “It’s starting to compliment each other. We are getting two out hits, and if a guy doesn’t get it done the next guy backs him up and gets it done.”
CMU will travel to Comerica Park on Tuesday to take on Michigan State. Enns has dreams of someday playing in a professional stadium, and says the experience is something to remember for the whole team.
“It’s always a special experience when you get to play in a professional stadium,” Enns said. “We all dream of playing in the big leagues someday, it’s just a cool experience for everything to see what it’s like.”
