CMU baseball falls to Kent State in MAC tournament championship
The Central Michigan baseball team made a strong run; but, in the end, it wasn’t enough to win the Mid-American Conference tournament championship in Avon, Ohio.
After losing the first game of the tournament against Eastern Michigan, the Chippewas rallied to win four straight games and advance to the championship Saturday, where they lost to Kent State 3-1.
CMU took an early 1-0 lead behind an RBI from senior William Arnold in the third inning, but that’s all the offense it would get in the title game.
The Golden Flashes plated two runs in the fourth inning off starter Pat Kaminska, enough for them when MAC Pitcher of the Year David Starn entered the game in the fifth inning.
Starn gave up four walks and just one hit in his three innings of work, keeping the Chippewas off the scoreboard and earning the win for himself and his team.
Kaminska threw 88 pitches in his first start of the tournament on Thursday against Toledo, but allowed two runs in four innings to take the loss against KSU.
CMU turned it over to a fresh bullpen after junior Rick Dodridge threw a complete game in the semi-final game against Miami University, and it did its best to keep the Golden Flashes within reach.
Senior Ryan Longstreth threw one and 1/3 innings, allowing one run on two hits and three strikeouts before handing the ball to freshman Sean Renzi who threw two and 2/3 innings, striking out four.
The Chippewas will be losing seven seniors, including ace Zach Cooper, all-time hit leader Nate Theunissen and other everyday starters like Arnold, Sam Russell and Tyler Hall.
They could also lose junior shortstop Jordan Dean and pitcher Dietrich Enns to the MLB Draft next month.
