Baseball kicks off MAC tournament play Wednesday after beating rival Western Michigan to get in
Baseball beat rival Western Michigan this weekend and received some help from Toledo beating Eastern Michigan, thus securing them the final spot in the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
The No. 8 Chippewas will kick off their 10th consecutive MAC tournament against No. 1 Kent State at 7:30 Wednesday night at All-Pro Freight Stadium in Avon, Ohio.
Even though the team needed to take care of its business with the Broncos on the road first, a few of players were aware that the Eagles and Rockets finished before their game on Saturday.
"We knew Eastern (Michigan) had to lose (to get into the tournament), but we had to focus on Western (Michigan)," sophomore pitcher Jordan Foley said.
Foley was not pitching in the final game on Saturday and was one of the players who knew full well when the Eagles had lost.
"Our trainer had the game up on his phone so I was keeping track," Foley said. "We found out in the sixth or seventh inning that (the Eagles) had lost, and we had a big lead, so it was pretty relaxing."
Foley said it was gratifying taking two of three from the Broncos in their weekend series and knocking Eastern Michigan out of the playoffs.
"Both in-state schools there is a bit of a rivalry," Foley said. "It didn't really matter who we took out as long as we got in, but it was cool that we bumped (the Eagles) out of there."
With the win, the team clinched its 10th-straight tournament appearance, something head coach Steve Jaksa said is the standard for the baseball program.
"This is the expectation," head coach Steve Jaksa said. "This is what we do and why we play. Sometimes you have to remember why you play and what you're playing for. I thought we played well this weekend at Western (Michigan), and Toledo gave us the help we needed."
CMU finished the regular season at 25-30 overall and 12-15 in the MAC and will play the regular season champion Golden Flashes (34-21, 20-7) in the first round of the tournament.
The Chippewas played three games at Kent State earlier this year, winning one of the three, and the teams are familiar with one another. The two teams meet frequently in the MAC tournament, last season coming in the championship game that Kent State would eventually win. The Golden Flashes would advance to the College World Series last year.
"That doesn't make any difference this year as far as what they did last year," Jaksa said. "Being in the College World Series doesn't help the kid that's throwing, who has never thrown in the conference tournament. Our guys played them in the conference championship last year, and it has become a good rivalry."
Foley will be getting the start against the rival Golden Flashes Wednesday. He went six innings against Kent State earlier this season, allowing two earned runs and taking the 4-1 loss.
