Baseball loses opening game of final series at WMU
A 6-4 loss at Western Michigan Thursday didn't help the baseball team's chances for the final Mid-American Conference Tournament spot.
The Broncos have little to gain from this final series of the year, as they are in the cellar of the MAC standings, tied for last with Ohio at 8-17 and already mathematically eliminated from getting in the top eight.
But, they can spoil their rival Chippewas postseason hopes.
WMU knocked ace sophomore Jordan Foley out of the game after giving up five runs and striking out five in 5 1/3 innings pitched.
CMU rallied in the top of the ninth, putting the tying run on first base. Senior Tom Lally walked to lead off the inning, sophomore Alec Ornelas singled with two outs and redshirt freshman Neal Jacobs reached on an error, scoring Lally to pull the team within two.
Sophomore Pat MacKenzie came to the plate, but, he lined out to end the game.
MacKenzie was also up in a big spot in the top of the seventh with CMU down 5-3. Sophomore Nick Regnier had already come around to score in the inning after a walk, a single, a steal and a wild pitch. Runners were on first and third, but MacKenzie flied out to strand the runners.
Junior Kenton San Miguel had to pitch out of a jam in the bottom of the eighth, just to give the Chippewas a chance in the ninth. With the bases loaded and only one out, San Miguel was able to get redshirt junior Steve Buglione to ground into an inning-ending double play.
While CMU left 12 men on base compared to WMU’s 11, the Broncos continually stranded runners in scoring position, keeping the Chippewas in contention.
It stranded at least one base runner in every inning and left a runner in scoring position on base in every inning, except the fifth.
The Chippewas had many chances to put runs on the board, but couldn’t score multiple runs in any inning.
There was a golden opportunity to put runs on the board in the fifth after freshman Logan Regnier and Lally singled with two outs and Nick Regnier walked to load the bases.
Senior Jordan Adams came to the plate, hitting .556 with the bases loaded this season, but couldn’t keep up the clutch hitting and grounded out to end the threat.
Tensions began to rise in the bottom of the sixth when Foley hit the number nine hitter junior Vinnie Booker for the second time in the game.
The home plate umpire escorted Booker to first to avoid conflict and Head Coach Billy Gernon showed his displeasure by coming out of the dugout to talk to the umpires.
CMU Head Coach Steve Jaksa wasn’t too thrilled either, since his pitcher had given a second free pass to a batter with a .218 average.
Freshman Jason Gamble replaced Foley, but allowed a double to junior Theo Piccirilli and gave up a sacrifice fly that scored Booker, making it 5-2.
With the loss, the Chippewas fall to 23-29 overall and 10-15 in MAC play.
Akron and Eastern Michigan—both of which are also fighting for the eighth spot in the tournament—lost Thursday. EMU holds the eighth best record in the MAC at 11-14 and Akron is a half game back at 10-14. CMU holds the tiebreaker on the Eagles after winning two of three in the series earlier this season.
The series in Kalamazoo will continue at 1:00 p.m. Friday and wrap up at 1:00 p.m. Saturday.
