Final road series of season for CMU baseball begins Friday
After dropping two of three games last weekend against Eastern Michigan, the Central Michigan baseball team looks to better its chances of making the Mid-American Conference Tournament this weekend with a series at Ohio.
The Chippewas are 12-32 and 6-9 in the MAC, while Ohio is 20-23 and 5-10 in the MAC. The Chippewas are tied with Western Michigan for second-last in the MAC West and sixth in the conference. Ohio is in last place in the MAC East.
CMU took two-of-three from Ohio in a three-game series last season at Theunissen Stadium to begin the conference season.
Although sophomore shortstop Zach McKinstry (.335 batting average, .409 slugging percentage) and sophomore left fielder Daniel Jipping (.320 BA, .540 SLG, six home runs) have been producing offensively all season, CMU's offensive unit struggled in Ypsilanti.
The Chippewas batted .194 and scored four runs last weekend against an Eagles pitching staff that gives up 4.78 runs per game.
The Bobcats snapped a four-game losing streak with two wins on the road at Notre Dame — a team that CMU lost to on a walk-off hit two weeks ago. Ohio's pitching staff's ERA is 4.76 and there main three starters have a combined ERA of 4.44.
However, the Bobcats' offense scores 5.69 runs per game and are led by senior infielder John Adryan, who is batting .269 this season with 11 home runs and 35 RBI to go along with a .549 slugging percentage.
Similar to CMU, the Bobcats have struggled this season even though they were projected to finish third in the MAC Preseason Poll. Ohio won the MAC Tournament Championship last season and went to the NCAA Regionals against Illinois.
The Chippewas were predicted to finish first in the MAC West and second overall. CMU won the regular season MAC Championship last year after a 35-22 season.
CMU senior starting pitcher Sean Renzi (4-5, 5.16 ERA) will get the ball to start Friday's game.
