Junior right-hander Dazon Cole moves back into starting rotation


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Central Michigan junior right-handed pitcher Dazon Cole poses for a portrait on Feb. 20 at the Indoor Athletic Complex.

When Central Michigan baseball head coach Steve Jaksa decided to put junior right-handed pitcher Dazon Cole in the bullpen to start the season, he said things could change. 

The Chippewas' pitching plan has officially changed after starting the season 2-13-1, as Cole is back in the starting rotation. 

“We put him in the bullpen because we thought that would be a good place (at first),” Jaksa said. “We have more of a need for him being a starter right now. He got better and better in the games he started."

Cole was given an opportunity to start on March 7, as CMU had an open slot and was in need of a starting pitcher. Now, he’s back to being a full-time starter. 

“My thoughts don’t change from being a bullpen guy to a starter,” Cole said. “My whole mindset is still to go out there and give our team the best chance to win. It’s an opportunity so I have to run with it.” 

CMU’s original rotation consisted of four players: Junior right-hander Michael Brettell, junior right-hander Pat Leatherman, left-hander Tyler Hankins and right-hander Zach Kohn. 

Jaksa left Leatherman out of the rotation for the upcoming four games. CMU plays a three-game series against Northwestern, then takes on Lawrence Tech March 19.

“Starting (Dazon) comes with a few things that happened to our starters, so it’s a situation where we try to build depth and allow Dazon to pitch because he has experience in that starting role,” Jaksa said. 

Along with pitching a few innings here and there as a part of the bullpen staff, the 5-foot-10, 177-pound junior learned multiple lessons which he will carry with him for the rest of his career. 

“Being in the bullpen, I learned you only get one chance,” Cole said. “We have to go out there and give it our all and throw as hard as we can to get outs. Moving over to being a starter, I have to take that give it all I can for a couple of innings.

“The whole point of me being a starter is to give the team a good amount of innings so we can have our bullpen come in and do the rest.”

For the first time in the 2018 season, Cole will get a chance to start on the hill at Theunissen Stadium in the second game of a doubleheader March 16 against Northwestern.

“It’s just another game to me,” Cole said. “I have to watch how the first game goes as they hit off of Michael and learn how to keep them off balance. I’ll just go off of that for the second game.”

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