Baseball opens MAC play win two wins at Northern Illinois


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Junior pitcher Michael Brettell pitches against Northwestern at Theunissen Stadium on March 16.

In the first Mid-American Conference games of the 2018 season, the Central Michigan baseball team picked up two victories in the first two games of a three game series at Northern Illinois.

CMU (7-15-1, 2-0 MAC) has now won five straight games after dropping 10 straight on its road trip to Florida. Head coach Steve Jaksa stressed that while the early losses hurt, he and his team need to look to the next game and get better in the process.

"I know we had quite a few losses there," Jaksa said. "My thing is, I'm just going to try and win the next game and get this club better."

Game one: CMU 6, NIU 0

Junior right-hander Pat Leatherman got the start and his first win of the season in game one against the Huskies. Leatherman pitched six shutout innings, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out eight.

Leading the offense for the Chippewas was sophomore Zach Heeke, who finished game one two-for-five with two singles and a RBI. Junior Jason Sullivan drove in a team high of two RBIs.

"Offensively, we got some contributions out of some guys that we need to get," Jaksa said. "Hopefully we'll develop as a team and keep getting better."

Junior left-hander Jack Collins relieved Leatherman in the seventh inning, striking out one and allowing one hit.   Right-handed sophomore Cameron Brown closed out the game on the mound for the Chippewas, allowing no hits in the final two innings. 

"Our bullpen was good enough again," Jaksa said. "It's been getting better, getting some of the right pieces put together there."

Game two: CMU 8, NIU 1

Similar to the first game, another dominant CMU pitching outing kept NIU at bay as CMU got their second victory of the day over the Huskies. 

Junior Michael Brettell pitched a complete game, allowing six hits, one earned run and picked up six strikeouts. With the win Brettell improves to 2-3 on the year as a starter. 

"He (Brettell) threw great," Jaksa said. "There's always room for improvement, but overall really pleased with that."

Juniors Jacob Crum and Daniel Robinson each had three hits in game two, accounting for three of the seven Chippewa RBIs. Sullivan had his second straight game with two hits and two RBIs/

Next up

CMU will conclude its the three game series against NIU tomorrow in DeKalb, a game where Jaksa hopes to see nothing change from game one and two. 

"We just need to do what we did today," Jaksa said. "We don't really need to change anything. If we pitch well and we play good defense, good things are going to happen."

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