Central Michigan University Athletics
Baseball Faces Miami In MAC Tournament
5/15/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 15, 2000
Mid-American Conference Tournament
May 17-21Kent, Ohio
Wednesday, May 17
Game 1 - No. 3 Ball State vs. No. 4 Ohio, 10 a.m.Game 2 - No. 2 Central Michigan vs. No. 5 Miami, 1 p.m.
Game 3 - No. 1 Kent vs. No. 6 Northern Illinois, 4 p.m.
Thursday, May 18
Game 4 - Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 2, 10 a.m.Game 5 - Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 1, 1 p.m.
Game 6 - Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 1, 4 p.m.
If four teams remain after Game 6: Friday, May 19
Game 7 - Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 10 a.m.Game 8 - Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 6, 1 p.m.
Game 9 - Winner Game 8 vs. Loser Game 7, 4 p.m.
If five teams remain after Game 6:
Game 7 - Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6, 10 a.m.Game 8 - Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, 1 p.m.
Game 9 - Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 7, 4 p.m.
If two teams remain after Game 9
Saturday, May 20Game 10 - Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 9, TBA
Game 11 - Same teams if necessary, TBA
If three teams remain after Game 9:
Sunday, May 21Game 10 - Winner Game 8 vs. Loser Game 9, TBA
Game 11 - Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, TBA
MOUNT PLEASANT - Central Michigan University launches its bid for a spot in the NCAA baseball regionals on Wednesday when the 2000 Mid-American Conference (MAC) tournament begins at Kent State University.
Co-champions of the MAC's West Division, the Chippewas will play Miami University at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on WMMI (830 AM).
Coach Judd Folske's Chippewas are 40-15 for the season and finished the MAC with an 18-8 mark - tied with Ball State for the top spot in the West. CMU is the No. 2 seed because it held the tiebreaker with the Cardinals. Miami enters as the No. 5 seed and comes into the tourney with a 35-21 slate and a 16-12 conference record.
The winner of the four-day, six-team MAC tournament gets the automatic NCAA regional berth that will begin next week at a site to be determined.
Central's last trip to the MAC tournament was in 1998 at Bowling Green when the Chippewas went 1-2. CMU's last tournament championship and NCAA appearance was in 1995 when the Chippewas won the title at Bowling Green and went 1-2 in the NCAA regionals at Louisiana State University.
"It's an exciting time of the year for our young men," Folske said. "I like our chances. Our pitching has been good and so has our defense. The big thing for us is to get some key hits.
"We have a bunch of fighters on this team. They don't like to lose and we've been in almost every game."
Since returning from its two spring trips to Florida and Texas with an 11-6 record, the Chippewas are 29-9. Of the nine setbacks, all have been by four runs or less -- three by one run, three by two runs, two by three runs and one by four runs.
Central and Miami played a doubleheader in Mount Pleasant on Monday, April 10, with the Chippewas claiming a pair of wins, 8-3 and 6-5.
"Miami is an excellent baseball team and we had a pair of great games with it earlier this year," Folske said. "MAC baseball is awfully good and this is a strong field."
After going 24-32 in 1999 and missing the MAC tourney with a 15-15 league mark, the Chippewas recorded their first 40-win season since the 1995 team went 41-19.
The most noticeable area of improvement has been on defense where CMU fielded at .941 a year ago and is currently fielding at a school-record clip of .969. Central allowed 90 unearned runs a year ago and has given up 38 this season.
A major concern for the Chippewas entering the MAC tourney is the health of senior second baseman Scott Pieratt (Mount Pleasant). After starting the first 54 games this season, Pieratt was sidelined for the final regular-season contest with Northern Illinois because of muscle spasms in his back.
"It's imperative that be ready to go by the tournament," Folske said. "He makes this team go both at the plate and in the field."
After doubling in game one on Sunday against NIU, Pieratt was removed from the game and didn't return. CMU dropped both ends of the twinbill to the Huskies, 4-3 in eight innings and 3-2.
CHIPPEWA NOTES - CMU has slugged 71 homers this season - second most in school history. Senior Shaun Gragg (Grant) leads the way with 13 home runs followed by seniors Jake Sanborn (Grand Ledge) and Scott Pieratt (Mount Pleasant) with 12 and freshman Mike Galloway (St. Thomas, Ont.) with 11.
Three times this season CMU belted five homers in a game to match the fourth-best mark in school annals.
The 898 total bases are fourth best and the 352 runs-batted-in and 556 hits are fifth while the current slugging percentage of .527 is fourth best.
Chippewa hurlers have combined for 354 strikeouts, third best in school history. Senior Mike Steele (Midland) leads the way with 86 - tied for eighth in a season.
CMU is 18-2 in games with no errors and 8-5 in contest with two or more.
Central head coach Judd Folske won his 300th game last week with a 6-2 decision against Detroit. He's 64-47 in his second year at CMU and was 239-305 in 11 seasons at Ferris State. His all-time mark is now 303-352-5.
The Chippewas had their longest winning streak of the season (seven) ended when Northern Illinois swept two on Sunday. The two-game losing skid matches the
longest of the season - the other came with back-to-back losses to St. Johns and Notre Dame in Florida.
In MAC stats only, the Chippewas finished batting at .332 and cracked 47 homers in 26 games. Gragg led the way with 11 against MAC foes and Pieratt batted a lofty .444 with nine homers and 28 RBI.
