Central Michigan University Athletics
Baseball Faces Detroit And Hillsdale In Non-conference Action
4/9/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 9, 2001
ON DECK FOR CMU BASEBALL
Tuesday, April 10 - at Detroit - 2 p.m.
Saturday, April 14 - Hillsdale - 2 p.m.
Monday, April 16 - Northwood - 3 p.m.
Tuesday, April 17 - Detroit - 2 p.m.
Thursday, April 19 - at Notre Dame - 5 p.m.
Friday, April 20 - at Northern Illinois* - 3 p.m.
Saturday, April 21 - at Northern Illinois (DH)* - 1 p.m.
Sunday, April 22 - at Northern Illinois* - Noon
Tuesday, April 24 - Michigan State - 3 p.m.
Wednesday, April 25 - at Michigan State (Olds) - 7 p.m.
Friday, April 27 - at Western Michigan - 3 p.m.
Saturday, April 28 - Western Michigan (DH)* - 1 p.m.
Sunday, April 29 - at Western Michigan* - 2 p.m.
CMU TAKES A BREAK FROM MAC ACTION
MOUNT PLEASANT - After splitting four harrowing Mid-American Conference (MAC) games with Eastern Michigan University, the Central Michigan University baseball team takes a break from conference play this week.
Coach Judd Folske's Chippewas, now 19-12 for the season and 8-4 in MAC action, will play a single, nine-inning game at Detroit on Tuesday before hosting Hillsdale College on Saturday for another nine-inning affair.
It's the lull before the storm as CMU has 13 games slated for the following two weeks, eight of them MAC contests with Northern Illinois and Western Michigan.
"I really don't like a break in the middle of the season," Folske said. "We need to keep things going but it's hard to find opponents because everybody's in the middle of conference seasons.
"We'll take full advantage of the week, though, to polish up some things and continue to try to get better. Overall, I'm pleased with where we are but we have to get better and not stay where we are."
CMU has gone 18-6 since opening the campaign with a 1-6 mark.
"We've come a long way since then but there's still 25 more games to go in the regular season," Folske said. "And, we're not even to the halfway point in the MAC."
If the EMU series was any indication, the MAC race should be awfully interesting.
The Chippewas won the first (13-12 in 12 innings) and last (7-6) games of the series while the Eagles won 10-5 and 4-3 in between.
"Eastern has a good ball club and played well against us," Folske said. "That was a great series. It seemed like every at-bat and pitch meant something."
A trio of pitchers stood out on the weekend for Central: junior Gavin Gillette (DeWitt) hurled four shutout innings to gain the win in the 13-12 decision, sophomore Dan Horvath (Allen Park) won allowed only one run before giving up three in the ninth inning of the 4-3 loss, and senior Nick Latra (Farmington) gave up one unearned run in the final 5 and 2/3 innings in the 7-6 victory.
"We got a huge lift from Latra who has been plagued by a sore arm his whole
career," Folske said. "He's changed from a power pitcher to one who has mastered the changeup. He may have earned himself a starting role.
"Gavin wasn't as sharp as he has been but still didn't allow any runs and Horvath pitched a great game and then had a couple of scratch hits and an error kill him in the last inning." CHIPPEWA NOTES
Junior right-hander Gavin Gillette (DeWitt/Grand Rapids CC) has not allowed an earned run as a CMU pitcher. He ran his streak to 18.1 innings with four more scoreless inning in claiming the win in the Chippewas' 13-12 win over EMU on Friday. Gillette (3-0) has 26 strikeouts and only seven walks while opponents are batting .145 against him.Senior right-hander Nick Latra (Farmington) pitched the most innings in his career, going 5 and 2/3 frames to pick up the win in CMU's 7-6 decision over EMU. He struck out six and walked only two, allowing just three hits.
Through games of April 1, CMU was the 18th highest scoring team in the country with 8.56 runs per game. The Chippewas currently are at 8.29.
Sophomore Mike Gates (Flushing) leads Central in on-base percentage with an incredible .504 mark. However, he's hitting just .303. The key stat, though, is his 38 walks which is already fifth best in school history.
Senior outfielder Bryan Scheurer (Portland/St. Patrick) went nine-for-18 last week to raise his average to .361. He had four doubles and a triple, and knocked in the winning two runs with a double in a 7-6 win over EMU.
Sophomore outfielder Ryan Krueger (Alpena) had nine hits in 20 at-bats to raise his average to .297 last week. He also homered twice and had a couple of doubles.
Senior outfielder Matt Crowley (Grand Rapids/Creston) drove in six runs last week, going six-of-17 with a double, triple and homer. He's second on the team at .363.
Junior catcher Scott Pickens (Mount Pleasant) was six-of-16 to raise his average to .254. He also threw out five of six base stealers.
Senior shortstop Jason Helps (Wyoming, Ont./St. Clair CC) slammed a couple of homers last week to raise his season total to a team-best 10. He also paces the Chippewas in RBI (38) and slugging percentage (.708).
CMU has a gala celebration planned for May 12 to honor the final season of baseball in the current Theunissen Stadium. All former players are invited back and will be introduced before the doubleheader with Toledo (1 p.m.) and move to their old positions. Five Chippewa coaches (Bill Theunissen, Waldo Sauter, Dave Keilitz, Dean Kreiner and Judd Folske) will throw out opening pitches.
