Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Penn State
Chippewas Rally Past Penn State, 12-9
3/9/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 9, 2002
DeLAND, Fla. - Central Michigan University's baseball team finished its spring trip on a positive note with a 12-9 come-from-behind win over Penn State University here Saturday morning in the Stetson Invitational.
The Chippewas finished the trip with a 7-3 record, 4-2 in the Stetson tourney. Penn State went 1-5 in the tournament and is now 4-7 for the season.
CMU trailed by a 9-4 margin after five innings but kept battling back to capture the win.
Penn State took advantage of control problems by starting Chippewa hurler Gavin Gillette to score runs in the first and second without the benefit of a hit. Two walks, a passed ball and a infield grounder plated a run in the first and then Gillette walked four me for a run in the second.
CMU scored in the top of the first on three straight singles by Tommy Grubb, Travis Osborn and an RBI safety by Mike Gates. Central tied it at 2-2 in the top half of the fourth on a single by Osborn, a walk to Gates, a balk and a sacrifice fly by Scott Pickens.
The Chippewas scored twice in the top of the fifth when Steve Sanfilippo walked, Tim Bullinger singled and both scored on a single by Grubb.
Penn State ended Gillette's bid for a no-hitter with a flourish in the fifth, scoring seven times after two were out to cop a 9-4 edge. The Nittany Lions had four hits although four of the runs were unearned.
Central battled back with three of its own in the sixth, one on an RBI single by Bullinger and the other two on an infield error.
The Chippewas rallied to take the lead with five runs in the eighth, 12-9. Grubb had an RBI double and scored on a single by Pickens. David Latour walked with the bases loaded to drive in another run while Ryan Krueger drilled a two-run single to right to cap the scoring.
Left-hander T.J. Johnson, Central's third hurler, picked up the victory, going three innings of one-hit shutout ball. He walked three and fanned three. Right hander Travis Osborn collected his second save of the season with one inning of scoreless ball.
Chippewa hurlers walked 12 Nittany Lion batters, nine by Gillette.
A trio of CMU players had outstanding tournaments at the plate. Grubb was an incredible 15-of-25 for .600 along with eight RBI. Gates was eight-of-21 for .381 with two homers and 12 RBI while Bullinger was nine-of-26 (.346) and scored eight runs.
Central Michigan is slated to play at Oakland University on March 16 at noon.
