Central Michigan University
Miami - MAC Tournament
Chippewas Roar Into MAC Championship Game
5/27/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 27, 2005
OXFORD, Ohio -- Steve Jaksa's 100th win as the Central Michigan University head baseball coach came here Friday with a 5-0 win over Miami University in the 2005 Mid-American Conference tournament.
Win No. 101 on Saturday would thrust the Chippewas into the 64-team NCAA regional field.
CMU will face one of three teams at noon here on Saturday. Should the 42-16 Chippewas win the game, it would give them the automatic NCAA bid from the MAC. A loss would force a second game against the same opponent in a winner-take-all battle immediately following the first game.
CMU sent the host RedHawks to the loser's bracket in impressive fashion, collecting 17 hits while shuting out Miami and allowing just seven hits.
The win was CMU's 18th straight against MAC opposition and raised the Chippewa record to 42-16. Miami drops to 41-16.
A pair of veteran right-handers combined on the shutout. Senior Jason Cairns (8-5) went the first six and two-third innings, giving up four hits against three walks and no strikeouts. Junior Mark Lundquist went the final two and one-third innings of three-hit shutout ball. He didn't walk a batter and struck out three.
Lundquist entered the game in the seventh with the bases loaded and got Miami's Ryne Robinson to bounce into a force out at second.
The Chippewas scored all of the run they needed in the fourth inning when Kurtis Wells singled, took second on a single by Eric Cannon and scored on a pinch double by David Latour Jr. Cannon then scored on a suicide squeeze bunt by Ryan Peel and Latour touched home with the third run on a sacrifice fly by Brian Campbell.
CMU added a run in the seventh when Bryan Mitzel doubled in Jim Geldhof and closed the scoring in the eighth when Jeremy Crum singled and took third on a wild pickoff atempt at first. He scored on a single by Peel.
Troy Moratti, Geldhof and Wells had three hits each for the Chippewas while Mitzel and Peel added two apiece. CMU has now collected 39 hits in the three tourney games.
