Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Oakland
Baseball Wins Fourth Straight, 7-4 Over Oakland
3/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 28, 2006
MOUNT PLEASANT - The Central Michigan University baseball team won its 14th straight home opener on Tuesday, downing Oakland University 7-4 at Theunissen Stadium. The win was the Chippewas' fourth in a row overall.
Nathan Pung earned the win on a day that saw five different CMU hurlers take the hill. He allowed just one unearned run on two hits over three innings to improve to 1-0.
Oakland (1-18 overall), which has now dropped 10 straight, took an early 1-0 lead with an unearned run in the top of the first. The Chippewas (13-9) answered in their initial at-bat, as Cody Allen led off the first with his third triple of the year and scored on a J.T. Jones sacrifice fly.
Jones extended his winning streak in the third, bunting home James Teas with CMU's second run.
Oakland tied the game at two on Drew Jenison's RBI double in the fourth, but CMU scored twice in the bottom half to go in front for good. Four of the first five CMU hitters in the fourth singled, and Brian Campbell added a sacrifice fly, as the Chippewas built a 4-2 lead after four innings.
Troy Moratti scored on Bryan Mitzel's fielder's choice in the fifth to make it 5-2. Oakland would then mount its most serious threat in the top of the sixth, using two hit batsmen and a walk to load the bases with one out. CMU reliever Mark Lundquist surrendered just a sacrifice fly before giving way to Josh Ruhlman, who hit a third OU batter before striking out Tim Doig with the bases loaded to end the inning.
CMU added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh. Scott Szpyrka's sacrifice fly plated Noah Lankford, and Eric Cannon, pinch-running for Mitzel, scored from third on a wild pitch.
The Grizzlies' Kevin Carkeek drove out a two-out double down the left field line in the ninth to score Andrew Stafford with the game's final run.
Lankford, Mitzel and Teas all had two hits apiece for CMU. Lankford scored twice, while Mitzel and Teas both scored once and drove in a run.
Ryan Heath was 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI for Oakland.
CMU is on the road on Wednesday, visiting IPFW at 2 p.m.
