Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Michigan State
CMU Brings Home 17-13 Win Over Michigan State
4/19/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 19, 2006
LANSING, Mich. - On a night that saw Central Michigan University and Michigan State combine for 30 runs and 37 hits, it was a wild pitch with one out in the eighth inning that ultimately made the difference in the Chippewas' 17-13 win at Olds Park on Wednesday.
Eric Cannon, pinch-running for Troy Moratti, scampered home from third when Mike Monterey's offering scooted past the MSU catcher. CMU added three insurance runs in the ninth, as Cody Allen's stand-up triple to left plated Scott Szpyrka and Campbell knocked a bouncer through a drawn-in infield to score Allen. Campbell eventually scored on an infield single by Cannon.
Nathan Pung and James Ricchio combined to hold Michigan State scoreless over the final three innings, capping a wild evening that saw the Chippewas lead by seven runs on three different occasions, the Spartans tie the game with a seven-run sixth inning and 12 different players collect at least two hits.
CMU scored its 17 runs on 23 hits against nine different Michigan State pitchers. The 23 hits are the most since March 13, 2005, when CMU equaled that total in a 15-0 win against Holy Cross. It also matches the sixth-highest single-game hit total in CMU history.
Pung earned the win in relief to improve to 1-1 on the season. Ricchio's save was his team-high fourth of the year.
CMU raced to an early 7-0 lead, scoring four times in the first inning and three times in the second. The first four Chippewa hitters reached to open the game, including Ben Humphrey, who hammered a Mike Takashima pitch over the wall in left-center that scored J.T. Jones and Troy Moratti. Bryan Mitzel followed Humphrey's homer with a double off the base of the wall in center and later scored on Noah Lankford's single.
Freshman Dan Taylor, making his first career start, sat the Spartans down in order in the bottom of the first and watched as his teammates put three more runs on the board in the top of the second. Mitzel's second double in as many at-bats plated Jones and Moratti, and Mitzel again scored on Lankford's second single two hitters later.
Two singles and a walk loaded the bases for MSU to open the second, and Steve Gerstenberger cleared the sacks with a grand slam down the right-field line to cut the CMU lead to 7-4.
CMU built leads of 11-4 in the top of the fourth and 13-6 in the top of the sixth, but the Spartans vaulted themselves back into the game with a seven-run sixth. Eleven hitters came to the plate for Michigan State in the sixth and a pair of CMU errors extended the inning.
The score remained into the eighth, when Cannon scored the eventual game-winner.
Moratti finished 5-for-5 with five singles and a walk. His five hits were a career high and he scored three times. Mitzel was 4-for-5 with three doubles, drove in three and scored twice. Lankford and Allen had three hits apiece.
CMU returns to conference play this weekend, visiting Northern Illinois for a three-game series.
