Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Bowling Green
Chippewas Outlast BGSU in Game Three, 14-11
4/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 9, 2006
MOUNT PLEASANT - Central Michigan University scored eight runs in the first two innings, then received a clutch two-run home run from Bryan Mitzel in the seventh to hold off Bowling Green, 14-11, in game three of a Mid-American Conference baseball series on Sunday.
The Chippewas took the final two games of the three-game set to win their sixth straight MAC series at Theunissen Stadium.
CMU (17-14 overall, 6-3 MAC) cruised through the first four innings, scoring five times in the first, three in the second and twice in the fourth to build a 10-1 lead.
Bowling Green starter Adam Gumpf retired two of the Chippewas' first three hitters before the floodgates opened in the first. With two outs, Bryan Mitzel tripled home Troy Moratti, Scott Szpyrka walked, Noah Lankford doubled in Mitzel and Eric Cannon drove a three-run homer over the wall in left.
Mitzel's two-run double and Szpyrka's sacrifice fly in the second inning stretched the margin to 8-0.
The CMU lead was 10-1 before the Falcons (16-13, 5-4 MAC) climbed back into the contest with a four-run fifth inning. The big blow of the frame was a three-run single by Tyler Wasserman that chased CMU starter Kurt Lauscher. Wasserman worked the count full, then fouled off five consecutive pitches before lining back up the middle with two outs.
The Chippewas added a run in the fifth to extend their lead to 11-5, but BGSU took advantage of three CMU errors to plate five unearned runs in the top of the seventh. With the lead cut to a single run (11-10), CMU answered with three runs in the bottom half of the seventh. Ben Humphrey scored J.T. Jones with a sacrifice fly to right, then Mitzel stepped in and drove his 11th homer of the season down the left-field line.
With two homers this weekend, Mitzel is now third all-time at CMU with 36 career home runs.
James Ricchio surrendered one run in the ninth, but struck out three over the final 2-2/3 innings to preserve the win. Mark Lundquist worked 1-1/3 innings out of the bullpen to pick up his first win of the season for CMU. Lauscher sat down nine of the first 10 Bowling Green hitters, but took a no decision.
Gumpf fell to 0-2 for Bowling Green, allowing five earned runs on five hits and walking one in just two-thirds of an inning.
Mitzel and Moratti both had three hits for CMU. Mitzel doubled, tripled, homered, walked, scored four times and drove in five runs, while Moratti tallied three singles and scored three times.
Eric Lawson, Kurt Wells and Wasserman all had two hits and scored twice for Bowling Green.
CMU closes out its six-game homestand on Tuesday, hosting IPFW at 3 p.m. The Chippewas visit Ohio State on Wednesday, then host Akron for a three-game MAC series beginning next Friday.
