Central Michigan University Athletics
First-Place Chippewas Set for Five Games This Week
4/10/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MOUNT PLEASANT — Battling weather conditions that felt more like January than April, Central Michigan University won three straight games at Bowling Green over the weekend to take over first place in the Mid-American Conference baseball standings.
Now, with chilly and wet conditions still lingering around the Great Lakes, the Chippewas (18-12 overall, 8-1 MAC) will attempt to play five games in six days this week. CMU hosts Wayne State on Tuesday, visits Oakland on Wednesday, then travels to Akron for a three-game conference series beginning on Friday.
CMU is off to its best conference start since the 1990 team began MAC play 9-0. The Chippewas out-scored Bowling Green 25-7 in a three-game sweep in near-freezing conditions over the weekend.
“The object is to go out and play,” said head coach Steve Jaksa. “I told our guys to do whatever it takes for them to stay warm. I thought we kept a good focus and played well in the conditions. You have to play the games, so you just have to enter that mindset that it’s time to go out and play.”
The Chippewas continue to benefit from a pitching staff that has developed into one of the most dominant in the Mid-American Conference. CMU has held its opponent to two runs or less in six of its eight MAC victories.
“I think we’re going to continue to get better, to be honest,” Jaksa said. “We still have a couple of guys waiting in the wings who I think are going to contribute yet this season. We’re going to use some of these midweek games to find out who those guys are going to be. We have a lot of baseball left to play, but that consistency of starting pitching that we’ve had so far must continue.”
Follow the Chippewas: Fans can follow the Chippewas on the radio or on the web this week. WMHW-FM 91.5 will carry Tuesday’s game against Wayne State, while the weekend series at Akron will air on WMMI-AM 830. All four broadcasts will be streamed live through the CMU Sports Zone on cmuchippewas.com. Live stats of Tuesday’s game and the weekend series will also be available through cmuchippewas.com.
Collmenter MAC West Pitcher of the Week: Josh Collmenter was named MAC West Pitcher of the Week for his complete-game shutout at Bowling Green. He allowed just three hits and struck out a season-high 12 in the win. It is the second time this season, and fifth time in his career, he has earned the honor. Collmenter was also recognized as the Great Lakes Regional Performance of the Week by InsidePitching.com.
Fast Start: CMU’s 8-1 MAC record is its best conference start since the 1990 team opened the MAC season 9-0. That team went on to win the conference championship.
Jaksa Fourth on Wins List: CMU’s win in the opening game of Sunday’s doubleheader moved head coach Steve Jaksa into fourth place on the school’s career wins list. Jaksa, who is now 153-105 in five seasons at CMU, passed Bill Theunissen, who was 151-114-1 from 1953-62. The three winningest baseball coaches at CMU are Dean Kreiner (516-282-4, 1985-98), Dave Keilitz (453-203-6, 1971-84) and Waldo Sauter (210-91, 1963-70).
The Series: CMU leads the all-time series against all three of this week’s opponents. The Chippewas are 37-13 all-time against Akron, 27-2 against Oakland and 39-8 against Wayne State. CMU defeated Oakland, 11-1, in the home opener at Theunissen Stadium on March 20. The Chippewas swept a three-game series at home against Akron last season in the teams’ first meeting since 2002.
K’s for Collmenter: After striking out a season-high 12 batters in a complete-game shutout at Bowling Green on Friday, Josh Collmenter is tied for fourth all-time at CMU with 228 strikeouts. He has fanned at least 10 hitters in a game seven times in his career. For the season, Collmenter has fanned 57 batters in 57-2/3 innings over seven starts.
Stovall Stays Hot: Tyler Stovall, batting. 431, has more hits this season (47), than in his first two seasons combined (19 in 2005, 21 in 2006). He is 47-for-109 with 25 runs and 30 RBI in 2007. Stovall leads his teammates with 16 multiple-hit games, including six three-hit games and one four-hit outing. He leads the MAC in batting average, hits and on-base percentage (.500) and is fourth in runs batted in.
Power Pitchers: CMU ranks near the top of the MAC in a number of pitching statistical categories. The Chippewas lead the conference in ERA (3.23), opponent batting average (.246) and rank second in earned runs allowed (95), strikeouts (206) and third in strikeouts per nine innings (7.01). Josh Collmenter (4-2 overall) and Dan Taylor (4-0) are the only teammates in the conference with at least four victories on the mound. Opponents are batting .214 against Collmenter and .217 against Taylor; those marks rank first and third, respectively, in the MAC.
Tough at Theunissen: CMU is 43-7 (.860) at home since the start of the 2005 season. The Chippewas have won 12 straight MAC series at Theunissen Stadium.
CMU Tabbed No. 1: For the third year in a row, CMU was picked to win the MAC West Division in the conference’s preseason coaches poll. CMU was also selected as the favorite to win the MAC Tournament in May. CMU won the West Division by one-half game over eventual conference tournament champ Ball State in 2006.
