Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewas Enter Final Week in First Place
5/15/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MOUNT PLEASANT Thanks to a weekend sweep of Western Michigan and a little help from Toledo, Central Michigan University enters the final week of the Mid-American Conference baseball season in first place.
The Chippewas (33-17 overall, 20-4 MAC) took over the top spot in the standings Sunday when Toledo defeated Eastern Michigan, 16-3, in the series finale. CMU’s sweep of Western Michigan came on the heels of a four-game losing streak, the longest of the season for the Chippewas.
“We knew every goal we had set was still attainable,” said head coach Steve Jaksa. “And you just keep playing until mathematically your goals are no longer attainable or there’s not another game to play. Instead of being down, we told our guys to come in with energy, be positive and just play hard. It’s a long season, and you’re going to have some peaks and valleys.”
CMU closes the regular season with a three-game series at Ball State beginning Thursday. In order to secure the MAC regular season title, the Chippewas must win at least as many games against Ball State as Eastern Michigan does in its series at Western Michigan.
The CMU lineup was bolstered by the return of Bryan Mitzel over the weekend. The school’s all-time leader in home runs, doubles and runs batted in was 5-for-9 with four RBI in the weekend series, his most extended action in nearly two months. His return also gives Jaksa more options in the starting lineup.
“You always look at where you can move people, and we did that during the fall,” Jaksa said. “We’ve had some players emerge and swing the bat well and now with Mitzel in the fold, we have to have different options of where we can play everyone.
“You try to just move one person instead of four or five,” Jaksa added. “The thought process is to maximize your lineup without disrupting the team’s rhythm.”
Anderson, Collmenter Earn MAC Honors: Billy Anderson and Josh Collmenter were named MAC West Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively. Anderson batted .636 during the weekend sweep of Western Michigan and had a career-high four hits in five at-bats in Sunday’s 11-3 win. His current 12-game hitting streak is the longest of his career and the longest active streak for CMU. Collmenter threw eight scoreless innings and became CMU’s all-time strikeouts leader in Friday’s 6-0 win against the Broncos. It was the fourth shutout he has been a part of in eight MAC starts this season.
Magic Number at 3: CMU’s magic number to clinch the MAC title is three. Any combination of CMU wins and Eastern Michigan losses next weekend that adds up to three will result in the Chippewas claiming the conference championship. The winner of the MAC regular season title hosts the MAC Tournament May 23-26.
Follow the Chippewas: WMHW-FM 91.5 will air Tuesday’s game against Wright State, while WMMI-AM 830 will broadcast all three games at Ball State. Audio of all four games will be streamed live on cmuchippewas.com. Live stats of all four games will also be available on cmuchippewas.com.
The Series: CMU and Wright State will be meeting on the diamond for the first time Tuesday. The Chippewas lead the all-time series with Ball State, 76-43. CMU won two of three games against the Cardinals on the season’s final weekend to claim the MAC West title in 2006.
Setting the Standard: CMU enters the week 20-4 in conference play, the fastest CMU has reached the 20-win mark in MAC action. It is the ninth time CMU has won 20 MAC games in a season.
Top of the List: The Chippewas enter the week leading the MAC in hitting and pitching. CMU is batting .309 as a team, while the pitching staff boasts a conference-low 3.53 earned-run average.
K’s for Collmenter: Josh Collmenter is now CMU’s all-time strikeouts leader with 276. He passed Ty Dunham’s mark of 274 in Friday’s start against Western Michigan. Collmenter, who has fanned at least 10 hitters in a game nine times in his career, has struck out 105 batters in 100-2/3 innings over 13 starts in 2007.
Collmenter in the MAC: Junior right-hander Josh Collmenter is 8-0 with a 0.53 earned-run average in eight MAC starts this season. For his career, Collmenter is 18-2 with a 1.60 ERA in 25 career MAC appearances (21 starts, four relief appearances).
Stovall’s Streak: Tyler Stovall’s hitting streak came to an end at 21 games last week, tied for the second-longest streak in CMU history. Stovall batted .468 during the streak (44-for-94) with 31 runs scored and 24 RBI.
One-Two Punch: Tyler Stovall leads the Mid-American Conference in batting average (.424), on-base percentage (.496), hits (84), RBI (55) and is tied with teammate Ben Humphrey in runs scored (54). Humphrey is second in the MAC in hits (76), tied for second in homers (10) and doubles (17) and third in batting average (.367).
Stovall Stays Hot: Tyler Stovall continues to swing one of the hottest bats in the country. He enters the week batting .424, a mark that would have ranked 12th in last week’s national rankings. Stovall is tied for the team lead with 25 multiple-hit games, including a career-best 5-for-6 performance at Akron on April 14 in which he tied a school record with four doubles and scored a school-record six runs. He leads the MAC in batting average, hits, RBI and on-base percentage (.496), is tied for the lead in runs scored, second in slugging percentage (.601) and steals and tied for second in total bases (119).
Stovall’s Year-by-Year Stats
| Year | G-GS | Avg. | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB-SBA |
| 2005 | 29-21 | .260 | 73 | 9 | 19 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 22 | 1-1 |
| 2006 | 31-16 | .304 | 69 | 22 | 21 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 14 | 2-3 |
| 2007 | 48-47 | .424 | 198 | 54 | 84 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 55 | 24 | 30 | 19-25 |
Lighting Up the Scoreboard: The Chippewas have scored at least 10 runs 10 times in the last 17 games. Through the season’s first 33 games, CMU reached the 10-run mark six times. CMU is averaging 10.9 runs per game over the last 17 games, compared to 6.5 runs per game over the season’s first 33 games.
Tons of Runs: CMU reached the 20-run mark for the third time in a 20-8 win at Toledo on April 29. It is the first time since 2001 that CMU has scored 20 runs three times in one season. The Chippewas are on pace for 429 runs this season, which would be the sixth-most in a season in CMU history.
Win Streak Ends at 10: CMU’s loss at Eastern Michigan on May 5 snapped a 10-game winning streak for the Chippewas. The streak was the longest for CMU since an 11-gamer during the 2005 season. The loss also was the first in a season-long four-game skid for the Chippewas.
Power Pitchers: CMU ranks near the top of the MAC in a number of pitching statistical categories. The Chippewas lead the conference in ERA (3.53), earned runs allowed (174), strikeouts (355) and opponent batting average (.256) and rank second in strikeouts per nine innings (7.20). Josh Collmenter (9-2 overall), Kurt Lauscher (7-2) and Dan Taylor (6-1) are one of just two weekend staffs in the MAC with a trio of six-game winners. Opponents are batting .188 against Collmenter, the lowest in the conference.
Jaksa Fourth on Wins List: Head coach Steve Jaksa is now fourth on CMU’s career wins list. He enters this week 168-110 (.604 winning percentage) in five seasons at CMU. 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).
Tough at Theunissen: CMU is 49-9 (.845) at home since the start of the 2005 season. The Chippewas have won 14 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 also was selected as the favorite to win the MAC Tournament. CMU won the West Division by one-half game over eventual conference tournament champ Ball State in 2006.
