Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewas Ready for Opening Day
2/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MOUNT PLEASANT -- The first pitch of the 2008 Central Michigan University baseball season is scheduled for Friday at noon pacific time when the Chippewas face Southern Utah to open their schedule.
CMU will face the Thunderbirds in the opener before facing UNLV in a three-game set, starting Friday at 6:30 p.m., pacific time. All four games will be played at UNLV's Earl Wilson Stadium.
The early season games can be a challenge for schools unable to conduct preseason practice outdoors, but head coach Steve Jaksa doesn’t think it will be an issue for his squad.
“There are some adjustments but the bottom line is the excitement of getting started will take care of that.” Jaksa said. “We'll have a chance to practice outside Thursday in Las Vegas under the lights and that will really help.”
Coach Jaksa did acknowledge that until this point, his fielders haven’t had to deal with the usual circumstances.
“There isn’t much that goes wrong when you play indoors,” he said. “But we have a veteran group of players that have gone through this before and once you get back in the flow it won't take us too long to adjust.”
Opening day is an exciting time for baseball teams around the country, especially those with expectations of success. The Chippewas are no different.
“The guys have an expectation of how the season will go and now it’s time to carry through,” Jaksa said. “There’s going to be adversity at some point and how you handle it a lot of times determines your success. You also have to be able to handle it when you have some success and not let yourself get too high or too low. During the ups and downs you have to be able to prepare the same way and get ready for the next game. If you play consistent over an entire season, good things will happen.”
There will be some fresh faces both in the lineup and on the mound for CMU this weekend. The lineup that led the Mid-American Conference in nearly every statistical category returns largely intact, but there are position battles at first base, second base and in the outfield.
“We have some young guys that will probably get a chance to do some things and they are looking forward to that opportunity,” Jaksa said. “We’re going to give them a chance over a period of games and see how they perform.”
On the mound, Dan Taylor is the only returning pitcher to have started at least five games a season ago, meaning there are plenty of opportunities for fresh faces to step forward and make a significant contribution to this year’s team.
“Each guy will have his own opportunity to show what he can do,” the sixth-year head coach said. “I like what I’ve seen from this group to this point, so now it’s about developing roles and putting it all together.”
The Thunderbirds return seven position players and three starters from their 11-45 squad in 2007, including all six of their all-conference selections from a season ago. SUU was predicted to finish fifth in The Summit League in the preseason coaches’ poll. Central holds a 2-1 series edge over Southern Utah, with all three previous meetings coming in 2004.
UNLV’s squad was predicted to finish fifth as well in the Mountain West Conference. The Rebels are led by junior catcher Michael Brenly who batted .278 with three home runs and 33 RBI in 2007.
CMU’s three-game set against the Rebels can be seen on livestats at CMUchippewas.com, courtesy of UNLV.
Below are the probable pitching match-ups for this weekend (All stats are from 2007):
Feb. 22 at noon, PT: CMU (RHP Chris Kupillas, 4-3, 4.60 ERA) vs. SUU (RHP Dustin Wittwer, 1-7, 6.87 ERA)
Feb. 22 at 6:30 p.m., PT: CMU (LHP Dan Taylor, 7-2, 3.49 ERA) at UNLV (RHP Matt Hutchison, 2-7, 7.10 ERA)
Feb. 23 at 2 p.m., PT: CMU (LHP Steve Teno, Olney Central CC) at UNLV (TBA)
Feb. 24 at noon, PT: CMU (RHP James Teas, 1-0, 2.78 ERA) at UNLV (RHP Steve Rinaudo, American River CC)
