Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewas Head South to Face UCF
2/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MOUNT PLEASANT After opening the season in Las Vegas the Central Michigan University baseball team travels to Orlando, Fla. this week to face Central Florida in a three-game set.
UCF swept Florida A&M to open the season before stunning No. 5 Missouri with a five-run ninth to earn a 10-9 win. The game was halted after seven innings due to Missouri’s travel plans.
“This is a big series for us early in the year,” head coach Steve Jaksa said. “They beat Missouri so they’re feeling good about themselves. It’s another chance for us to prove ourselves against a quality opponent.”
The Golden Knights are 4-0 on the year and hold a 4-0 all-time series edge over the Chippewas. The two programs have not seen each other since 2001, when UCF took a 9-3 decision in Winter Park, Fla.
CMU went 1-3 during the season’s opening week, falling to Southern Utah and taking 1-of-3 from UNLV. In all, 16 position players and 10 pitchers have already seen action this season. That is by design, according to Jaksa.
“We’re playing a lot of guys because we think we have some quality players,” he said. “Giving them an opportunity to perform will help us prepare ourselves for later in the season.”
The series kicks off a 10-day, eight game road swing through the state of Florida. After UCF, Central travels to DeLand on March 4-5 for a two-game set with Stetson before moving on to Bradenton, Fla. to face Fairfield (March 7), Eastern Kentucky (March 8) and Vermont (March 9).
“The idea is going to be to give each of our weekend starters a couple of outings and start to find those weekday starters,” Jaksa said. “You need to find those guys who can give you the best chance to win.”
Follow the Chippewas WMMI-AM 830 will broadcast the final game of the three-game set with the Golden Knights, with the broadcast streamed live through the CMU Sports Zone on cmuchippewas.com. Live stats of all three games in the series will be available at cmuchipppewas.com, courtesy of UCF sports information.
Too Many LOB’s The Chippewas stranded 53 runners over their first four games, including 19 in the 9-7 loss to UNLV on Feb.
Tyler Stovall: All-Conference Stock Broker As of Dec. 31, Tyler Stovall ranked fifth among a field of nearly 2,000 college students nationwide at the halfway point of the Barron’s Challenge stock-picking contest. Each year, more than 2,300 professors and college students across the nation compete in the Barron’s Challenge, trying to create the best $100,000 hypothetical stock portfolios by generating the most revenue. At the end of the contest, top portfolios receive grand prizes of $1,500, with second and third prizes in each category of $1,000 and $500. As of Dec. 31, Stovall had generated a net gain of 24 percent through his portfolio. The personal financial planning major credits a knowledge of the state of the U.S. economy for his success in the competition. “I felt that with a recession looming, the housing market slumping and many mortgage lenders writing down large sums of money, this would be a good time to bet against them,” said Stovall.
Quartet Tabbed Preseason All-Conference by Baseball America First baseman Sean Hoorelbeke, outfielder Tyler Stovall and designated hitter Billy Anderson join Dan Taylor from the pitching staff as preseason honorees. Andrew Thomas is also projected as one of the MAC’s top newcomers.
Anderson Among Nation’s Best Designated hitter Billy Anderson was named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American following his frosh campaign at CMU. After the missing the early part of the season with an injury, Anderson batted .430 in 39 games for the Chippewas in 2007. A second team All-Mid-American Conference selection, Anderson hit .417 against league opponents and closed the season riding an 18-game hitting streak. He batted an even .500 (32-for-64) with 15 runs scored, 16 runs batted in and 13 walks during the streak. Anderson was 19 at-bats short of the minimum needed to qualify for the national statistical rankings; his .430 overall average would have ranked in the top 10 nationally. He is the fourth Chippewa to earn the honor.
Feeling a Draft CMU had four players selected in the 2007 Major League Baseball draft. Junior Josh Collmenter, the 2007 MAC Pitcher of the Year, was taken by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 15th round, senior first baseman Ben Humphrey was selected by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (28th round, 845th overall), sophomore pitcher Jeff Richard was taken by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 31st round (953rd overall) and pitcher Chris Kupillas was chosen by Seattle Mariners in the 38th round (1,146th overall). Collmenter and Humphrey were signed, but Kupillas returned to Central. Richard did not sign, but instead transfered Coastal Carolina University.
More Than Just Talented CMU had four players named to the Academic All-MAC squad last season. Juniors Josh Collmenter, Jeff Helps and Tyler Stovall joined sophomore pitcher Dan Taylor on the squad. It was the most Chippewas on the team since 1987. Collmenter earned the 2007 MAC PItcher of the Year award before leaving school early after being drafted in the 15th round by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Helps is an entrepreneurship major with a 3.39 grade-point average and a 2007 second-team All-MAC selection. Stovall is a personal financial planning major with a 3.84 grade-point average and was named the 2007 MAC Player of the Year. Taylor is a physical education major with a 3.98 grade-point average and was also a second-team All-MAC selection.
20-Win Club CMU finished the 2007 season with a 21-6 conference mark. It is the ninth time CMU has won at least 20 MAC games in a season. The Chippewas won 20 of their first 24 MAC games last season, the fastest a CMU team has reached the 20-win mark in conference play.
Tallying Up the Wins The Chippewas finished with 35 wins overall in 2007. It was the third straight season, and 21st season overall, in which CMU won at least 35 games in. CMU has won 112 games over the last three seasons, the most victories in a three-year span since the Chippewas won 118 games from 1993-95.
Jaksa Fourth on Wins List Head coach Steve Jaksa is now fourth on CMU’s career wins list. He is in his sixth season as the head of CMU baseball and has compiled a 171-117 record (.594 winning percentage) as a Chippewa. 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).
CMU Tabbed No. 1 For the fourth year in a row, CMU was picked to win the MAC West Division in the conference’s preseason coaches poll. The Chippewas finished second in the division a season ago, behind Eastern Michigan.
