Central Michigan University Athletics
Miscues Cost Chippewas Against Kent State
5/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MOUNT PLEASANT -- Missed opportunities and a strange sixth inning doomed the No. 8 seed Central Michigan baseball team in a 4-2 loss to No. 1 seed Kent State at VA Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe, Ohio on Wednesday.
CMU stranded 10 runners and went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position, including a 0-for-3 mark with the bases loaded.
The Chippewas jumped on MAC Pitcher of the Year Chris Carpenter early, touching him up for two runs. Tyler Stovall singled on the first pitch of the ball game and moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Jeff Helps. After a walk to Matt Faiman, Sean Hoorelbeke hit a shot down to third that was mishandled, allowing Stovall to score the game's first run. Noah Lankford followed with an RBI single up the middle as Faiman beat the throw home for a 2-0 CMU lead.
Kent State came back with one in its half of the first on an RBI single by Doug Sanders.
Teno put himself in harms way in the second, hitting a pair of batters, but was able to work out of trouble. Another hit batter leading off the fifth and a one-out single from Sanders put two aboard, and MAC Player of the Year Greg Rohan lined a double into left center to tie the game at two.
Carpenter meanwhile retired the next 13 of the next 14 batters, wrapped around Lankford's leadoff single in the fifth to keep the Flashes within reach. The Chippewas snapped that streak but missed a prime scoring chance in the sixth. Carpenter was chased from the game in the sixth after he walked the first three batters in the inning. Jon Pokorny came on in relief and struck out pinch-hitter Jeff Nowaczyk and induced a double play off the bat of Tyler Kipke to end the threat.
CMU's defense cost them in the bottom half of the sixth. After a single by the no. 8 hitter Brett Weibley, no. 9 hitter Cory Hindel, already aboard twice thanks to two plunkings, blooped a single back of second. Brendan Emmet fielded the bloop and his throw went over the head of the first baseman Hoorelbeke, who recovered to put Hindel in a run down. As Weibley broke for home, Hoorelbeke twirled and threw late to home, and catcher Dale Cornstubble's throw to second trying to peg Hindel went over his head and Matt Faiman backing up in center field. The ball rolled all the way to the wall, and Hindel came all the way around for a 4-2 Flashes lead.
Central worked for two more walks in the eighth with one away, but a diving catch in center and a strikeout ended the threat. The Chippewas once again pieced together a rally in the ninth on a hit batter and a pair of walks to put the tying and go-ahead runs aboard, but the game came to a close on a strikeout.
Lankford's fifth-inning single was the only CMU hit after the first five batters of the game, although the Chippewas did draw seven of their eight walks in the span.
Teno worked five innings, giving up two runs on five hits. He struck out five without walking a batter, but hit three. Bryce Morrow (2-4) was the tough-luck loser in relief, giving up two hits and striking out five over three innings. He gave up two runs on the strange play in the sixth, but both were unearned.
With the loss, the Chippewas will face no. 5 seed Ball State in an elimination game on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. The Cardinals fell to Northern Illinois, 13-7 in the opening round. CMU swept BSU in a three-game set at Theunissen Stadium earlier this year.
Notes:
Central dropped its opening game in the MAC Tournament for just the 4th time in 14 trips, but the second straight year ... the higher-seeded team won all four games in the opening round ... CMU has gone two-and-out in the MAC Tournament just three times in its previous 13 trips.
