Central Michigan University Athletics
MAC Title Within Reach Entering Season's Final Week
5/18/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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MOUNT PLEASANT -- The final week of the regular season has arrived for the Central Michigan baseball team, with a chance for a 12th Mid-American Conference title on the line this weekend.
The Chippewas (30-19, 17-7 MAC) sit a game back of the MAC lead held by Ball State and tied with Toledo.
Nate Theunissen paces the Chippewas in nearly every statistical category. He enters the final weekend batting .446 with 10 extra-base hits and 26 RBI in league play, along with a .514 on-base percentage. James Teas provides an equally hot bat, with a .442 batting average, nine extra-base hits and 17 RBI in MAC games.
CMU owns the fifth-ranked team batting average (.316) and top ERA (4.07) in MAC games. Dietrich Enns owns the MAC's best league ERA at 0.95 with a 4-0 record. Closer Trent Howard also ranks among the MAC's ERA leaders (fourth) with a 2.61 ERA, a 2-1 record and MAC-leading five saves.
The Spartans (32-17, 10-11 Big Ten) own a .325 team batting average and 5.28 team ERA.
Ryan Jones paces the Michigan State offense with a team-high .386 batting average, along with Andrew Rademacher and his team-best 29 extra-base hits and 48 RBI.
Andrew Waszak (4-1, 6.64 ERA) is expected to make the start on the mound for MSU.
It's the third meeting of the season between the two rivals separated by just 68 miles on US-127, with each side claiming one victory. The two teams meet on Tuesday at 3:05 p.m.
The Eagles (25-27, 13-11 MAC) enter the weekend having been swept last week by Toledo to eliminate EMU from the highly-contested race for the MAC crown.
EMU ranks ninth in the league with a .284 MAC batting average and sixth in ERA at 5.50.
The pitching staff boasts the MAC's total strikeouts leader during conference games in Corey Chaffins (54) and the third-best starting pitcher in the race for the ERA title in Kendall Lewis (5-1, 2.91 ERA). Lewis is projected to start on Thursday, Chaffins (2-4, 6.21) on Friday and Steve Weber (0-2, 5.23 ERA) will take the ball on Saturday.
Bo Kinder paces the Eastern Michigan batting order with team-highs in batting average (.337) and extra-base hits (10). Andrew Marshall has driven in a team-best 24 RBI and is also batting .337.
Thursday and Friday's games are scheduled to begin at 3:05 p.m., with Saturday's regular-season finale tabbed for 2:05 p.m.
All four games can be heard on WMHW-FM 91.5 or via its web stream on cmuchippewas.com. All four games will also be available via video stream on the CMU Sports Zone. Live stats will also be available for all four contests.
Projected CMU Rotation
Tuesday vs. Michigan State: Brock Guetzke (1-0, 7.41 ERA)
Thursday vs. Eastern Michigan: Jesse Hernandez (7-2, 4.52 ERA)
Friday vs. Eastern Michigan: Bryce Morrow (3-2, 5.10 ERA)
Saturday vs. Eastern Michigan: TBA
MAC Tournament Breakdown -- The top three teams in each division advance to the MAC Tournament, in addition to two wild cards awarded to the two best remaining records. The double-elimination tournament is held in Chillicothe, Ohio May 26-29. CMU has already clinched its place in the tournament, with seeding still up in the air entering the final weekend.
MAC Tournament Available on All-MACcess -- The Mid-American Conference will webstream the entire MAC Tournament for $14.95. Fans can purchase the package at the MAC's official Tournament Central.
Senior Day on Saturday -- CMU will honor its six seniors prior to Saturday's regular-season finale. Billy Anderson, Ricky Clark, Dale Cornstubble, Jesse Hernandez, Tyler Kipke and James Teas will all be playing in their final home weekend against Eastern Michigan.
