Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewas Wrestle With Rockets For MAC Lead This Weekend
5/3/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Live Stats
MOUNT PLEASANT -- A big weekend series awaits the Central Michigan baseball team during its quest for the program's 12th Mid-American Conference championship. CMU travels to face the University of Toledo in a three-game set starting on Friday.
The Chippewas (24-18, 12-6 MAC) own the league's best ERA during conference games (3.91) and sit sixth in batting average (.306).
Nate Theunissen hit .647 last week to raise his average to .394 both overall and in league games. He has 18 doubles and six home runs on the season with a team-best 38 RBI.
The Maroon and Gold bullpen owns an impressive 2.12 ERA in MAC contests, led by the potent 1-2 punch of Dietrich Enns (0.56 ERA, 2-0 as a reliever) and Trent Howard (1.75 ERA, 2-0, five saves). Mike Nixon and Zach Cooper have also combined to allow just two earned runs in 11 innings of work.
The Rockets (27-17, 13-5 MAC) sit tied atop the conference standings with the Ball State Cardinals, one game in front of the Chippewas.
UT boasts the second-best batting average in MAC games at .332 and the third-best ERA at 4.60. Joe Corfman leads the Midnight Blue and Gold with a .413 average in conference games with eight doubles, three homers and 26 RBI, the second-most in league action.
Toledo boasts an excellent bullpen, with five relievers boasting ERA's below four. UT has lost just three games all season when leading or tied after six innings.
The Rockets are coming off a road sweep of Western Michigan while the Chippewas dropped two-of-three last weekend at Northern Illinois.
Live stats will be available for all three games, courtesy of UTRockets.com.
Projected Weekend Rotation
Friday: Jesse Hernandez (6-2, 4.01 ERA)
Saturday: Bryce Morrow (2-2, 5.51 ERA)
Sunday: TBA
League Leaders -- Trent Howard and Dietrich Enns boast the top two ERAs during Mid-American Conference action among all league hurlers. Enns is 2-0 with a 1.33 ERA and Howard is 2-0 with a 1.75 ERA and a league-best five saves. Jesse Hernandez also finds himself among the MAC leaders, ranking seventh among all pitchers and third among starters with a 3.07 conference ERA and fourth in strikeouts (34) to go with a 4-1 league record. All three also rank among the top-10 in opponent's batting average.
Walk This Way -- Billy Anderson and Nate Theunissen rank second and third respectively in walks during MAC games. Anderson has trotted down to first 13 times and Theunissen 12. The Chippewa first baseman also ranks tied for fifth in the MAC in conference on-base percentage at .481.
Enns Among the Best -- Freshman Dietrich Enns is ranked 15th in the nation in ERA at 1.85 and third in the nation in hits allowed per nine innings (5.15). He heads a CMU pitching staff that ranks 42nd in the nation in ERA (4.48).
