Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewa Bats Quiet in 8-0 Loss to Western
5/16/2014 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Hits were hard to come by.
Clutch hits? Non-existent.
Chad Mayle threw a complete-game two-hitter Friday as Western Michigan handed Central Michigan an 8-0 loss in a Mid-American Conference baseball game at Theunissen Stadium.
The loss ended CMU’s win streak at five games and its MAC win streak at six. The Chippewas (34-21 overall, 18-8 MAC) and Broncos (22-28, 11-15) will play the regular-season finale at 2:05 p.m. Saturday at Theunissen, then look to the league tournament.
CMU has locked up the No. 2 seed in the eight-team tourney, which gets under way Wednesday at All Pro Freight Stadium in Avon, Ohio.
Western goes into Sunday’s finale tied with Toledo for the eighth and final spot in the tournament. The Rockets play host to Eastern Michigan in their finale on Saturday.
A pair of freshman left-handers – CMU’s Nick Deeg and Western’s Keegan Akin – will square off in Sunday’s rubber match, which is the Chippewas’ 22nd Annual Homecoming/Parents Day.
“We’ve got two good lefties going after each other tomorrow and they’re fighting for a tournament spot and we’re fighting to put ourselves in a good position as we move forward,” CMU coach Steve Jaksa said. “When you play Western Michigan, it’s a rivalry game. We’re going to have our alums coming in here tomorrow and I’d like to think we’re going to bounce back and be ready to go, but they’re going to be fighting like the devil to make sure they get another win to put themselves into the tournament.”
Jared Kujawa’s two-out two-run single in the sixth put Western up 2-0 in Friday’s game, then the Broncos tacked on another run in the seventh when Grant Miller singled with two out to score Dan Shutes from second.
The Broncos, who collected 10 hits off three CMU pitchers, broke it open with five runs in the ninth, highlighted by Kujawa’s two-run single.
Mayle struck out three and while the Chippewas managed just two hits, they had plenty of base runners as they drew six walks and the Broncos committed two errors.
CMU left the bases loaded in the third inning when the game was still scoreless, and they left two on in the eighth, when their deficit was 3-0. The Chippewas stranded eight runners on the day.
“We had bases loaded and a 3-0 count (in the third) and they were ready to take (Mayle) out of the game,” Jaksa said. “He got out of that inning, he got a little confidence, and we couldn’t get anything going. We get a knock there and he’s probably out of the game, but we couldn’t.
“We were right in the game in the seventh, eighth inning. We were still a swing or two away. We had some opportunities, but we were never able to get that hit.”
CMU’s hit, both singles, came from Logan Regnier in the fourth and Alex Borglin in the ninth.
CMU junior left-hander Matt Trowbridge (2-2) turned in an outstanding performance in his second start of the season. He allowed two runs on four hits, while walking four and striking out six over six innings.
“Very pleased,” Jaksa said of Trowbridge, whose longest appearance of the season before Friday was 3 2/3 innings. “I actually thought it was better than pretty good. I think it would be considered very good.
“The longest outing he’s had all year was only 60 pitches and today the goal was to extend him to 80, 85 and he threw 87 pitches. I thought Matt was really good and did exactly what we wanted him to do and we’re in a good position to use him down the road.”
Jason Gamble and Jordan Grosjean pitched in relief for the Chippewas.
