Chippewa Rally Falls Short in MAC Tournament Opener
5/22/2014 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
AVON, Ohio – It’ll be a short turnaround for the Central Michigan baseball team.
And it could be a short stay in the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
Akrton’s Daulton Mausbarger put the Chippewas on their heels early with a lead-off home run Wednesday as the Zips downed CMU, 9-6, on opening day of the league tourney at All Pro Freight Stadium.
The Chippewas must bounce back quickly as they will play Miami (Ohio) in an elimination game scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday, just over 12 hours after Wednesday’s game ended.
Matt Larocca also homered for the Zips, who collected 13 hits in advancing to play Buffalo on Thursday night.
Larocca’s homer, a solo shot to left field in the second inning, put the Zips up, 4-0.
Akron’s Kris Simonton led off the top of the third inning with a single, then the game was halted by rain for 1 hour, 43 minutes.
When it resumed at 10:29 p.m., CMU starter Pat Kaminska was out of the game, replaced by Adam Aldred. Kaminska (8-3) was charged with five runs on seven hits. He struck out one.
Akron increased its lead to 8-2 before the Chippewas scored four times in the sixth to cut their deficit to 8-6. Morgan Oliver’s two-run triple was the big blow in the inning.
Akron tacked on an insurance run (unearned) in the eighth off Jimmy McNamara, the third Chippewa pitcher, to make it 9-6.
CMU loaded the bases with none out in the ninth inning, but Larocca worked out of the jam by getting a strikeout, a fly out to shallow left, and another strikeout to end it and earn his fifth save.
The Chippewas, who also left the bases loaded in the second inning, left 11 on for the game.
Akron starter Pat Dyer (4-4) allowed two runs on six hits while walking three and striking out three over five innings for the victory. Myles McVeigh, Josh Davis and Larocca each pitched in relief.
Tyler Huntey finished with three hits including a pair of doubles for CMU, while Oliver had two hits as did Cody Leichman. Oliver finished the night with three RBI.
The Chippewas are 35-22. Akron is 26-28.