Chippewas Frustrated in Season-Ending Loss in MAC Tourney
5/22/2014 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
AVON, Ohio – The Central Michigan baseball team can empathize with every hard-working weekend musician.
Just one big hit, and who knows.
The Chippewas left the bases loaded three times and stranded 15 runners Thursday afternoon in falling to Miami (Ohio), 4-3, in a Mid-American Conference Tournament elimination game at All Pro Freight Stadium.
CMU, which stranded 11 in dropping its tournament opener to Akron, 9-6, on Wednesday night, finished 35-23.
The Chippewas managed 10 hits against the RedHawks (30-26), but they simply couldn’t deliver when they most needed to.
“We just couldn’t get that hit,” CMU coach Steve Jaksa said. “Obviously that was the difference in the game.”
Miami built a 4-0 lead through 4 ½ innings and chased CMU starter Jordan Foley (6-5).
Foley, a junior right-hander, allowed eight hits and struck out four through 4 2/3 innings. Junior left-hander Matt Trowbridge shut out the RedHawks on three hits over the final 4 1/3 innings. He struck out seven and walked just one.
“I thought we pitched it pretty well,” Jaksa said. “Trowbridge was outstanding. He really gave us an opportunity to come back.”
And the Chippewas nearly did.
CMU got single runs in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings to draw within a run, but they left the bases loaded in each of those frames. They also left two on in the first and ninth innings.
“We got a couple of infield singles that scored one (run) instead of getting that knock that would have scored two,” Jaksa said. “I can’t fault the kids. We just kept putting guys on base and had just so many opportunities. I give our guys a lot of credit for how they battled and put themselves in position to get a W.”
Ryan Powers (9-3) started and went 6 1/3 innings for the win. He surrendered two runs on eight hits while striking out four and walking two. Ryan Marske relieved Powers and pitched out of the bases-loaded jam in the seventh inning.
Charles Zubrod went the final two frames for the RedHawks and earned his fifth save.
“Their guy (Powers) was very good, which is something we knew from the three-game set that we played with them earlier in the year,” said Jaksa, whose team swept Miami in Mount Pleasant during the regular season. “They were all really close games. When you lose a one-run game there is very little margin of error. For us, it was just one more hit. They were able to get us today.”
Nick Regnier and Tyler Huntey had three hits apiece to lead CMU, while Alex Borglin singled and doubled. Huntey drove in two runs and Pat MacKenzie had one RBI.
Steve Sada had three hits to lead Miami’s 11-hit attack.
Sada singled to lead off the third, was bunted to second and took third on a groundout to second base. He scored on John Crummy’s two-out single to right.
The RedHawks made it 3-0 in the fourth on Chad Sedio’s two-run homer, and they extended it to 4-0 in the fifth by manufacturing a run in near identical fashion to the one they scored in the third.
Ryan Elble singled leading off the inning, was bunted to second, took third on a groundout to second, and scored on a Gary Russo single.
The Chippewas’ tournament-opening loss to Akron was interrupted in the third inning by a near 1-hour, 45-minute rain delay. The game did not conclude until 12:53 a.m. Thursday, and the Chippewas didn’t return to their hotel until almost 2 a.m.
They were back at All Pro Freight Stadium by 11:30 a.m. for their matchup with Miami.
“Can’t do anything about the weather, and those were the cards we were dealt,” Jaksa said. “I thought our effort was really good today, thought we were ready to play. That’s all you can ask of your men.”
The Chippewas’ 35 wins was their most since a 36-win campaign in 2010.
“It’s hard to put so many things in perspective right now because you finish with a couple losses,” Jaksa said. “From the whole body of work on the season, yeah I’m really proud of the progress that the young men made both on and off the field. I thought we did a lot of good things in the community and it does mean a lot.
Proud of the effort our kids gave all season long. I have no complaints with that. I just wish we would have gotten (win) No. 36 and seen what would have happened after that.”
