Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Indiana State
Chippewas Fall in Opener at Indiana State
3/12/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Brent Schriber, CMUChippewas.com
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Indiana State took advantage of back-to-back Central Michigan errors in the sixth inning Thursday in handing the Chippewas a 4-3 loss in the opening game of the Indiana State Tournament.
The Chippewas (11-6) took a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning. The Sycamores (5-7) got two singles, a fielder's choice, and two CMU errors to surge ahead.
Jordan Grosjean (0-2) allowed eight hits and struck out four over 6 1/3 innings in taking the loss. Just two of Indiana State's runs were earned. The Sycamores scored twice in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead.
"He gave up a bloop single to score the second run in the first inning," CMU coach Steve Jaksa said. "His ball was up just a little bit. But other than that first inning, he was locked in.
"He was able to throw his slider very well for a strike, and even throw it inside a little bit. He got just a ton of ground balls. I thought he threw very well for us."
The Chippewas managed five hits on the day and were issued nine walks by five Indiana State pitchers. The Chippewas stranded nine, including two in the ninth inning.
The Chippewas cut their deficit to 2-1 on a Cody Leichman RBI single in the fourth.
CMU went ahead in the fifth on a Zack Fields RBI sacrifice fly and a Logan Regnier bunt basehit, which scored Pat MacKenzie.
Left-hander Jimmy McNamara pitched 1 2/3 perfect innings in relief of Grosjean.
"He's (McNamara) a guy that has enough stuff to get anybody out, so we were able to extend it just a little bit today to get 1 2/3 innings," Jaksa said. "He was even able to get a right-handed batter out in there too so it worked out really well for us."
The Chippewas were scheduled to play Rutgers on Friday, but because of heavy rain in the forecast the game has been postponed to Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The Chippewas and Rutgers are also scheduled to play at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
CMU is slated to wrap up the tournament on Sunday.
