Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Eastern Michigan
Chippewa Hit Parade Continues
4/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- The Central Michigan bats continued their torrid pace and Nick Deeg went a solid seven innings on the mound Friday as the Chippewas rolled past Eastern Michigan, 16-6, in the opener of a three-game Mid-American Conference baseball series at Theunissen Stadium.
The Chippewas collected 18 hits including Zack Fields' first home run of the season in improving to 22-12 overall, 8-2 MAC. The 16 runs and 18 hits were both season-highs.
It marked the third consecutive game -- all wins -- that the Chippewas have scored at least 12 runs. They have scored 42 runs in that span.
The Chippewas and Eagles (13-20, 4-6) play game two of the series on Saturday at 2:05 p.m. and close on Sunday at 1:05 p.m.
"I don't know," CMU coach Steve Jaksa said when asked the key to the Chippewas' offensive surge, "but we hopefully will do it again tomorrow.
"It's a consistent approach. I think that's the important thing. You have two approaches, you have a regular approach for that particular pitcher, and then you have a two-strike approach. And you have to do both of them. If we can do it across the board, become tough outs, drive a pitch count up and give yourself more opportunities at the plate to get a good pitch."
Pat MacKenzie had four hits and Alex Borglin, Tyler Huntey, Daniel Jipping, Joe Houlihan and Fields finished with two hits apiece. Every CMU starter had at least one hit.
MacKenzie, Jipping, Zach McKinstry and Colton Bradley each doubled, and Logan Regnier tripled.
Deeg (6-2), a sophomore left-hander, allowed one run on eight hits over seven innings. He struck out four and walked two. He pitched out of bases-loaded jams in the first and fourth innings.
"I fell behind in a lot of counts today and I was able to make some big pitches in pressure situations, which I don't mind at all," said Deeg, who watched his teammates scored six times in the second inning to provide him a 7-0 cushion.
"When you get back out there, the warmup pitches are a big thing," Deeg said of going back to the mound the six-run second. "You get back into the tempo, back into your mindset and just keep pounding the zone and get your team back in the dugout."
Jackson Martin led off the seventh with a home run to spoil Deeg's shutout bid. By then, the Chippewas led 10-1.
It was Deeg's third consecutive victory, a streak that started with a complete game shutout at Miami (Ohio) two weeks ago. His performance on Friday against the Eagles lowered his earned run average to 1.68.
"The one thing I talked to Nick about after the game is the ability to pitch with the lead," Jaksa said. "Sometimes that's hard to do but really important on a day like today because that ball can get out in a hurry (with a strong wind) and the game and momentum can change.
"But we never lost the momentum, kept distancing ourselves, which is really important because nobody quits in this league. You've got to play the whole game and make sure you continue to score runs and we did that. We wanted to make sure we kept the foot on the gas pedal, and we did that, and I thought we did that defensively too."
Jordan Grosjean pitched the eighth and Braxton Markle the ninth for the Chippewas.
Charlie Land (2-5) allowed 10 runs on 10 hits over four innings in taking the loss.
