Central Michigan University
Buffalo
CMU Baseball Finishes Off Buffalo
4/19/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Adam Aldred was superb on the mound and the Central Michigan bats gave him plenty of early support Sunday as the Chippewas defeated Buffalo, 6-1, in a Mid-American Conference baseball game at the Bulls' Audobon Field.
Aldred tossed a complete-game three-hitter as the Chippewas improved to 27-13 overall and lead the MAC at 12-3. Sunday's win gave the Chippewas the series victory. They dropped Friday's game, 11-7, then came back to win on Saturday, 7-2. CMU has won all five of its league series this season.
"This weekend, really proud with how the guys responded after that loss on Friday," CMU coach Steve Jaksa said. "Just keep going forward."
Buffalo is 11-21, 5-10. The Chippewas play host to Northwood in a non-league game on Wednesday at Theunissen Stadium, and entertain Bowling Green in a three-game MAC series next weekend.
Nick Regnier collected three hits and drove in three runs to lead the Chippewas' nine-hit attack on Sunday, while Tyler Huntey and Morgan Oliver each singled and doubled, and Daniel Jipping tripled.
The Chippewa bats gave Aldred all the support he would need by seizing a 6-0 lead through two innings.
Regnier put CMU up 2-0 with a two-run single in the first. In the second, Huntey had a two-run double, Nick Regnier added a run-scoring single, and Logan Regnier drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.
That was plenty to back Aldred (3-1), who struck out five, walked two, and allowed just one hit through seven innings.
Pitching with the lead "does make it nice for a pitcher," Jaksa said. "I think there are certain situations where you can be a little more aggressive. You don't have to be quite as fine in certain situations.
"Adam was very efficient with all of his pitches. There is a little bit of a different mentality, but at the end of the day he's still got to get his outs. That goes along with knowing that your team is playing good defense."
The Bulls took advantage of a single and two CMU errors -- the Chippewas' only two miscues of the entire series -- in pushing across their only run in the third inning. Aldred limited the damage by inducing a pair of flyball outs to strand two runners.
"He pitched really well to get out of that inning and he took over from there," Jaksa said. "They only had one hit up until the eighth inning and they really only barreled up two balls. He kept them off balance all day long.
"He really was able to do what we were hoping he could do. He executed it very, very well. He threw the ball really well."
The heart of the Chippewas' order -- Huntey and the Regnier brothers -- hit .421 (16-for-38) with 12 RBI in the series and combined to drive in all six of CMU's runs on Sunday.
Nick Regnier, who recently returned to the lineup after missing several games with an injury, was 6-for-10 with six RBI in his last two games.
"That's what we need," Jaksa said. "You need your veteran guys, the guys who have been there before, to play the way you know they can.
"I feel pretty good. Having Nick back has created some depth for us. As we get a couple other guys back and fit them into the puzzle that's going to give us an opportunity to be even better."
