Central Michigan University
Toledo
Chippewas Drop 16-Inning Heartbreaker
4/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
TOLEDO, Ohio -- Toledo pushed across a run in the bottom of the 16th inning Saturday as the Rockets handed Central Michigan a 4-3 loss in a Mid-American Conference game at Mercy Field.
The result evened the three-game series at a game apiece. The teams will play the rubber match on Sunday at 1 p.m.
The loss snapped CMU's six-game MAC win streak and left the Chippewas 19-12, 6-2 league. Toledo is 10-20, 4-4.
Toledo got a leadoff single from Dalton Bollinger in the 16th, then used a sacrifice, an infield single and an intentional walk to load the bases. Bollinger scored on an infield dribbler to end the game, which took 4 hours, 15 minutes to complete.
"It was just a marathon of a game," CMU coach Steve Jaksa said. "Both teams did everything necessary to win that game. It just came down to the fact when both teams needed that one last hit, we just couldn't get it and they did.
"It was a tremendous effort by our guys, I saw some really great things both offensively and defensively and I'm proud of the way they battled tonight."
Tim Black (2-1), the fourth CMU pitcher, took the loss, his first of the season. Black went the final 2 1/3 innings, allowing three hits while walking three and striking out two.
Jason Gamble started for the Chippewas. Sean Martens and Sean Renzi worked in relief.
Andrew Marra pitched six scoreless innings of relief for the win.
Both teams had their chances -- Toledo stranded 15 base runners, the Chippewas 12. Black worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the 15th, and CMU left the sacks loaded in its half of the 16th.
Alex Borglin, Zach McKinstry and Daniel Jipping finished with two hits apiece, and Pat MacKenzie doubled, to lead CMU at the plate. Colton Bradley had two RBI.
With Toledo holding a 3-2 lead in the top of the ninth, Bradley was safe on an error with the bases loaded to plate a run and tie it, sending the game to extra frames.
It was CMU's second extra-inning game of the season. And first since Feb. 14, when they defeated Florida Gulf Coast in 12 innings.
