Central Michigan University
Toledo
Chippewas Rebound, Rip Toledo
4/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
TOLEDO, Ohio -- Joe Houlihan and Ryan Heeke homered Sunday to lead a 13-hit attack as the Central Michigan baseball team routed Toledo, 14-1, in a Mid-American Conference game at the Rockets' Mercy Field.
The win gave the Chippewas the series victory and they improved to 20-12 overall, 7-2 MAC. Toledo is 10-21, 4-5.
The win came on the heels of Saturday night's 16-inning game, a 4-3 Toledo victory.
The Chippewas showed no ill effects of that loss as they seized a 4-0 lead through three innings then turned it into a rout.
"The disappointing thing from (Saturday) night was apparent in terms of not quite finishing that game off and not getting the W," CMU coach Steve Jaksa said. "They knew we needed to take care of business. We got it done, played well in all facets of the game.
"No signs of fatigue. We were ready to go. Proud of how they responded after that very long and tough loss Saturday night. We played very well (Sunday) and took care of our business."
Aldred (2-1), a junior left-hander, started and allowed one run on four hits, while striking out eight and walking three over seven innings. Jordan Grosjean set down all six Rockets he faced, striking out two, over the final two innings.
A turning point for Aldred, and the Chippewas, came in the bottom of the third after they had built a 4-0 lead. Toledo loaded the bases with one out, but Aldred induced a double play grounder to end the threat. The Chippewas did not commit an error in the game.
"It was Adam's best outing," Jaksa said. "We took him out because he went over 100 pitches. After that double play, he was even better. That gave him a lot of confidence, and he was really good after that. That was huge at that juncture.
"He rotated his fastball very well inside and he was able to throw away (from hitters) with the changeup. And he threw some nice breaking balls. Nice performance and one needed by us and by him."
CMU leadoff hitter Alex Borglin finished with three hits including a pair of doubles, while Houlihan, Zack Fields and Pat MacKenzie finished with two hits apiece.
One of MacKenzie's hits was a triple. Houlihan's homer, a solo shot in the fifth, was his second of the season. Heeke's round-tripper, a three-run blast, came in the ninth. It was the first home run of his career.
"We kept the foot on the gas pedal," Jaksa said. "Today we got the opportunities and the guys continued those good at-bats, we had a lot of them all the way through the end of the game.
"We only struck out twice today, both times in the last inning. Overall very good day for what we want to do going into this next week."
The Chippewas play host to Oakland (5-18) on Wednesday in a non-conference game, then entertain Eastern Michigan (12-18, 4-5 MAC) in a three-game series at Theunissen Stadium beginning on Friday.
