Central Michigan University
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Western Michigan
Champion Chippewas Complete Sweep
5/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Box Score | 2015 MAC Tournament Bracket
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- They came, they saw, they won a championship.
And on Saturday, they completed the sweep. Now, it's on to the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
Pat MacKenzie had two hits and drove in two runs and starter Adam Aldred went 5 1/3 strong innings Saturday as the Central Michigan baseball team topped Western Michigan, 6-2, at Robert J. Bobb Stadium.
It was the regular-season finale for the Chippewas, who on Friday wrapped up the MAC title and go into the league tournament in Avon, Ohio as the No. 1 seed. CMU will open against eighth-seeded Akron on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. The Chippewas and Zips did not meet in the regular season.
The Chippewas are 35-20 and finished 20-7 in the MAC. They won eight of their nine conference series, sweeping three of them.
"We needed to turn the page and focus on playing well again today and completing our sweep," CMU coach Steve Jaksa said. "This is what our next stage is. We knew we wanted to win the championship. We did win the championship and we're going in to the conference tournament with same plan.
"We pitched it well, played good defense again. All four guys pitched well today."
Aldred (5-3) allowed one run on seven hits, while walking two and striking out four for the victory. Sean Martens, Jimmy McNamara and Tim Black pitched in relief.
The Chippewas did not commit an error and made just one in the three-game series. CMU has been charged with just three errors in its last 10 games and it entered the series with 63 errors on the season, tied with Ball State for the fewest in the MAC, and a league-best .969 fielding percentage.
"It's a mindset and it's a consistent mindset," Jaksa said. "They think they can do it and they have shown they can do it. They feel good about how they played and it gives us a lot of energy."
The Chippewas turned an inning-ending double play in the sixth to protect a 3-1 lead. MacKenzie, the second baseman, gloved a ground ball and flipped it to shortstop Zach McKinstry who fired to first baseman Alex Borglin to complete the twin-killing.
"It's a 4-6-3 in the box score, but it was a heck of a play out there on the field," Jaksa said. "Those are big boosts for you when you're handling the game like that."
The Chippewas finished with eight hits, all singles, off six Western pitchers. Bronco starter Chad Mayle (4-3) took the loss. He allowed three runs on four hits over 3 1/3 innings. None of CMU's runs was earned as Western committed six errors.
Daniel Jipping gave CMU a 1-0 lead in the second with an RBI groundout. The Chippewas made it 3-0 in the third when Tyler Huntey scored on a throwing error and Jipping followed with a run-scoring single.
The Chippewas added three insurance runs in the eighth when they used a hit batsman, a walk, and an error to load the bases with two out. MacKenzie delivered a two-run single, then Tyler Huntey followed with an RBI single.
