Central Michigan University
Akron
Chippewas Fall in Tourney Opener
5/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
AVON, Ohio -- Uncharacteristic missteps proved very costly to the Central Michigan baseball team Wednesday in its Mid-American Conference Tournament opener at All Pro Freight Stadium.
A CMU error helped open the door as Akron pushed across two runs in the eighth inning, as the eighth-seeded Zips upset the top-seeded Chippewas, 5-4, sending CMU into the elimination bracket.
The Chippewas (35-21), the regular-season MAC champions, will play Toledo (24-32) at 1 p.m. Thursday in an elimination game. The Rockets, who were seeded fourth, dropped a 3-2 decision to fifth-seeded Ball State on Wednesday night. The Chippewas took two of three from Toledo during the regular season.
"We've bounced back before, we've got to bounce back tomorrow," CMU coach Steve Jaksa said after the game. "It's just really disappointing tonight, but it's either we bounce back or we go home.
"That's the way it is. It's a daunting task, but the only task that really matters is getting ready to play tomorrow. I think we've got a lot of winners on that bus and we've got to come back and show what we can really play like."
CMU starter Sean Renzi (5-2) allowed five runs (three earned) over 7 2/3 innings while walking one and striking out four. It was his first loss since Feb. 14.
"Renzi pitched great," Jaksa said. "I mean, you couldn't ask anything more out of Sean Renzi. I tip my cap to the outstanding performance he put together for us.
"It was really disappointing, extremely disappointing. We just made too many uncharacteristic mistakes that we just haven't been making and it falls on me to try to figure out why we did that today."
CMU led, 4-3, with one out in the eighth when Akron's Mason Mamarella reached on an error by Chippewa second baseman Pat MacKenzie.
Mamarella went to third on a Brian Lees single, and Mamarella scored the tying run on a groundout. Dorn Iero followed with a single to left, bringing in Lees with the go-ahead run.
The Chippewas put two on in the bottom of the ninth with two out, but Matt LaRocca came on to get Tyler Huntey on a groundout to end the game. It was LaRocca's 10th save.
Alex Borglin had two hits including a two-run homer and Nick Regnier singled and doubled for the Chippewas. Borglin's homer, his third of the year, gave the Chippewas a 3-2 lead in the third.
Akron tied it in the fourth on an RBI groundout by Daulton Mosbarger. The Chippewas re-took the lead, 4-3, in their half of the fourth on a Daniel Jipping RBI single. The Chippewas left the bases loaded in the inning, and had a baserunner, Logan Regnier, thrown out at third for the second out of the inning.
Akron seized a 2-0 lead in the second when CMU left fielder Ryan Heeke and Nick Regnier, the center fielder, misplayed a fly ball to the gap in left-center off the bat of Mamarella that turned into an RBI triple.
"We made a baserunning mistake that we never make and we misplayed a ball in left-center field that we don't misplay, but we did," Jaksa said. "Then we made the error in the eighth.
"We had our chances, we had our chance in the (fourth) inning to really do something and we made a baserunning mistake in that situation."
