Central Michigan University
Bowling Green
Chippewas Ride Big Inning, Solid Relief To 10-5 Win
3/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Central Michigan bats came alive and Jordan Grosjean turned in a solid relief effort Tuesday as the Chippewas topped Bowling Green, 10-5, in a non-conference baseball game at the Falcons' Steller Field.
The win lifted CMU to 4-12. The Chippewas go to Cincinnati for a three-game non-conference series with Xavier beginning on Friday. Bowling Green, which has lost three straight games, is 7-9.
The Chippewas sent 13 men to the plate during a seven-run third-inning outburst to seize a 7-4 lead.
Grosjean (1-0) picked up the win in relief of starter Grant Wolfram. He went 4 1/3 innings, allowing one run on one hit and struck out one.
Dazon Cole and Jason Sullivan had two hits apiece to lead CMU's 10-hit attack.
Bowling Green got a two-run homer from Cody Callaway to highlight a four-run second inning which put the Falcons in front, 4-0.
CMU answered in its next turn at-bat. Two walks and a hit batsman loaded the bases for Daniel Jipping, who delivered a two-run double to pull CMU to 4-2.
Cole followed with a two-run single to tie the game, then Jarrod Watkins and Jason Sullivan both singled, the latter on a bunt, to re-load the bases.
Joe Houlihan drew a walk to force in a run and put CMU on top, 5-4, then Blake Cleveland and Zach McKinstry followed with run-scoring singles to make it 7-4.
That the Chippewas answered immediately after Bowling Green had taken a 4-0 lead was "huge," CMU coach Steve Jaksa said, adding that Chippewa hitting instructor Doug Sanders drew the hitters together for an impromptu meeting before the Chippewas came to bat in the top of the third inning.
"He just wanted to remind them, 'Hey let's go, don't be down, don't be hanging your head. We've got long game to play, it's only four runs,'" Jaksa said. "I was really happy with how they responded. We got some big hits in that inning."
The Chippewas added a run in the sixth on a two-out RBI single by Sullivan. They padded their lead with two more in the ninth when they loaded the bases and Robinson drew a walk and Jipping was hit by a pitch for his third RBI of the game.
Grosjean relieved starter Grant Wolfram with two out and the bases loaded in the fourth inning, and he got a fly ball to right field to end the inning.
Robinson, the Chippewa right fielder, made a diving catch on the play.
"If he doesn't make that catch they score at least two, maybe three," Jaksa said. "It was a diving catch toward the right field line."
The lone hit off Grosjean was a fifth-inning solo homer that trimmed the Chippewas' lead to 7-5.
"He's been throwing quite a bit, but he's been pretty efficient in his innings, and he was fairly efficient today," Jaksa said of Grosjean, a junior right-hander who has made a team-leading nine appearances, all out of the bullpen. "Jordan was really, really good other than that one pitch. He pitched very, very well."
Wolfram, a freshman left-hander, allowed four runs on eight hits over 3 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out one. Sean Renzi worked the ninth for the Chippewas.
Trevor Farrell, the second of seven Falcon pitchers, took the loss.
