Central Michigan University
Miami (Oh)
Chippewas Fall In Tourney Opener
5/25/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
AVON, Ohio - Miami (Ohio) jabbed with the bunt and delivered the staggering blow with the long ball.
Ross Haffey's fourth-inning three-run homer broke a 3-3 tie and put the RedHawks ahead for good Wednesday as Miami handed Central Michigan a 10-5 loss in the Mid-American Conference Tournament opener at All-Pro Freight Stadium.
The loss knocked the Chippewas (21-36) into the elimination bracket where they will play Ball State (32-25) Thursday at 9:30 a.m. Miami (27-27) will take on Western Michigan (19-31) on Thursday afternoon. Western knocked off Ball State, 5-1, on Wednesday.
The Chippewas, who had won 10 of their last 13 regular-season games, have not lost back-to-back games since April 30.
"You don't get any more L's so you've got to put some W's together," CMU coach Steve Jaksa said. "We have been able to do that in the past, we've got to do it again (Thursday).
"They're a smart group, they understand that. I've done a lot of messaging over the course of the year. They're not going to hear anything they haven't heard before. We've just got to put it into action."
The Chippewas led 3-1 heading into the bottom of the fourth when Miami broke through against senior right-hander Sean Renzi (5-7).
The RedHawks got back-to-back singles to start the inning, and drew to 3-2 on Hayden Senger's safety squeeze. Jake Romano's bunt single loaded the bases, and a sacrifice fly tied the game.
Ross Haffey, who entered the game as the MAC's third-leading hitter at .368, blasted a two-out three-run homer down the right field line to put Miami up, 6-3.
It was Haffey's 11th home run of the season, and Miami's 60th. The RedHawks entered the tournament tied for 18th in the nation in homers.
"You fight like the devil to hold it at 3-3 and (Haffey) hits it out and now you're down 6-3 and swimming upstream the rest of the way," Jaksa said.
Renzi allowed six runs on seven hits over six innings. He struck out four and walked three.
"I've got no complaints with Sean," Jaksa said. "He battled his butt off. He gave us everything he had. When you throw that many pitches -- he just made that one mistake to (Haffey)."
Ryan Heeke, who had four hits, led off the fifth with a triple and scored on Dazon Cole's two-out single to draw the Chippewas within 6-4.
Still down 6-4, Heeke singled to lead off the seventh, but was doubled off first on Zach McKinstry's line drive to shortstop.
"Things get magnified when you're behind," Jaksa said. "When you're ahead it's a little bit different. That's baseball. I thought we had a lot of good at-bats, put some good swings at them, but they also had some good at-bats too."
The RedHawks put it out of reach with a four-run seventh, loading the bases with a hit batsman and two walks. Julian Flannery's ground-rule double brought in two runs, and they added two more on a groundout and a single.
Jimmy McNamara, Jordan Grosjean and Michael Brettell pitch in relief of Renzi.
Alex Borglin finished with three hits including a double and a triple for CMU, while Cole added two hits. The Chippewas outhit the RedHawks, 12-10.
Shane Smith (5-3) earned the win in relief of Cole Gnetz. Smith allowed one run on four hits over 4 1/3 innings. Gnetz went 4 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits.
