Central Michigan University
Miami (Oh)
Chippewas Reach MAC Tourney Final 4
5/27/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
AVON, Ohio - Pat Leatherman didn't get a chance to pitch in the Mid-American Conference baseball tournament last spring, when the Chippewas bowed out in two games.
He made the most of his opportunity in his first career tournament start on Friday.
Leatherman, a redshirt freshman right-hander, was dominant into the seventh inning as the inspired Chippewas took an emotional 5-3 victory over Miami (Ohio) in an elimination game at All-Pro Freight Stadium.
The Chippewas (23-36) will play rival Western Michigan (20-31) in their third consecutive elimination game at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. If the Chippewas win, they will face Western again on Saturday afternoon for the right to play in Sunday's championship game.
"We're not going to worry too much about that (potential) second one," CMU coach Steve Jaksa said. "If we don't win that first one, it really doesn't matter."
CMU senior outfielder Ryan Heeke left Friday's game after being struck in the face by a first-inning pitch from Miami starter Zach Spears. Heeke was hit just above the left eye and was taken by ambulance to a local hospital.
"It was a ball that just got away from the young man and it rode up and in," Jaksa said. "Been through a couple of these (situations) before and you just bring (the players) together and say a prayer and go to some individual guys who are close to Ryan ... And then you play like hell, for a lot of reasons, and that certainly is one of them."
Heeke remained on the turf for several minutes but got to his feet and walked to the Chippewa dugout under his own power before leaving the field.
Heeke, CMU's No. 2 hitter, was hit as he was squaring to bunt after Alex Borglin led off the game with an infield single.
The turn of events perhaps served to galvanize the Chippewas who, after starting the season 5-23, have won 12 of their last 16 games and are one of four remaining teams in the tournament.
"He's a guy that's worked hard his entire time (at CMU)," Leatherman said of Heeke. "I think all of us, we play to win, but I think that added more to it. We were able to play with him in mind, knowing that he couldn't be here. No one really said that in the dugout, but I think that was kind of the atmosphere.
"He's probably our hardest worker. He comes in to lifts and to practice and to games ready to go, fires guys up on the way. I think it just helped us knowing that he would be here working hard and we have to all put the extra effort in and get the win for him."
Daniel Jipping eventually drove in Borglin with a sacrifice fly to give the Chippewas a 1-0 lead in the first. CMU added two runs in the third when Morgan Oliver and Robert Greenman drew back-to-back two-out walks and Borglin doubled in a run. Greenman later scored on a passed ball.
The Chippewas added critical insurance runs in the sixth and seventh. Daniel Robinson singled in the run in the sixth, and Jason Sullivan's sacrifice fly plated a run in the seventh, making it 5-1.
"Every run is so precious at this time of year," Jaksa said. "You just try to keep scoring any way you can and keep working and grinding all the way through the game."
Leatherman (3-4) allowed one run on three hits, walked one and struck out four over 6 1/3 innings. He set down Miami's first 14 hitters in order to start the game. He threw 90 pitches, 55 of them for strikes.
"Every game I pitch I'm pretty anxious the night before," said Leatherman, who is 3-0 with a 0.94 earned run average in his last three starts. "I don't get much sleep. Once I get to the field I start shaking, it gets pretty real.
"I was really excited to get a chance to win and move on, compete out there. It was awesome."
Colton Bradley came on in the seventh and pitched out of a one-out, two-on jam. Bradley surrendered a two-run homer in the ninth inning to MAC home run champ Gary Russo, but he set down the final three RedHawks in order to close it.
"When you get that kind of pitching -- and we played solid defense again -- you're going to have a chance to win," Jaksa said. "We threw some good pitches all the way through. Not only Pat, but Colton Bradley too.
"To (Bradley's) credit he stayed really, really tough (after the homer) and got the next three guys so we were able to get out of it just pitching two guys and that's important too."
While the Chippewas were thrilled with the victory and to have the opportunity to continue their pursuit of the MAC championship, thoughts of a fallen teammate weighed heavily on their minds.
"The best we can do is play hard for him," Jaksa said. "That's what Ryan wanted us to do and he expressed that a couple times. He's a really tough kid. It's just a shame that it had to happen to anybody. We're going to miss him. We'll miss him a lot."
The Chippewas took two of three from Western Michigan last weekend in the final regular-season series. The Broncos are 2-0 in the tournament, including a dramatic 10-6 win over Miami on Thursday night when Hunter Prince hit a walk-off grand slam.
Freshman Dazon Cole is likely to start for CMU in Saturday morning's game.
"We've got a healthy, rested bullpen," Jaksa said. "We've got to win that first one and then we'll worry about that second one."
The Chippewas entered the tournament as the sixth seed, while Western was seeded seventh. Eighth-seeded Eastern Michigan remained alive with a 6-1 victory over fifth-seeded Toledo on Friday, and will play top-seeded Kent State on Saturday.
Both Kent State and Western Michigan are unbeaten in the tournament. Eastern Michigan, like CMU, would need to defeat the Golden Flashes twice on Saturday to advance to Sunday's championship game.
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