Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Oakland
1-2 Mound Punch Lifts Chippewas Past Oakland
5/9/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - The lefty-righty combination of Grant Wolfram and Michael Brettell turned in a solid performance on the mound Monday as the Central Michigan baseball team topped Oakland, 6-3, in a non-conference baseball game at Theunissen Stadium.
It was the fourth win in the last five starts for the Chippewas (15-33), who played a combined 27 innings in their last two games, Saturday and Sunday, at Ohio.
"It was a long trip back from some emotional games of which we won two out of three," CMU coach Steve Jaksa said in reference to the weekend series at Ohio. "We played a lot of innings in a short period of time.
"Today was a really good win for us. Played good defense, pitched it really well."
Brettell (2-1), a freshman right-hander, got the victory with 4 1/3 innings of solid relief. He allowed one run on one hit, walked one and struck out five. Wolfram, a freshman left-hander who was making his first start since March 22, went 4 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits while walking three and striking out three.
"It was really a quality start for (Wolfram) and really important for him," Jaksa said. "He hadn't started for awhile … When he got his opportunity he delivered and that's what being a good teammate is - we needed that today. He pitched well."
Brettell came on in the fifth with two out and runners on first and third after the Grizzlies had pushed across a run to take a 2-1 lead. He got a fly out to end the threat. He surrendered an RBI double to Chris Van Dyke in the sixth which upped OU's lead to 3-1.
That was the last Oakland hit of the day.
"Michael, he got stronger as the game went on," Jaksa said. "Good performance by both of those guys."
The Chippewas tied it in the bottom of the sixth. Zach McKinstry singled to lead off the inning and Daniel Jipping followed with a double. McKinstry scored and Jipping moved to third on a passed ball, then Dazon Cole brought in Jipping with a sacrifice fly to tie it, 3-3.
The Chippewas broke the tie in the seventh when Daniel Jipping drew a bases-loaded walk and they added two insurance runs on back-to-back passed balls.
Alex Mason (0-1), the third of five Oakland pitchers, took the loss. Oakland is 20-21.
The Chippewas play host to Michigan (34-12) on Wednesday (4:05 p.m.) in a non-league game at Theunissen Stadium.
