Central Michigan University
ETSU
Chippewas Drop Baseball Opener
2/17/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - East Tennesse State used a pair of big innings and collected 16 hits on Friday in handing Central Michigan an 18-6 loss in the Chippewas' season-opener at Thomas Stadium.
The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. CMU will send sophomore right-hander Michael Brettell to the mound against senior left-hander Jamin McCann. The series is scheduled to conclude on Sunday (1 p.m.).
The Bucs, who finished 27-30 in 2016 and return three players who were Major League draft picks last spring, got home runs from Chris Cook and Caleb Longley during a five-run third inning on Friday as they seized a 7-1 lead.
"We didn't make an error," CMU coach Steve Jaksa said. "There were some good things. We played pretty well defensively and we swung the bat a little bit.
"They probably got 10 of their runs with two out. In that third inning, they got the leadoff home run and then we got two outs and nobody on, and they scored four runs. You look at the score ... but the reality is that for 7 ½ innings it was a real tight ballgame."
Pat Leatherman, the first of six CMU pitchers, took the loss. The sophomore right-hander allowed seven runs on eight hits, walked three and struck out two over 3 2/3 innings.
"Pat, it was one of those days his ball was up and that's uncharacteristic of him. I'm very confident that he'll come back and get back to pitching like he usually does."
Jake Raether, Sean Martens, Brady Williams, Cameron Brown and Jack Collins pitched in relief for the Chippewas.
The Chippewas finished with nine hits, including home runs by Nick Stokowski and Daniel Jipping.
Stokowski, a junior college transfer batting cleanup in his first game in a CMU uniform, homered leading off the second inning in his first at-bat as a Chippewa.
Jipping, a junior who led CMU with six homers a year ago, hit a two-run blast in the sixth, drawing the Chippewas to 7-5. He added an RBI double in the eighth.
Daniel Robinson and Jason Sullivan also had two hits for CMU. Robinson and Alex Borglin each had an RBI double.
The heart of CMU's order - Sullivan, Stokowski and Jipping - went a combined 5-for-12 with three extra-base hits and four RBI.
ETSU starter Ryan Simpler went five innings for the victory. He allowed three runs on six hits and struck out five.
