Central Michigan University
Bowling Green
Jipping, Leatherman Shine; Chippewas Take Series at Bowling Green
4/23/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Big day for Daniel Jipping, big bounce-back win for Central Michigan baseball.
Jipping blasted two three-run homers and drove in seven runs to back the solid pitching of starter Pat Leatherman as the Chippewas downed Bowling Green, 8-2, in the finale of a three-game Mid-American Conference series at the Falcons' Steller Field.
The win gave the Chippewas the series win. CMU is 21-18 overall, 10-2 MAC. CMU leads the MAC West by two games over Eastern Michigan, which is 8-4 in the MAC after dropping two of three over the weekend to Western Michigan. The Chippewas are tied with East-leading Kent State for the overall league lead.
CMU goes to Kent State for a three-game series next weekend.
"We won two out of three and they were hard fought, and we knew they would be here at BG," said CMU coach Steve Jaksa, whose team won 8-7 in 13 innings on Friday, and dropped a 3-2 decision on Saturday. "We're now halfway through the MAC season. Every game takes on a meaning of its own. You can't look past a game, a series.
"We go in (to Kent State) and play, play the way we can. It's going to be a big series. We're excited. This one will give somebody a little edge, but you've got nine (league) games after that."
Jipping's homers came in the first and third innings and they staked Leatherman to a 6-0 lead. Jipping, a junior outfielder, entered Sunday's game having collected just four hits in his previous 23 at-bats. He added an RBI single in the sixth for his seventh RBI of the game.
"It was kind of a comeback day for him," Jaksa said of Jipping, who leads the Chippewas with seven home runs. "His approach in his last couple of games wasn't very good. He had been swinging the bat very, very well in terms of the discipline and taking walks. Friday and Saturday he didn't do that. He was out of sorts and got frustrated. We had a little bit of a gathering (Saturday) night and talked about a few things.
"We did a nice job of getting people on base in front of him, so now they can't pitch around him, can't walk him. Daniel is very capable of doing what he did today. Seven RBIs, that's pretty good."
Leatherman (5-4), a sophomore right-hander, pitched seven shutout innings. He allowed four hits, walked two and struck out eight.
Leatherman has not surrendered an earned run in three of his last five starts. In the 31 innings comprising those five starts, his earned run average is 0.87.
"Pat's throwing very well," Jaksa said. "Today we played good defense behind him and we jumped out early and he can pitch with a lead. He did his job, he's a veteran out there. Really happy with where he is on how he can close out a Sunday for us."
Jordan Grosjean and Colton Bradley each worked an inning in relief.
