Central Michigan University
Toledo
Win Gives CMU Share Of MAC West Title
5/14/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
TOLEDO, Ohio - An offensive explosion. Another solid start by Dazon Cole. A shutout, the first of the season. A series win. A share of a division title.
The Central Michigan baseball team collected 13 hits and took advantage of 10 walks and four hit batsmen on Sunday in defeating Toledo, 15-0, in the third and final game of a three-game Mid-American Conference series at the Rockets' Scott Park.
The Chippewas, who won Friday's opener, took two of three from the Rockets and clinched a share of the MAC West title, the seventh in program history and the sixth in Steve Jaksa's 15 years in charge of the program.
CMU is 28-23 overall, 15-6 MAC. It leads the West Division by three games over Ball State, which is 12-9 in MAC play. The Cardinals and Chippewas open a three-game series, the last of the season, on Thursday (3:05 p.m.) at Theunissen Stadium.
CMU entertains Michigan State in a nonconference game at home on Tuesday (4:05 p.m.).
One win over Ball State gives the Chippewas the outright division crown. CMU remains alive in the hunt for the MAC title, but it will need some help to claim it. East Division-leading Kent State is 17-4 and closes the regular season with a three-game set at Ohio next weekend.
"The hour glass is running out on the conference," Jaksa said. "We're going to have to get some help from Ohio and we'll have to take care of business against a good Ball State team.
"We are where we are, as they say, and we've just got to play our butts off and whatever happens we'll take it into the conference tournament and go from there."
Cole (3-5), a sophomore right-hander, allowed six hits, walked two and struck out three over seven innings on Sunday. Cameron Brown pitched the eighth and Zach Kohn worked the ninth to complete the shutout, CMU's first since a 4-0 win over Miami (Ohio) last year during the MAC Tournament.
"Dazon was sharp," Jaksa said of Cole, who, in his last start against Michigan four days earlier, was a walk from pitching three perfect innings. "He really was focused on keeping the ball down today. Did a nice job.
"Daniel Robinson really made an outstanding catch in right field, over his head going into the wall, right over his head. We did some things to help (Cole), but he was really good in building off his last outing. That's another plus for us moving forward."
The Chippewas collected 13 hits on the day and staked Cole to an 8-0 lead after two innings. CMU led 15-0 after 4 ½ frames.
Nick Stokowski led the Chippewas with three hits, while Daniel Jipping, Jason Sullivan and Evan Kratt added two apiece. Jipping finished with three RBI, while Sullivan, Kratt and Stokowski drove in two each.
"We had a team meeting (Saturday) night," said Jaksa, whose team dropped an 11-7 decision in Saturday's game. "We discussed a few things, the why of some things that happened in Saturday's game. We thought we could have been a little bit more intense in what we were trying to do.
"We challenged them a little bit and like they generally have done all year, they responded well. Jumped on them early and often and kept doing it."
