Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Ball State
Chippewas Drop Finale, Look Ahead To MAC Tournament
5/20/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Time to look ahead for the Central Michigan baseball team.
Ball State took the lead for good with a five-run second inning on Saturday as it handed the Chippewas a 9-3 loss in the regular-season finale at Theunissen Stadium. CMU finished the regular season 29-26 overall, 16-8 in the Mid-American Conference.
CMU won the MAC West and finished second in the overall standings and is the No. 2 seed for the league tournament, which begins Wednesday in Avon, Ohio. The Chippewas will play at 1 p.m. on Wednesday against seventh-seeded Northern Illinois. The Chippewas took two of three from the Huskies in their regular-season series.
CMU entered Saturday's game needing a victory and a Kent State loss at Ohio to claim a share of the MAC regular-season championship. Neither happened, as the Golden Flashes won at Ohio, 5-2.
"We've got to turn the page," CMU coach Steve Jaksa said. "There's some things I'm going to say to them about (the tournament), some of the guys have never been in it. The bottom line is we have to make sure we get off to a good start. You've got to treat it the same as you do a Friday."
Saturday's victory gave the Cardinals (30-26, 14-10) the series win, and marked just the second time this season that CMU has lost a MAC series. The first came three weeks ago, when dropped two of three at Kent State.
Dazon Cole (3-6) started and took the loss. He ran into trouble in third inning, when Matt Eppers struck the big blow, a three-run triple that gave Ball State a 5-1 lead.
Cole, a sophomore right-hander, entered the second inning riding a streak of 12 consecutive scoreless innings. He allowed six runs on eight hits over three innings.
"That was the biggest hit of the game and the biggest situation in the game," Jaksa said. "Maybe (Cole) wasn't locating quite the way he needed to be, couldn't quite get him there early enough and they put enough swings on it to force us to make a move."
Kevin Marnon (6-4), the second of five Ball State pitchers, went 3 2/3 innings for the win. He struck out four and did not surrender a hit.
The Chippewas managed just four hits in the game. Evan Kratt had two RBIs for the Chippewas, the first coming on a single in the first inning, the second on a third-inning groundout. Daniel Robinson drove in CMU's final round with a groundout in the eighth.
It was the final home game for four CMU seniors, Alex Borglin, Jordan Grosjean, Brady Williams and Robert Greenman. The quartet, which was recognized before Friday's game, helped the Chippewas to the MAC regular-season championship and the West Division crown in 2015, as well as another West title this season.
"The last game of the season at Theunissen, that's always a different day," Jaksa said. "That means there's four guys who will never play here again. That's always bittersweet for them. I know that, they know that.
"You kind of hang around as long as you can a little bit knowing that you won't be able to do that again. Those guys had great careers, they're a great group of four guys. They got a piece of a (regular-season) championship and that'll always be something that nobody can take away, and they'll have great memories."
