Central Michigan University
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Western Michigan
Chippewas Advance In MAC Tournament
5/25/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
AVON, Ohio - The hits, and the walks, came like the rain: Nearly nonstop.
And now, the Central Michigan baseball team is in prime position at the Mid-American Conference Tournament at Sprenger Stadium.
Central Michigan collected 12 hits and drew a season-high 14 walks on Thursday in downing Western Michigan, 16-5, improving to 2-0 in the tournament and earning a well-deserved day off on Friday.
The Chippewas (31-26) will play on Saturday (9:30 a.m.) against either Western Michigan or Eastern Michigan for a ticket to the championship game.
"That's the whole goal, try to get those first two (wins)," CMU coach Steve Jaksa said. "We've put ourselves in that good position. We're halfway done with what we need to do."
The Chippewas built a 6-1 lead through two innings and tacked on three more in the fourth for a 9-2 lead. CMU scored five runs in the second inning without the benefit of a hit. Instead, they took advantage of six walks and an error, forcing the Broncos (24-28) to go to their bullpen early.
"I thought there were some competitive walks out there, our guys competed to get a walk," Jaksa said. "When you make them compete, you get their pitch count up. You can't give away at-bats. I thought for the most part we did that and they should feel good about that."
Tyler Hankins (6-1), who on Wednesday was named the MAC Freshman Pitcher of the Year, went 5 1/3 innings for the victory on a chilly, rainy evening. He allowed seven hits and walked four, and the Chippewas turned three double plays.
"The big thing is we put ourselves in a good position by getting those runs early and then Hank can go out there and work a little bit and it wasn't easy," Jaksa said. "That's a team that's never going to quit.
"Every run's important, every out's important, and you've just got to keep playing and we needed to add on and we were able to do that."
Michael Brettell worked 2 2/3 innings in relief of Hankins, surrendering just one hit. Jake Raether worked the ninth.
With a day off on Friday, the Chippewa pitching staff is in superb shape heading into the weekend. Pat Leatherman went seven innings for the win in CMU's tournament-opening win over Northern Illinois on Thursday.
"We're as good as you can be in this situation," Jaksa said. "No complaints. Hank did exactly what we wanted, just like Patrick did. (Hankins) gave us what he had and he's a day short of rest and it's a little damp. He worked through that. He's a pitcher, he's got to fight through that and he did.
"I was really happy with Michael Brettell coming in there for Hank. He did exactly what we wanted to do."
Daniel Jipping had three hits and drove in four runs, and Evan Kratt and Reed Adams added two hits and two RBI apiece to lead the Chippewas at the plate. Nick Stokowski hit his fifth homer of the season in the sixth inning, and Zach Gilles also had two hits for the Chippewas.
Jacob Piechota (3-4), the first of five Western pitchers, went 1 1/3 innings in taking the loss.
