Central Michigan University
Eastern Michigan
Chippewas' Season Ends With Tournament Heartbreak
5/27/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
AVON, Ohio - Close. So heartbreakingly close.
The Central Michigan baseball team was within two outs on Saturday of claiming a spot in the Mid-American Conference Tournament championship game.
Then, it wasn't. Then, an inning later, the season was over.
Eastern Michigan's Max Schuemann hit a two-run homer with one out in the ninth inning, and the Eagles pushed across two runs in the 10th in handing the Chippewas a 4-2 loss in a MAC Tourney semifinal game at Sprenger Stadium.
The Chippewas, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, finished 31-28. Eastern (27-34), which was seeded third, will play fifth-seeded Ohio on Sunday in the title game.
"We've got a great group of guys and I love the effort that they gave and how they played this year and the caliber of character on this team is just tremendous," CMU coach Steve Jaksa said. "In many areas, I think we overachieved. Just extremely disappointing. That would be an understatement at this juncture."
The starters, CMU's Michael Brettell and Eastern's Kevin Shul, locked up in a classic pitchers duel. Brettell, a sophomore right-hander, allowed just two hits before turning over a 1-0 lead to closer Colton Bradley to start the eighth.
"It was just an outstanding performance (by Brettell)," Jaksa said. "We thought it was the right time to bring Colton in in that situation and he got us through the eighth. Just one pitch there."
Schuemann hit a two-run homer down the left-field line with one out in the ninth to put the Eagles in front, 2-1.
The Chippewas tied it with a run in the bottom of the ninth on Robert Greenman's one-out sacrifice fly that scored Daniel Robinson. The Chippewas left the potential winning run stranded at second.
Drake Lubin singled to lead off the 10th for Eastern. He was sacrificed to second, stole third, and scored on Mike Mioduszewski's one-out single through the drawn-in infield. Mioduszewski took third on a single and scored when Schuemann was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Bradley (6-2), who had been so steady all season as the Chippewa closer, took the loss.
"Yeah, it was a hell of a game," Jaksa said. "Nobody likes to lose, and you lose in extra innings. But, hey, if we didn't have Colton we wouldn't be here in this position. I know that doesn't make anybody feel any better. We did so many good things today.
"As far as playing a game and how they played, and how they represented our school the whole year and winning the (MAC West) championship ... We fell short of this goal. It's just disappointing how today ended up for sure."
Justin McMurtrey (7-3), who came on in the ninth, picked up the victory. Schul allowed one run on two hits over six innings. Justin Thompson worked the seventh and eighth innings for the Eagles.
CMU got its first run when Zach Gilles walked to lead off the sixth. He was sacrificed to second and scored on Robinson's two-out single to center.
It was the final game in a CMU uniform for four seniors, shortstop Alex Borglin, catcher Robert Greenman, and pitchers Jordan Grosjean and Brady Williams.
"Four great seniors - they brought this team together," Jaksa said. "It was their team. They did just an outstanding job. They never wavered once in what they wanted to do and how they were. So unselfish, which made the team so unselfish.
"How they played the game every single day, that just rubbed off on everybody. We'll miss that tremendously. That's the character of that group of guys. When you go through a whole season it's not easy. You've got a lot of ups and downs and for (the team) to do what they did, and how we started, all the tough losses, and we just kept grinding and turned it around.
"Just ended up having a great season, but it's really bittersweet at this point. This was one of our goals to win this tournament, and we fell a little bit short. As close as we were ... didn't go our way."
