Central Michigan University
Stephen F. Austin
Chippewa Baseball 1-1 On Opening Day
2/17/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
EDINBURG, Texas - Central Michigan opened the baseball season by splitting two games on Friday in the Al Ogletree Classic at Edinburg Stadium on the campus of Texas-Rio Grande Valley.
The Chippewas defeated Stephen F. Austin, 5-3, in their opener, and then fell to the host Vaqueros, 7-6, in 10 innings.
CMU is scheduled to play UTRGV on Saturday (4 p.m.) and then closes the season-opening weekend against Stephen F. Austin on Sunday (noon).
GAME 1
Michael Brettell struck out a career-high 10 in going seven innings for the victory. The junior right-hander allowed one run on six hits.
Jake Raether pitched the eighth and Colton Bradley closed it out in the ninth. Bradley surrendered a two-run double, but got the final out on a called third strike with runners on the corners.
Redshirt freshman catcher Griffin Lockwood-Powell had three hits in his first collegiate game to lead the Chippewas at the plate. Sophomore Zach Gilles added a single and a double.
The Chippewas took advantage of erratic Stephen F. Austin pitching. Six Lumberjack pitchers combined to hit seven batters and walk nine. CMU sophomore Zach Heeke reached base four times via the hit-by-pitch, forcing in runs on two occasions.
The NCAA Division I record for a batter reaching base by being hit by a pitch in a single game is five.
GAME 2
Austin Siener scored from third on Elijah Alexander's two-out single in the bottom of the 10th inning to give UTRGV the victory.
Dazon Cole, the fourth CMU pitcher, took the loss.
The Chippewas trailed, 6-3, entering the eighth inning, and drew to 6-4 when Evan Kratt scored on an error. CMU tied it with two runs in the top of the ninth when Lockwood-Powell delivered a clutch two-out, two-run single.
Gilles, the Chippewas' sophomore leadoff man, finished with three hits including a double and his first career home run, a fifth-inning solo shot that tied the game 3-3.
Sophomore left-hander Tyler Hankins started for CMU and went five innings. He allowed five runs (three earned) on eight hits and struck out eight. Cam Brown and Brandon Reed pitched in relief. Cole went the final 1 2/3 innings.
NOTES
• Brettell and Hankins, the Chippewa starters, did not walk a batter while pitching a combined 12 innings.
• Gilles finished with a combined five hits in 10 at-bats and scored four runs in the two games, while Lockwood-Powell had four hits in eight official trips to the plate and drove in three runs.
• CMU committed just one error in the two games.
• The victory over Stephen F. Austin's was CMU first in a season opener since 2015, when it beat Florida Gulf Coast, 2-0.
SATURDAY
Junior right-hander Pat Leatherman will start for CMU against UTRGV. Leatherman finished 7-4 with a 3.86 earned run average in 2017.
