Central Michigan University
New Mexico
Chippewas Tie New Mexico In Series Finale
2/25/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Central Michigan and New Mexico played to a 6-6 tie on Sunday in the final game of a four-game nonconference baseball series at the Lobos' Santa Ana Star Field.
New Mexico won the first three games of the series. The Chippewas are 2-5-1 and next head to Florida for Spring Break, where they will partake in the Stetson Invitational beginning on March 2. The Lobos are 4-3-1.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Chippewas scored twice in the eighth inning to tie the game 5-5. Redshirt freshman Griffin Lockwood-Powell homered in the ninth to put CMU on top, 6-5. New Mexico got a one-out RBI double Derek Marshall in the bottom of the ninth to re-tie it.
Neither team scored in the 10th, after which the game was called because Central Michigan was due at the airport to catch its flight home.
PITCHING
Zach Kohn started and went five innings for CMU. He allowed three runs on five hits, walked six and struck out five. Dazon Cole went four innings, surrendering three runs (one earned) on three hits with five strikeouts and one walk. Colton Bradley worked the 10th, setting down the Lobos in order.
New Mexico starter Cody Dye allowed three runs on eight hits, struck out five and walked three over six innings. Malachi Edmond and Chad Smith pitched in relief.
THE HITTERS
Daniel Robinson had four hits including a triple and drove in a run to lead the Chippewas. Lockwood-Powell and Reed Adams added two hits apiece. Lockwood-Powell finished with two RBI.
Brayden Merritt had two hits including a homer for New Mexico.
WHO'S HOT
• Robinson had seven hits in 19 at-bats in the series, raising his batting average to .242. Among his seven hits were two doubles and a triple, and he drove in three runs.
• Both Jacob Crum and Evan Kratt went 6-for-17 in the series. Crum had a triple among his six hits, and he has hit safely in six consecutive games. Kratt had two doubles, drove in three runs and scored five runs.
• Lockwood-Powell had four hits in nine at-bats in the series, and drove in four runs.
THE SERIES
Though the Chippewas did not win a game in the series, coach Steve Jaksa came away impressed on several fronts, including his team's ability to battle.
CMU found itself in a 12-1 hole in the opener on Thursday and then came back to cut its deficit to 12-8; the Chippewas were down 8-2 in Saturday's game, and used a five-run inning to get within 8-7; and on Sunday, they rallied from two runs down and seized the lead in the ninth inning.
"They're a team that has a good lineup, one-nine, and they put pressure on you in a lot of different ways," Jaksa said of the Lobos. "Throughout the series we just kept fighting. Really happy with the last two games. There are some things we learned, and we did some good things. We saw some growth in a some guys. We've got to shore up some things.
"We'll learn from it and get better as we learn what we need to do with certain guys in certain situations. We've just got to keep grinding, as we call it, and keep playing hard. We just ran out of time (on Sunday)."
