Central Michigan University
Bowling Green
What A Relief
4/29/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - It was hardly a thing of beauty.
But the result? As pretty as they come.
Colton Bradley gave a yeoman effort out of the bullpen and the Central Michigan offense came alive in the middle innings on Sunday as CMU outlasted Bowling Green, 9-6, in the marathon finale of a three-game Mid-American Conference baseball series at Keilitz Field at Theunissen Stadium.
It was CMU's first MAC sweep of the season, and its first sweep of the Falcons since 2007. The Chippewas have won five consecutive games, matching their longest win streak of the season, and they have won 17 of their last 25 starts.
The Chippewas improved to 19-23-1, 11-7 MAC and remained tied for second place in the league with Miami (Ohio). Bowling Green is 10-29, 5-11.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Bradley (3-0), the fourth Chippewa pitcher, went 4 2/3 innings for the win. It matched the longest outing of his career. He allowed one run on six hits, walked one and struck out two.
The Chippewas trailed, 6-2, and then scored four runs in the fifth inning and went ahead with three in the sixth without the benefit of a hit to go ahead for good.
CMU used two walks and an error to load the bases, and then Jason Sullivan drew a bases-loaded walk to put the Chippewas in front, 7-6. A Zach Heeke RBI groundout made it 8-6, and then Blake Cleveland's safety squeeze bunt brought in another run.
"I thought we had a lot of good at-bats and we battled back," CMU coach Steve Jaksa said. "It was a huge win to finish our Championship Sunday as we call it and we were able to finish it and get a weekend sweep."
ON THE MOUND
Chippewa starter Tyler Hankins left after one inning because of stiffness in his back. Logan Buczkowski and Jake Raether pitched in relief before Bradley came on and provided CMU with its third outstanding relief effort of the series.
Jack Collins came to the rescue on the mound on Friday, and Brandon Reed did the same on Saturday. Combined with Bradley, that trio surrendered just one run, walked four and struck out 12 over 13 innings.
"Real good, real good," Jaksa said. "Just huge for those guys and all those guys are throwing the ball well. You turn the ball over and they came through."
Daniel Buratto (1-2), the third of six Falcon pitchers, took the loss.
AT THE PLATE
Sullivan had two hits to lead CMU's eight-hit attack. The Chippewas took advantage of nine walks and three Bowling Green errors.
MARATHON
The game took 4 hours, 2 minutes to complete and featured 22 runners left on base and 17 walks.
OUTSTANDING DEFENSE
CMU did not commit an error in the game and made just one in the series. They have committed just three errors in their last five games, all wins.
Jacob Crum, CMU's center fielder, turned in a highlight reel play to end the Bowling Green third. With a runner at third base and one out, Crum caught a fly ball and then fired a strike to catcher Blake Cleveland to cut down the runner, who had tagged up.
"Our defense was really good again," Jaksa said. "Crum throwing that guy out at the plate, what a heck of a throw that was. Big play. It was just a perfect play. Blake made a perfect tag on him as the guy was going head-first in. you couldn't ask (Crum) to get behind the ball any better ... and he threw it on the base and Blake played it very well himself.
"I was very pleased with the weekend and really the last five games that we've played. We played pretty sharp."
NEXT
The Chippewas play host to Eastern Michigan in a three-game MAC series beginning on Friday, May 4. The Eagles are 16-24, 9-9 MAC.
