Baseball Heads To Kent State For 3-Game MAC Set

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - With wins in 12 of its last 14 starts, the Central Michigan baseball team looks to stay hot entering a three-game Mid-American Conference series against Kent State this weekend.

Game one is set for Friday (6 p.m.) with game two set for Saturday (4 p.m.) and game three on Sunday (1 p.m.).

The Chippewas, 24-8, 7-2 MAC, are tied for first place in the MAC with Miami (Ohio). The Golden Flashes, the defending MAC regular-season and tournament champions, are 13-17, 3-4, and in sixth place in the 10-team league standings.

SCOUTING
Kent State is perennially among the best teams in the MAC and has won four of its last five games.

Among the Golden Flashes' opponents this season were North Carolina State and Coastal Carolina, currently ranked third and 25^th, respectively, and they have played teams from the Big Ten, Southeastern Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference.

"We know we're going to play a good team," CMU coach Jordan Bischel said. "They're a talented, good, quality team. Their record may not indicate it because they've played awfully good competition and some really tough series.

"There's a handful of teams in the (MAC) that probably can make the argument they're the most talented, and (Kent State) is one of them. We'll be challenged because of that.

"I know the history of Kent State, but we've really challenged the guys not to worry about standings or opponent as much as we're going to worry about what we do and we're staying consistent with that. I think our challenge is to treat it the same as every other weekend."

In five games last week, Kent State's Kian O'Brien hit .500 with two home runs and seven RBI, earning MAC Player of the Week honors. O'Brien is batting .314 with five homers.

Kent State's Friday starter, Connor Wollersheim, is 2-4 with a 2.44 ERA. The senior southpaw has struck out at least six batters in all eight of his starts this season, including a season-high nine against Western Michigan last Friday.

PHENOMENAL OFFENSE
The Chippewas are averaging 8.8 runs per contest, ranking them first in the MAC and sixth nationally. They have scored 281 runs, ranking seventh in the nation.

CMU ranks second nationally in walks (211), third in on-base percentage (.428), 14th in batting average (.307), and 17^th in hits (351), leading the MAC in all four categories. The Chippewas rank 15th nationally and third in the MAC in triples (13).

AT THE PLATE
Four Chippewas are among the best in the MAC and the nation in several offensive categories.

• Junior center fielder Zach Gilles, who has hit safely in his last eight games, ranks first in the conference in hits (50) and second in both average (.410) and on-base percentage (.503).

• Sophomore shortstop Zavier Warren is sixth in the country in walks (35), eighth in doubles (16), 12th in on-base percentage (.528), and 15^th in runs (40). He leads the MAC in all four categories. Warren ranks third in the MAC in batting average (.384), hits (48) and RBI (36).

• Sophomore Griffin Lockwood-Powell, a catcher/first baseman, leads the MAC and is fifth in the nation in RBI (47), and tops the conference with seven home runs.

• Senior right fielder Jacob Crum leads the nation in triples (seven) and ranks second in the MAC in slugging percentage (.612).

ON THE MOUND
The Chippewas will stick with the three-man rotation they have through their first nine league games: senior Pat Leatherman on Friday, junior Cameron Brown on Saturday, and junior left-hander Tyler Hankins on Sunday.

Hankins took the loss on Sunday in the Chippewas' 10-0 loss to Ball State. It was the first poor outing of the season for any of the three, who are a combined 15-1 with a 3.30 earned run average.

"Tyler had a rough outing on Sunday, but in our nine league games that's really the first time our starter didn't give us a great opportunity to go out and win the ball game," Bischel said "We really can't ask anything more.

"We've got to know that that's going to happen from time to time and we're going to give up some runs and we need to do a little better job of competing behind him and making a game out of it."

Brown threw 7 2/3 shutout innings last Saturday in a victory over Ball State for his league-leading sixth victory. Leatherman surrendered just one earned run over six innings in earning the victory over Ball State last Friday.

"They're been really consistent and at this point there's so much experience out there with Pat, a fifth-year guy; Cam is a junior but has piled up a lot of innings, and Tyler's been in the rotation for three years," Bischel said. "The veteran leadership out there, with those three, is obviously pretty valuable."

Cameron Miller has pitched exceedingly well out of the bullpen, compiling 19 strikeouts and has yet to issue a walk this season. He has a league-high five saves in 11 appearances.

The Chippewas lead the MAC in team ERA (3.24) and fielding percentage (.973).

NEXT
The Chippewas are scheduled to play host to Cornerstone in a nonleague game on Tuesday, March 16 (4 p.m.), and then are slated to go next weekend to Toledo for a three-game MAC series.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Cameron Brown

Jacob Crum

Zach Gilles

Tyler Hankins

Pat Leatherman

Griffin Lockwood-Powell

Cameron Miller

Zavier Warren