Baseball Hits The Road, Firmly In The Hunt For MAC Crown

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- Fresh off a three-game Mid-American Conference sweep of rival Western Michigan, the Central Michigan baseball travels to Bowling Green for a three-game league series with the Falcons.

Game one is schedule for Friday (3 p.m.) with games two and three set for 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

CMU, 31-12, 13-5 MAC, is second in the conference, trailing first place Ball State by one game in the loss column. The Cardinals close the regular season at Northern Illinois this weekend.

RUN-SCORING PROWESS
The Chippewas average 8.7 runs per contest, ranking them first in the MAC and tied for sixth nationally with Arkansas.

Nationally, CMU is tied for third in walks (279), is third in on-base percentage (.422), tied for 11^th in triples (18), and is 21^st in batting average (.301).

The Chippewas lead the MAC with 375 runs – 50 more than the second-place team, Miami (Ohio) – and are second in the league with 462 hits and are second in batting average.

BIG BATS
Several Chippewas, including Zavier Warren, Zach Gilles, Jacob Crum and Griffin Lockwood-Powell, are in the midst of phenomenal seasons at the plate.

• Warren a sophomore shortstop in his first year as a starter, was named the MAC Player of the Week on Monday after hitting .474 in leading the Chippewas to three wins in four games a week ago. Warren had nine hits including two homers, and drove in 10 runs, and finished the week with a .947 slugging percentage. Warren is first in the MAC in hits (68) and second with a .389 batting average. Nationally, he is fifth in doubles (20), 13th in walks (43) and on-base percentage (.514), and 18^th in RBI (54).

• Gilles, the Chippewas' junior center fielder, ranks fourth in the MAC in batting average (.368), hits (63), on-base percentage (.464) and stolen bases (18).

• Lockwood-Powell, a sophomore catcher, ranks ninth nationally in RBI (56) and is tied for the conference lead in home runs (eight).

• Crum, a senior right fielder, is second nationally in triples (seven) and ranks second in the MAC in slugging percentage (.638) and is tied with Warren and Kent State's Kian O'Brien for fourth with seven home runs.

• Warren (55), teammate Zach Heeke (49), and Gilles (40) are first, second and fourth, respectively, in the MAC in runs.

WELL ARMED
Senior Pat Leatherman is 6-1 with a 2.70 ERA in 11 starts, striking out a team-high 58. Junior Cam Brown is 7-0 with a 3.31 ERA and has pitched at least six innings in each of his last five starts, averaging more than six strikeouts per start in that span.

Cameron Miller has five saves in 14 appearances, striking out 22 and issuing no walks with a 1.48 ERA.

Leatherman is holding opposing hitters to a .216 batting average, which ranks second in the league. He is fourth in ERA and fifth in strikeouts. Brown's seven wins lead the MAC, while Leatherman is tied for second. Brown is eighth with 56 strikeouts. Miller's five saves tie him for third in the league.

MILESTONES
Several Chippewas are poised to etch their names in the program record book.

• Leatherman needs three strikeouts to tie Josh Collmenter's as the all-time leader with 288. With 24 career victories, Leatherman is tied for fourth with Collmenter (2005-07) and Bob Cavanaugh (1983-86) on the Chippewas' career list. Tim McDonald holds the mark with 36 from 1985-88.

• With 20 doubles this season, Warren is second on the single-season list and needs one more to tie Kurtis Wells for first. Wells had 21 doubles in 2005.

• Crum is tied with Logan Regnier for fourth on the single-season triples list. Regnier had seven triples in both 2013 and in 2015. Tyler Hall set the standard with 11 triples in 2011.

• Chippewa senior second baseman Jason Sullivan is poised to become the program's career leader in games played. He has appeared in 218 games. The leader is Alex Borglin, who appeared in 226 games from 2014-17.

• Miller's 1.48 ERA would rank as the fifth-best for a single season if it remains static.

SCOUTING
The Falcons are 13-27, 6-12 and tied with Eastern Michigan for eighth place in the MAC. They have dropped their last six games and 11 of their last 12.

Neil Lambert and Brad Croy are the Falcons' top hitters among the regulars, both at .328. Croy is the RBI leader at 22. No Falcon has hit more than two home runs this season.

Bowling Green's top pitcher is Andrew Abrahamowicz, who is 2-4 with a 2.58 ERA in nine starts. Tyler Hays is 2-3 with a 5.51 ERA and a team-best 57 strikeouts, which is sixth in the league. Abrahamowicz is third in the league in ERA.

Bowling Green is ninth in the 10-team league with a .262 batting average, and is sixth in the conference with a 5.70 team ERA.

NEXT
The Chippewas entertain Oakland on Tuesday, May 7 (4 p.m.), and then play host to Concordia on Wednesday, May 8 (4:30 p.m.) in nonleague games. CMU closes the regular season next weekend with a three-game MAC series at Eastern Michigan.

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Players Mentioned

Alex Borglin

Jacob Crum

Zach Gilles

Zach Heeke

Pat Leatherman

Griffin Lockwood-Powell

Cameron Miller

Jason Sullivan

Zavier Warren