Early Deficit Too Much for Baseball to Overcome at Oklahoma State

Friday, March 1

Stillwater, Okla.

5 p.m. ET

Central Michigan University

3-7

Oklahoma State

5-4

Central Michigan

Oklahoma State

CMU's Jack Eichler slides head first into third base on Friday in the Chippewas' 7-4 loss to Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla. Eichler collected three hits to lead CMU's 10-hit attack.

Photo by: Oklahoma State University

Early Deficit Too Much for Baseball to Overcome at Oklahoma State

3/1/2024 9:39:00 PM | Baseball

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Chippewas collect 10 hits, hang tough with solid bullpen effort

By: Andy Sneddon

STILLWATER, Okla. – An early deficit proved too much for the Central Michigan baseball team to overcome on Friday as the Chippewas fell to Oklahoma State, 7-4, in the opener of a three-game nonconference baseball series at the Cowboys' O'Brate Stadium.

The Chippewas (3-7) and Cowboys (4-5) will play game 2 of the series on Saturday (2 p.m.) and close the series on Sunday (2 p.m.).

Oklahoma State hit three home runs off CMU starter Trey Miller (0-2), who surrendered five runs on six hits over three innings in taking the loss.

The Chippewas hung in and drew to 6-4 on Jack Eichler's two-run single in the sixth inning but could muster just one baserunner the rest of the way against Cowboy reliever Gabe Davis, who went the final three frames for the save.

CMU matched Oklahoma State with 10 hits, four of which went for extra bases, tying its season high. But the Chippewas struck out a season-high 18 times and they left the bases loaded in the first inning.

"It's encouraging because we didn't really do that the last three games," CMU coach Jake Sabol said of his team's 10 hits. "You get 27 outs and to have 18 of them where the defense doesn't really have to make a play at all, that makes it tough.

"We had guys on base, and we needed to move the ball to push one across and we just couldn't do that. We just flat out got beat in some of those at-bats. Just too many punchouts. Not being ready to go and then having to hit the pitcher's best pitch late in the count was really kind of our Achilles heel tonight."

"It's tough to make up those 18 punchouts. You've got to make the defense make some plays and we just didn't do that in some key moments. It was frustrating, but there was good from today too and hopefully our guys can take that into tomorrow."

Jaxson Crull led off the bottom of the first with a home run and Colin Brueggemann homered in his first two at-bats as the Cowboys raced to a 5-0 lead.

Three Chippewa relievers – Jared Hanson, Quin Konuszewski and Evan Waters – combined to limit the Cowboys to two runs on four hits over their final five trips to the plate.

"That's what we needed, especially coming off last weekend where that wasn't the case," Sabol said. "That was important because I felt like we were close; there were several innings where we were close to breaking through.

"I thought this was kind of our game for a while there. We made some big pitches where we got some big outs to keep us hanging around and I felt like we were getting really close."

Eichler finished with three hits, bumping his average to a team-high .400, while Robby Morgan IV tripled and Drew Stengren and Brill had two hits apiece.

It was the Chippewas' fourth consecutive loss. Three of those losses, last weekend, came to 24^th-ranked Dallas Baptist. Oklahoma State, which plays in the Big 12, is one of the sport's bluebloods and the Chippewas' next opponent, Oral Roberts, reached the College World Series a year ago.

All three of those opponents played in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

"I don't think we're far off," Sabol said. "With that being said, you've got to find ways throughout the course of the game to have some big moments and help your team win the baseball game.

"Regardless of who you're playing, you have to do those things. It just comes down to execution … I think we're close and I think we're seeing some really good things, but at some point, we've got to start finding ways to break out when we have chances.

"We can compete. I want our guys to have that mindset and that mentality that it doesn't matter who we're playing, if we do the things that we talk about on a consistent basis we're going to be in games. This one was a little bit more frustrating because I felt like we were close, and I felt like we were just a few plays away."