Vikings split twice with Milwaukee as League tournament approaches
By Bryan D’Andrea
The men’s baseball team wrapped up a six game home stand with a 5-3 victory over the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin on Sunday during the second game of a doubleheader. Sophomore Travis Miller drove in three runs while Senior Brad Buell had three hits and scored twice.
Two Panther fielding errors proved costly as CSU scored two in the third, two in the fifth and one in the ninth.
Nate Dick earned the win for Cleveland State pitching 3.1 innings in relief while allowing no runs on one hit. Senior Drew Fonczek threw the final two scoreless innings for his fourth save of the year.
The Vikings dropped the earlier contest to UMW 12-1. The Panthers Andy Hetebueg flirted with a no hitter as he went seven strong innings allowing only one hit and striking out eight. Freshman Tyler Wynn’s one out single in the ninth scored Junior Kyle Shaffer from second to prevent a Panther shutout.
“We really battled to earn a split today,” said Head Coach Kevin Kocks.
Cleveland State again split a doubleheader with UMW one day earlier, winning 3-2 in the first game and dropping a 10-7 extra inning affair in the nightcap.
“I thought we should have come away with a sweep today,” Kocks said. “We just had too many errors and wasted opportunities to get a key win.”
This time it was the Viking miscues that cost a shot at a sweep. Five CSU errors coupled with timely hitting by UMW allowed the Panthers to score one in the eighth, one in the ninth and four in the tenth.
The two teams mirrored each other all weekend, as it was the Vikings turn to rally in the earlier game. Down by two entering the sixth, CSU scored single runs in the next three innings and held on for a 3-2 win. Josh Hungerman went 7.1 for the win, giving up two runs on five hits. He improved his record to 4-5.
The come from behind victory couldn’t have come at a better time as CSU was crushed 10-0 by Pittsburgh after being rained out in three consecutive games prior to the win. The Vikings fell again to Pitt on Tuesday but put up a much better fight in a 9-7 loss.
Cleveland State has nine games left, five at home, before hosting the Horizon League tournament including a May 9 match up in which seniors will be honored. With timing running out on the regular season, coach Kocks knows the importance of finishing up strong.
“Our games next weekend are going to go a long way in determining our seed for the league tournament,” he said. “We have to go out and play our style of baseball and execute our system if we want to improve our seed.”
Contact this writer at
b.dandrea@csuohio.edu