April 12, 2008

Box Score

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Miami University's baseball team brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, but the RedHawk rally fell short as Miami fell to Central Michigan 8-4 in Mid-American Conference action Saturday afternoon. Miami dropped to 9-22 overall and 3-8 in MAC action, while Central Michigan improved to 14-17 overall and 4-6 in MAC play.

After both teams were retired in order in the first inning, Miami jumped on the board first in the second inning. After working a full count, junior Tommy Nurre drove a fastball over the right-center field wall, which pushed Miami to a 1-0 lead. The home run was Nurre's fourth of the season.

The Chippewas put a five-spot on the board in the bottom of the second inning as three Central Michigan hits and two Miami errors aided the Chippewa rally.

Miami took advantage of two Central Michigan miscues in the fourth inning to chip into the Chippewa lead. After a fly out to start the inning, junior Eric Darlage grounded out to the shortstop, but an errant throw that sailed into the Miami dugout placed Darlage on second base. Two batters later, junior Josh Hula hit a low line drive into right field that went off the heel of the right fielder's glove, plating Darlage and cutting Miami's deficit to 5-2.

Just as Miami clipped its deficit to three runs, the Chippewas tacked on three runs in the fourth inning to take an 8-2 lead heading into the fifth inning.

Senior Evan Armitage led off the ninth inning with a single to center field. Armitage moved to third base on a double by junior Jordan Petraitis before scoring on a sacrifice fly by junior Chris Nadeau. After a fly out by Nurre gave the RedHawks two outs, back-to-back walks by Mynhier and Darlage loaded the bases for Miami. Freshman Adam Eaton lined a single into left field to plate Petraitis and bring the tying run to the plate. However, Miami was unable to plate any more runs as the RedHawks fell to Central Michigan, 8-4.

Instead of playing a doubleheader today, the final game of Miami's series with Central Michigan has been pushed back due to rain in the Mt. Pleasant area. The series finale will begin at 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 13.