March 11, 2005

Box Score

BRADENTON, Fla. - Central Michigan won its fifth-straight game with a 5-1 victory over the University of Rhode Island baseball team on Friday.

Rhode Island took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but that would be the only run the Rams could push across as Central Michigan improved to 8-5, having won eight of its last nine games. The Chippewas are at the end of their Florida trip, while the Rams (0-3) were playing their first of 10 games over Spring Break.

The Rams return to action later Friday afternoon when they play IPFW at 3:00 p.m.

The Rams had nine hits, but could only push across one run on the day. Senior Matt Sullivan (Nashua, N.H.) went 2-for-4 and sophomore Dave Savard (Nashua, N.H.) was 1-for-2.

Rhode Island junior All-American Zack Zuercher (Warwick, R.I.) got the start in front of numerous Major League scouts and went five innings, allowing one run, seven hits and striking out three. Zuercher did not come out to start the sixth and Central Michigan was able to push two runs across in the inning for a 3-1 lead. The Chippewas added solo runs in the seventh and ninth innings.

Central Michigan senior Jason Cairns earned the win to improve to 2-1 on the season. He went 7 1/3 innings, striking out seven and holding the Rams to one run on eight hits. Nathan Pung came on to pitch in the eighth and threw 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, allowing two hits with one strikeout. Pung has not allowed an earned run in 8 2/3 innings of relief this season.

The Rams scored a run in the first inning when junior Daryl Holcomb (Wilmington, Del.) singled, advanced to second on a balk and was bunted over to third by junior Wayne Russo (Warwick, R.I.). Sophomore Scott Brown (Portland, Maine) hit a RBI-grounder to short to score Holcomb and give the Rams a 1-0 lead.

Central Michigan tied the game with a run coming on an infield single in the top of the third inning after Zuercher walked two batters. The Chippewas then scored two runs off the Rhody bullpen in the top of the sixth inning. Central Michigan took advantage of two walks to take a 3-1 lead. The Chippewas, who scored 16 runs in a win over Maine on Tuesday and 19 runs in a victory over Eastern Kentucky on Thursday, added single runs in the seventh and ninth innings for the 5-1 victory.