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The No. 7 seeded Western Michigan baseball team fell for the first time in the Mid-American Conference Tournament Saturday morning to No. 6 Central Michigan by a score of 10-3.
The loss sets up a rematch against the Chippewas at 4:30 p.m. in an elimination game, the winner of that game will head to the MAC Championship to face Kent State or Eastern Michigan.
Central Michigan's Michael Brettell pitched into the seventh inning and allowed just one hit. The Chippewas (24-36) and Broncos (20-32) are scheduled to play at approximately 5 p.m. Saturday. The winner advances to the championship game on Sunday against either Kent State or Eastern Michigan. The loser is out of the tournament.
Brettell, a freshman right-hander, made his first start since March 29 and was superb, striking out three and walking four over 6 1/3 innings, his longest collegiate outing. He threw 90 pitches, 55 of them for strikes. Jordan Grosjean worked the final 2 2/3 innings for the Chippewas. He allowed two runs on three hits and walked one.
While Brettell stepped up on the mound, David Cole (center field) and Colton Bradley (designated hitter) delievered at the plate. David Cole, a freshman who entered the game 1-for-20 on the season, had two hits, a sacrifice bunt, and scored two runs, while Bradley also had two hits and scored twice.
Bradley, a sophomore, had been used almost exclusively as a pitcher throughout much of the season and threw 2 2/3 innings in relief in Friday's victory over Miami.
The Chippewas, who were seeded sixth in the tournament, collected 11 hits - all singles -- off three Western pitchers. The Broncos committed four errors and issued nine walks. Four of CMU's runs were unearned. Bronco starter Derek Schneider (0-8) worked one inning in taking the loss.
CMU built a 4-0 lead after three innings and were up 5-0 heading into the seventh.
Alex Borglin led the Chippewas with three hits, while Jason Sullivan had two, and Robert Greenman had a team-high three RBI.