Michigan
Creighton
Offensive Outburst Extends Wolverine Season
5/29/1999 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Site: South Bend, Ind. (Frank Eck Stadium)
Event: NCAA Regional (Game 3)
Score: Michigan 13, Creighton 5
Records: Michigan (33-29), Creighton (38-25)
Next U-M Game: Saturday, May 29 -- vs. Cal State-Fullerton or Notre Dame at NCAA Regional (South Bend, Ind.), 7 p.m. CDT
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The University of Michigan pounded out 13 runs on 16 hits and senior pitcher J.J. Putz (Trenton, Mich./Trenton HS) went the distance for a 13-5 win over Creighton Saturday (May 29) in Game 3 of the NCAA Baseball South Bend Regional at Eck Stadium.
The victory extended Michigan's season for at least one more game as the Wolverines (33-29) will face the loser of Notre Dame and Cal State-Fullerton in another elimination game at 7 p.m. CDT tonight (May 29). Creighton (38-25) was eliminated from the regional with its second straight loss.
Putz (7-4) allowed five runs (four earned) in nine innings of work, scattering 10 hits and one walk for his fifth complete game of the season and third victory of the postseason. Putz recorded wins over Ohio State and Minnesota in Big Ten Tournament last weekend (May 20-23).
The Wolverines opened the game strong in the bottom of the first as the first three Michigan batters rapped out singles to load the bases for David Parrish (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza HS). Parrish responded with a sacrifice fly to rightfield to give Michigan the early 1-0 lead. On the play, Brian Bush (Warren, Ohio/Howland HS) was caught trying to advance to second, allowing Creighton to get out of the inning down only 1-0. Bush would redeem himself later in the game with an RBI single in the seventh inning and a solo home run in the eighth, his sixth homer of the year.
Michigan put some room between itself and the Bluejays with a six-run third inning. The Wolverines sent 10 men to the plate in the inning. After the leadoff batter was retired in the third, seven consecutive Wolverines reached base on six hits and an error as Michigan pushed its lead to 7-0.
The Bluejays crawled back into the game with a two-run fifth and a three-run sixth, but Putz responded by closing the door on Creighton in the last three innings. Meanwhile, the Michigan bats started to heat back up, pushing four runs across the plate in the seventh inning and two in the eighth.
The seventh inning was an exercise in patience for the Wolverines as they put the four runs on the board courtesy of four walks and two hits. Bobby Scales (Roswell, Ga./Milton HS), who went 3-for-5 with two doubles, had the big hit in the inning with a two-out ground-rule double to right-centerfield driving in two runs.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Geoff Zahn
"I've said it all year, there's a lot of fight in this team. You couldn't ask for a more heart-breaking game than last night, and we came out swung the bat and had J.J. (Putz) on the mound."
On the performance of senior pitcher J.J. Putz ... "It's nice to have a guy like J.J. out there to battle and go all nine innings."
Michigan Co-Captain Mike Cervenak
"We knew that we had the talent to be here."
On the importance of big innings ... "Those are innings that you need to beat teams that are really scrappy. You need to get ahead of them. It deflates them."
N O T E S
• Sophomore catcher David Parrish extended his career-long hitting streak to 12 consecutive games with an RBI single in the third inning.
• Senior outfielder Jason Alcaraz (Albuquerque, N.M./Eldorado HS) moved into sole possession of second place on Michigan's career hits list with a single in the first inning. Alcaraz, 3-for-5 in the game, has 270 career hits.
• Michigans alltime hits leader Mike Cervenak went 2-for-4 to push his career hits total to 288. Cervenak extend his career doubles total to 64, also a Michigan record.
• Cervenak's 20 doubles this season are the fourth-highest single season total by a Wolverine, behind the Besco twins: Bryan's 23 this season and school-record 26 in 1997 and Derek's 21 in 1997.
