Double Plays Help Michigan, Tognetti Top Northwestern

Sunday, May 11

Ann Arbor, Mich.

1:00 PM

Michigan

28-21, 15-11

Northwestern

24-20, 14-12

Northwestern

Michigan

Double Plays Help Michigan, Tognetti Top Northwestern

5/11/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Sophomore RHP Phil Tognetti (Newhall, Calif./Hart HS) pitched 8.1 innings and took a shutout into the ninth inning, and senior 3B Brock Koman (Pueblo, Colo./South HS) knocked in the winning run as the University of Michigan baseball team beat Northwestern 3-1 to close out the weekend series Sunday afternoon (May 11) at Ray Fisher Stadium.

Tognetti improved to 6-3 with the help of five double plays.

The Wolverines (28-21, 15-11 Big Ten) gained sole possession of third place with the win, taking three of four games from the Wildcats (24-20, 14-12 Big Ten) during the weekend series. Michigan has won 15 of its last 20 games in overall action and is 12-5 in Big Ten play since dropping the first three games of the series with Illinois in early April.

Tognetti moved his record to 6-3 on the season, allowing eight hits, and the defense came through with five double plays in the game, including sophomore shortstop Nick Rudden (Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek HS) closing out the win on a 6-3 double play with the bases loaded. Senior RHP Tim Leveque (Northridge, Calif./Crespi HS), the third Wolverine pitcher of the ninth inning, recorded his fourth save of the year on Rudden's DP.

Sophomore RF Matt Butler (Lombard, Ill./Driscoll Catholic HS) set the tone for the windy day at Fisher Stadium when he made a first-inning catch and fired the ball to junior catcher Jake Fox (Greenfield, Ind./Indianapolis Cathedral HS) for the inning-ending 9-2 double play.

Butler opened the third inning with a single but was forced at second base as senior CF Gino Lollio's (Cape Coral, Fla./Mariner HS) sacrifice bunt attempt was dropped and as Butler was heading back to first the catcher fired to second base for the force. Lollio moved to second on Rudden's team-leading 13th sacrifice bunt and the veteran Koman, playing in his 206th game as a Wolverine, singled to right for his fourth-game winning RBI of the season. Koman leads the team with 53 RBI.

The Wolverines added two runs in the fourth inning to close out the scoring as fifth-year senior 1B Mike Sokol (Sterling Heights, Mich./DeLaSalle HS) opened the inning with a four-pitch walk and moved to second on a single to left by senior LF Jordan Cantalamessa (Castle Rock, Colo./Cherry Creek HS). Junior DH Brandon Roberts (Arlington, Texas/Martin HS) collected his fourth hit in the last three games with a run-scoring single to make it 2-0.

The final Wolverine run of the game scored as the result of a double play as freshman A.J. Scheidt (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser HS) grounded into the 4-6-3 DP with Cantalamessa scoring.

Rudden and Sokol were in on four of the five double plays and Scheidt was in on three of the twin killings as the Michigan turned double plays that ended the first, fourth, fifth and ninth innings. The DP in the sixth was important as NU 2B Eric Roeder hit a double following the second out and did not score.

The Wolverines play a night game at Eastern Michigan on Wednesday (May 14, 6:05 p.m.) before closing out the Big Ten regular season at Purdue (May 16-18).

N O T E S

Sunday's Mother's Day game marked the final home game for eight seniors, including Lollio (single), Koman (single), Sokol (walk and run), Cantalamessa (single) and Leveque (save). Catchers Jason Wuerfel (Cedar, Mich./Glen Lake HS) and Alex Coleman (Dallas, Texas/Lake Highland HS) and injured 1B Nate Wright (Tinley Park., Ill./Andrew HS) did not see action Sunday.

Brock Koman's game-winning single moves his career hit total to 266, one shy of Ken Hayward (267, 1982-85) for third on the U-M career hit list, and the one total base gives him 427 to tie Hayward for third on Michigan's all-time total base list.

Koman played in his 206th games as a Wolverine on Sunday (May 11) and he needs one more to tie Bryan Besco (207 games, 1995-99) for seventh on the all-time Michigan games played list.

Sophomore RF Matt Butler was 5-for-8 in the series vs. Northwestern with a walk, a sacrifice fly and two sacrifice bunts.

Michigan's hitting leaders after 49 games include (80 plate appearances minimum): senior 3B Brock Koman at .376 (71-for-189), sophomore SS Nick Rudden (.352, 43-for-122), junior C Jake Fox (.352, 62-for-176), senior 1B Mike Sokol (.349, 60-for-172) and senior OF Gino Lollio (.340, 64-for-188).

Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423