Michigan Splits at Penn State, Drops to Second Place

Saturday, May 13

State College, Pa.

1:05 PM

Michigan

32-17, 18-8

Penn State

18-31, 11-15

Michigan

Penn State

5/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Site: State College, Pa. (Beaver Field)
Scores: Michigan 2, Penn State 0; Penn State 13, Michigan 2
Records: U-M (32-18, 18-9 Big Ten), PSU (19-31, 12-15 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Sunday, May 14 -- at Penn State (State College, Pa.), 1:05 p.m.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Sophomore/freshman RHPs Chris Fetter (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) and Ben Jenzen (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South HS) combined on a four-hit shutout as the University of Michigan baseball team took the opener of Saturday's (May 13) Big Ten doubleheader, 2-0, at Beaver Field.

Penn State used a six-run second inning to jumpstart the offense in the second game as second baseman Matt Cavagnaro paced the 13-2 win for the Nittany Lions, going 3-for-4 with a double, triple, homer and six RBI.

The win for PSU gained the split against the Wolverines (32-18, 18-9) and knocked U-M out of first place in the Big Ten race. However, the Wolverines did clinch a berth in the Big Ten Tournament for the fourth time in coach Rich Maloney's first four years with U-M.

Penn State (19-31, 12-15 Big Ten) used the second-game win to move into a three-way tie with Iowa and Purdue for the sixth and final tournament slot with five games to play.

Fetter (4-1) pitched the first 6.2 innings in the opener and had retired seven batters in a row while working on a two-hit shutout before giving up a two-out double to catcher Aaron Greenfield and an infield single to 1B Cory Wine.

Jenzen entered the game with a 1-0 count on PSU shortstop Scott Gaffney and walked him to load the bases, but he then fanned RF Travis Laird to end the game and record his team-leading third save of the season.

Fetter had four 1-2-3 innings as he dropped his team-leading overall ERA to 2.21, while his Big Ten ERA is now second on the team at 1.70, trailing fifth-year senior LHP Paul Hammond (Mason, Ohio/Mason) at 1.58. Hammond pitched 7.2 shutout innings against PSU in Friday's (May 12) series opener.

The Wolverines scored single runs in the second and fifth innings of the opener to tag the loss on PSU sophomore RHP Mark Wyner (2-8).

Wyner faced four batters in the first inning as sophomore first baseman Nate Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) stroked a two-out double, but fifth-year senior catcher Jeff Kunkel (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest) grounded to short to end the inning.

Second baseman Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice) walked with one out in the second and scored from first on a double down the line in left by freshman LF Adam Abraham (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich./South HS). It was Abraham's third game-winning RBI of the season.

Recknagel doubled with two outs in the third, his team-leading 15th double of the season, but Kunkel grounded out to second to end the inning.

The Wolverines added a run in the fifth as senior RF Mike Schmidt (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage) singled to left with one out and moved to second on a groundout by junior CF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield). Junior shortstop Leif Mahler (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep) singled to left, driving in the second and final run of the opener.

PSU 1B Wine singled to lead off the fifth inning, but Fetter retired the next two batters and catcher Kunkel picked Wine off first for the third out of the inning.

Kunkel doubled to lead off the sixth, and with two outs Abraham launched a drive to left that Lance Thompson caught over the fence for the final out of the inning, robbing him of a homer.

Fetter retired 3B Scott Gummo and LF Thompson in the seventh inning before Greenfield hit his second double of the game. Wine followed with a grounder to second, but when no one covered first base the play was ruled as an infield single, setting the stage for Jensen's save.

Michigan took the early lead in the second game against PSU RHP Seth Whitehill, who evened his record at 2-2, as Kunkel singled to lead off the second inning and freshman DH Zach Putnam (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) doubled in the left-center gap, putting runners on second and third. Abraham hit a sacrifice fly to center to make the score 1-0 with his 24th RBI of the season.

Penn State exploded for the six runs with two outs in the second inning against U-M junior RHP Andrew Hess (Kalamazoo, Mich./Central), marking the first runs of the weekend for the Nittany Lions. Wine singled in PSU's first run to tie the game at 1-1 and SS Gaffney snapped the tie with a bases-loaded single. The big hit in the inning was Cavagnaro's three-run triple to the corner in right.

Senior RHP Craig Murray (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) replaced Hess (2-2) to start the third inning and Greenfield hit his second pitch for a home run, his fifth hit of the weekend and his fourth homer of the season, to make the score 7-1.

The Wolverines scored once in the fourth on a bases-loaded walk by Mahler. The Wolverines started the rally with two outs and Schmidt's bunt single was the only hit mixed in with walks to senior 3B A.J. Scheidt (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser) and Rose that filled the bases.

Penn State came right back off Murray in the fourth as Cavagnaro hit a two-run homer to make the score 9-2, and he added a run-scoring double off freshman LHP Mike Wilson (Pickering, Ontario/Pine Ride Secondary) in a three-run fifth-inning rally that closed out the scoring for the day.

Abraham, Kunkel, Schmidt and Recknagel each had two hits in the doubleheader vs. Penn State on Saturday, accounting for eight of U-M's 12 hits. Recknagel leads U-M with five hits in the series and Mahler has four.

The Wolverines close out the weekend series at Penn State with a single game on Sunday (May 14, 1 p.m.) with fifth-year senior LHP Drew Taylor (Toronto, Ontario/Upper Canada College) or freshman RHP Zach Putnam (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) listed as potential starters. Taylor is 4-4 with a 6.07 ERA, while Putnam is 4-1 with a 2.45 ERA.

N O T E S

In Big Ten baseball action on Saturday Michigan dropped into second place but clinched a playoff position with the split at Penn State, winning the opener 2-0 but dropping the second game 13-2. Northwestern beat Michigan State 6-3 in the first game of the four-game series to move into first place. Minnesota moved into fifth place alone with a 2-1 win over Ohio State in the opener on Saturday, and the second game was suspended in the second inning with Minnesota leading 3-1.

Iowa collected two wins in three decisions on Saturday to vault from a tie for eighth to a tie for the sixth by completing a 4-2 win over Purdue from Friday (May 12) and splitting the regular doubleheader, winning the final game of the day 2-0 after Purdue took the middle game 1-0. The Illinois at Indiana series opener was rained out and the teams will attempt to play doubleheaders on both Sunday (May 14) and Monday (May 15). The MSU at NU series was moved back due to potential bad weather with the series now a Saturday-Monday series.

Big Ten Standings (through 5/13/06)

 1. Northwestern 17-8 .680 2. MICHIGAN 18-9 .667 3. Ohio State 16-10 .615 4. Illinois 12-12 .500 5. Minnesota 12-14 .462 6. Penn State 12-15 .444 Iowa 12-15 .444 Purdue 12-15 .444 9. Michigan State 10-15 .400 10. Indiana 8-16 .333

Michigan's leading hitters after 50 games are: 1B/C/DH Nate Recknagel (62-for-167, .371), C Jeff Kunkel (63-for-176, .358), SS Leif Mahler (56-for-158, .354), CF Eric Rose (56-for-161, .348), and 2B/OF Doug Pickens (53-for-179, .296).

Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423