Wolverines Complete Weekend Sweep of Hawkeyes

Sunday, May 21

Ann Arbor, Mich.

1:05 PM

Michigan

38-18, 23-9

Iowa

23-33, 12-20

Iowa

Michigan

5/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Senior DH Mike Schmidt (Saginaw, Mich./Heritage) lined a run-scoring single to snap a 1-1 tie and three University of Michigan pitchers combined for a 3-1 Big Ten baseball win over Iowa on Sunday (May 21) in the Wolverines' final regular-season home game at Ray Fisher Stadium. U-M (38-18, 23-9) swept the four-game weekend series from the Hawkeyes (23-33, 12-20 Big Ten).

The Wolverines, Big Ten champs, close out the regular season with a six-game winning streak, and U-M enters the postseason at Ray Fisher Stadium with wins in 10 of the last 11 games. Michigan is 26-8 since losing three straight to Northwestern on the opening weekend of Big Ten play (March 31-April 1-2). U-M added to its team record by adding its 23rd conference win.

Fifth-year senior Drew Taylor (Toronto, Ontario/Upper Canada College) pitched the first five innings, allowing five hits and one run to record his fourth consecutive Sunday Big Ten win. Taylor (6-4) notched his 19th career win to rank alone in 15th place on the all-time U-M win list, while the win over the Iowa completes his conference cycle as he has at least one win against each of the other nine teams in the Big Ten.

Sophomore/freshman RHP Michael Powers (St. Clair Shores, Mich./South Lake) worked three innings, allowing four hits while striking out a career-high six batters. Powers got into a jam in the eighth inning, loading the bases with one out on two singles and a walk, but he fanned the last two batters and actually struck out the side to keep the score at 3-1 for the Wolverines.

Freshman OF/RHP Adam Abraham (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich./South) played the first eight innings in leftfield before taking the mound for a 1-2-3 ninth inning as he collected his second save of the season.

Iowa opened the scoring off Taylor in the fourth inning as catcher Ben Geelan launched a towering homer to left. Geelan's second home run of the year gave the Hawkeyes their first lead of the weekend, 1-0.

Michigan rallied against Iowa freshman RHP Steve Turnbull (1-2) in the bottom of the fifth inning as sophomore 2B Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice) collected his fifth hit of the series to start the inning. Pickens hit a fly to right that the wind carried from foul territory to just inside the line for a single. Pickens moved to second on a wild pitch and scored the tying run on a single to right by sophomore RF Derek VanBuskirk (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair).

VanBuskirk took second on the throw to the plate, advanced too third on a groundout by senior 3B A.J. Scheidt (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser), and scored on Schmidt's single down the line. It was Schmidt's fifth game-winning RBI of the season.

Schmidt reached second as junior CF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield) was credited with a sac bunt. Schmidt stole third base and scored the key insurance run on a single by junior shortstop Leif Mahler (Columbus, Ohio/St. Charles Prep). Schmidt had two stolen bases in the game and has 10 for the season.

Schmidt and Pickens each had five hits in the weekend series against Iowa, with Schmidt hitting .625 in the series with his five hits coming in eight at-bats. Schmidt was walked once and hit by a pitch once for a nifty .700 on-base percentage in the series.

Michigan's next game will be in the Big Ten Tournament. As the No. 1 seed Michigan will play in the fifth game of the tournament Thursday (May 25) at 7 p.m. U-M's probable first-game pitcher would be fifth-year senior co-captain Paul Hammond (Mason, Ohio/Mason). Hammond is 7-3 with a 2.27 ERA.

N O T E S

In Big Ten action Sunday Michigan completed the sweep of Iowa 3-1, Northwestern beat Purdue 14-9 to split the series, Illinois beat Michigan State 10-2 to take the final playoff spot, Ohio State beat Penn State 12-2, and Minnesota defeated Indiana 6-4.

Final Big Ten Regular-Season Standings

 1. MICHIGAN 23-9 .719 2. Northwestern 21-11 .656 3. Ohio State 19-12 .613 4. Minnesota 17-14 .548 5. Purdue 15-17 .469 Illinois 15-17 .469 7. Michigan State 13-19 .406 Penn State 13-19 .406 9. Iowa 12-20 .375 10. Indiana 11-21 .344

Former Wolverine great Jim Abbott threw out the first pitch on Sunday as he was in town as the featured speaker at the baseball team banquet. Abbott lettered three times (1986-88) and was winner of the Golden Spikes Award (1987) and the AAU's Sullivan Award (1988) and he was a first-round draft pick of the California Angels (eighth pick) in 1988. He pitched the Olympics gold medal game win for Team USA over Japan in Seoul, Korea, in 1988. Former Wolverine teammates on hand at the game included pitchers Mike Ignasiak (1985-88) and Paul Wenson (1985-86).

Wolverine pitchers Paul Hammond (12), sophomore/freshman Chris Fetter (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) (8) and Michael Powers (6) all had career strikeout games vs. Iowa during the weekend.

After sweeping Iowa in the series the Wolverines finished with a 7-1 record in the last eight Big Ten games and allowed one run or fewer in all seven wins while recording four shutouts.

Michigan's leading hitters after 56 games are: 1B/C/DH Nate Recknagel (67-for-186, .360), SS Leif Mahler (60-for-178, .337), C Jeff Kunkel (66-for-198, .333), CF Eric Rose (59-for-179, .330), 2B/OF Doug Pickens (61-for-198, .308) and LF/DH Adam Abraham (42-for-143, .294).

Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423