Michigan
10-6
Oakland
6-14
Wolverines Dominate Oakland in Series Finale
3/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Sophomore LHP Mike Wilson (Pickering, Ont./Pine Ridge Secondary) pitched seven innings of one-hit baseball and Michigan's offense scored 17 runs on 20 hits as the University of Michigan baseball team completed a four-game weekend sweep, beating Oakland University 17-0 Sunday afternoon (March 25) at Ray Fisher Stadium in the Wilpon Baseball and Softball Complex.
Wilson (3-0), who collected his team-leading third win of the year, fanned a team season-high nine batters in the second start of his career. Wilson dropped his ERA to 0.56, which leads all Wolverine pitchers with at least one start. Wilson has 18 strikeouts in 16 innings of work this season.
The Wolverines (10-6) kept their season-best four-game winning streak alive, jumping on Oakland (6-14) with a five-run first inning after Wilson struck out the side to start the contest.
Sophomore shortstop Jason Christian (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland) opened the first inning with a single, the first of his three hits for the afternoon to raise his team-leading batting average to .413. Christian had doubles in the fifth and sixth innings, giving him eight hits in the series.
Sophomore DH Zach Putnam (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) knocked in his second game-winning RBI of the weekend with a single and -- later in the first inning -- junior catcher Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice) tripled in three runs with his eighth hit of the series. Pickens scored the fifth run on a wild pitch.
Wilson had his toughest inning of the game in the second, allowing a walk and single by 3B Kevin Chalifour -- the lone Oakland hit of the game -- to give the Golden Grizzlies two runners in the same inning for the only time of the day. Wilson got out of the jam on a 4-6-3 double play started by sophomore 2B Kevin Cislo (Novi, Mich./Novi). Wilson had three 1-2-3 innings and retired 14 of the last 16 batters he faced.
The Wolverines scored in seven of the eight innings they batted in Sunday, scoring five runs in the first, four times in the fifth and two runs in the third, sixth and seventh innings.
Freshman RF Alan Oaks (White Lake, Mich./Divine Child) went 3-for-5 Sunday to finish the home-opening series with the first five hits of his career. Oaks tripled and scored in the third, doubled and scored in the fifth inning and singled in a run in the seventh. Oaks has three doubles and a triple among his first five career hits.
Junior 1B Nate Recknagel (Lake Orion. Mich./Lake Orion) closed the weekend against his former team by reaching base five times, hitting 2-for-2 with a double and three walks. For the series he was 6-for-12 with five walks reaching base 11 times.
The Michigan bullpen chipped in with two more scoreless innings -- to result in seven consecutive on the weekend -- as junior/sophomore RHP Clint Tobias (Sunfield, Mich./Lakewood HS) worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning with a strikeout in his career pitching debut. Sophomore/freshman LHP Sam Yashinsky (Farmington Hills, Mich./Frankel Jewish Academy) worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning with a K in his Fisher Stadium debut.
Pickens and Christian each had eight hits in the series with a pair of three-hit games, while senior co-captain Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield), Recknagel and Putnam each had six hits. The Wolverines had 54 hits in the series with a team batting average of .412, while the U-M pitching staff was 4-0 with a 1.41 ERA with 28 strikeouts in 32 innings.
The Wolverines host first-time opponent IPFW (Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne) Tuesday (Mar. 27) in Ray Fisher Stadium. The 3 p.m. contest will feature freshman LHP Eric Katzman (Harrington Park, N.J./Northern Valley Old Tappan HS) listed as the tentative starter. IPFW lost a pair of games at Indiana this past weekend.
N O T E S
Former Wolverine catcher John Young (1979-82), who later served as an assistant coach for the Wolverines, was on hand at Sunday's game.
The 20 hits for the Wolverines were the most since U-M had 21 in an 18-12 win against Eastern Michigan in the 2005 season. The Wolverines had a 19-run, 19-hit game at Central Michigan last season.
The shared shutout by Mike Wilson, Clint Tobias and Sam Yashinsky was the first nine-inning shared shutout at home for Michigan since Jim Brauer (2001-05) and Clayton Richard (2005) blanked Oakland 10-0 on the same date (March 25) in 2005.
The one-hitter Sunday was the first for the Wolverines since Rich Hill (2000-02) -- now with the Chicago Cubs -- beat Oakland 3-0 on Mar. 28, 2001.
Three Wolverines have five-game hitting streaks following Sunday's 20-hit attack that closed the weekend sweep of Oakland: 1B Nate Recknagel, DH/P Zach Putnam and C/RF Doug Pickens.
Freshman catcher Chris Berset (Vienna, Va./The Heights School) extended his hitting streak to four games the hard way; he entered the game as a defensive replacement in the top of the seventh inning and then launched his first career homer over the fence in right in the bottom of the seventh. Berset is hitting .333 (6-for-18) and his four-game streak covers seven U-M games played; the streak started against Oklahoma on March 11.
Junior OF/1B Derek VanBuskirk (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair) collected his first hit of the season -- a pinch single to drive in a run in the eighth inning. It was his 80th career hit; VanBuskirk was replaced for a pinch runner by his high school teammate LHP Brad Seddon (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair). 'Van-B' missed the first 12 games of the season and was 1-for-3 as a pinch hitter on the weekend.
Junior/sophomore Tim Kalczynski (Farmington Hills, Mich./Brother Rice) collected his first career hit when he doubled and later scored in the eighth inning. 'Kal' is the sixth Wolverine to collect his first career hit during the 2007 season.
Michigan's leading hitters after 16 games: SS Jason Christian (26-for-63, .413), P/OF Zach Putnam (23-for-64, .359), 3B/P Adam Abraham (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich./South HS) at .328 (20-for-61), C/2B/OF Doug Pickens (20-for-62, .323), 1B Nate Recknagel (19-for-62, .306) and OF Brad Roblin (Wayland, Mass./Rivers School) at .292 (19-for-65).
Contact: Jim Schneider (734-763-4423)
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Wilson, Mike (3-0)
L: Mike Takashima (1-3)
Base Running:
HBP: Drew Jenison 1
PO: Chad DiFranco 1
Batting:
2B: Christian, Jason 2 ; Recknagel, Nate 1 ; Kalczynski, Tim 1 ; Abraham, Adam 1 ; Oaks, Alan 1
3B: Pickens, Doug 1 ; Oaks, Alan 1
HR: Berset, Chris 1
RBI: Christian, Jason 2 ; Roblin, Brad 1 ; Recknagel, Nate 1 ; Putnam, Zach 3 ; Abraham, Adam 1 ; VanBuskirk, Derek 1 ; Pickens, Doug 3 ; Berset, Chris 1 ; Oaks, Alan 2 ; Rose, Eric 1
SF: Putnam, Zach 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Christian, Jason 3 ; Roblin, Brad 2 ; Recknagel, Nate 1 ; Kalczynski, Tim 1 ; Putnam, Zach 1 ; Abraham, Adam 1 ; Pickens, Doug 1 ; Berset, Chris 1 ; Cislo, Kevin 1 ; Toth, Anthony 1 ; Oaks, Alan 2 ; Rose, Eric 2
SB: Christian, Jason 1
CS: Rose, Eric 1
HBP: Cislo, Kevin 1
