Wolverines Top Northwestern in Big Ten Opener

Friday, March 30

Evanston, Ill.

3:05 PM CT

Michigan

12-6, 1-0

Northwestern

6-12, 0-1

Michigan

Northwestern

3/30/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Michigan freshman catcher Chris Berset (Vienna, Va./The Heights School) hit his second homer of the season to snap a 1-1 tie in the seventh inning, leading the University of Michigan baseball team to beat Northwestern 7-1 in U-M's Big Ten baseball opener Friday afternoon (March 30) at Rocky Miller Park at Wells Field.

Sophomore RHP/DH Zach Putnam (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) pitched the first eight innings, allowing four hits and a run to earn his fourth victory of the season. Wolverine head coach Rich Maloney moved his conference opening record to 3-2.

The Wolverines (12-6, 1-0 Big Ten) have won six straight heading into Saturday's (March 31) doubleheader against Northwestern (6-12, 0-1 Big Ten).

NU freshman 3B Jake Owns opened the scoring with a homer to right to lead off the fourth inning, and Wildcat freshman RHP Cole Livermore (1-4) held the lead until the sixth inning.

The Wolverines tied the game in the sixth as pitcher/DH Putnam singled with one out and moved to second on a ground out. He scored on a single by junior RF Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice).

The Wolverines grabbed a 3-1 lead with two scores in the seventh. Berset snapped the tie with his second homer of the year and his first game-winning RBI. Later in the inning, senior LF Brad Roblin (Wayland, Mass./Rivers School) drove in the second run of the inning for a 3-1 Michigan lead.

The Wolverines scored four times in the eighth. Pickens opening the inning with his third homer of the year and Roblin had a two-run double, scoring on a single by junior 1B Nate Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion).

SS Jason Christian (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland), 2B Kevin Cislo (Novi, Mich./Novi), Pickens and Roblin each paced U-M's 13-hit attack with two hits each.

Senior/junior LHP Brad Seddon (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair) worked the ninth inning for Michigan to close out the win.

The Wolverines are scheduled to play a doubleheader at Northwestern Saturday (March 31) with senior Andrew Hess (Kalamazoo, Mich./Central) at 2-0 with a 2.56 ERA and junior/sophomore RHP Chris Fetter (Carmel, Ind./Carmel HS) at 1-1 and 4.74 ERA slated as the starters in games one and two, respectively.

N O T E S

In Big Ten opending day action on Friday (Mar. 30) - UM topped NU 7-2, while the other day games found host Indiana beating Michigan State 2-1 with a run in the bottom of the ninth, while Purdue's furious comeback fell short as visiting Illinois topped the Boilermakers 14-13. In the two early season night games visiting Minnesota beat Penn State 3-2, while host Ohio State beat Iowa, 12-7.

Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Ohio State share first place at 1-0 after one day of Big Ten play in 2007, while tied at 0-1 are Iowa, Michigan State, Northwestern, Penn State and Purdue.

Former All-American 2B Jeff Jacobson (1980-83) and catcher Eric Sanders (193-84-85) were at the game Friday, along with former pitchers UM pitchers Allan Levy (1955), Pete Martay (1996-99) and Brian Berryman (1996-98).

With one stolen base against NU, senior Brad Roblin -- the team leader with 10 on the season -- snapped his tie for ninth on U-M's all-time stolen base list with Steve Buerkel (40, 1989-92).

Three Wolverines have three seven-game hitting streaks following Friday's (March 30) win over Northwestern, including 1B Nate Recknagel, DH/P Zach Putnam and C/RF Doug Pickens and freshman catcher Chris Berset extended his hitting streak to six games.

Michigan's leading hitters after 18 games: SS Jason Christian (29-for-71, .408), P/OF Zach Putnam (26-for-70, .371), 3B/P Adam Abraham (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich./South HS) at .329 (23-for-70), 1B Nate Recknagel (22-for-68, .324), C/2B/OF Doug Pickens (23-for-71, .324) and OF Brad Roblin (23-for-74, .311).

Contact: Jim Schneider (734-763-4423)