Michigan
14-6, 3-0
Northwestern
6-14, 0-3
Wolverines Complete Weekend Sweep at Northwestern
4/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Site: Evanston, Ill. (Rocky Miller Park)
Score: Michigan 11, Northwestern 3; Michigan 14, Northwestern 7
Records: U-M (15-6, 4-0 Big Ten), Northwestern (6-15, 0-4 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Wednesday, Apr. 4 -- vs. Central Michigan (Ray Fisher Stadium), 3:00 p.m.
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Junior catcher Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice) hit the first pitch after a two hour and 10 minute rain delay and sparked a Wolverine power explosion that included five home runs, as the University of Michigan baseball team picked up a 14-7 win over Northwestern Sunday (April 1) to sweep the weekend series at Rocky Miller Park at Wells Field.
The win gives the Wolverines a nine-game winning streak and first place in the Big Ten. U-M is the only team to start the conference season with a 4-0 record.
Northwestern held a 1-0 lead after four innings when the game was delayed -- the third delay of the weekend series -- after an hour of action.
Northwestern grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning off U-M sophomore LHP Mike Wilson (Pickering, Ont./Pine Ridge Secondary) as CF Caleb Field walked to lead off the inning and moved to third on 1B Jake Goebberts double down the left field line. The run scored on an infield grounder to second by 2B Tommy Finn.
Sophomore LF Zach Putnam (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) collected the first hit off NU freshman LHP Joe Muraski on a double with one out in the fourth inning, advancing to third on a wild pitch. Sophomore 3B Adam Abraham (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich./South HS) grounded into a strange double play as Putnam was thrown out at the plate by 3B Owens, and Abraham was caught off first base after trying to advance to second on Putnams rundown.
After the first rain delay, Pickens hit the first pitch from NU starter Muraski for a long homer to dead center, his fourth homer of the year and the second Wolverine hit of the game, tying the score at 1-1.
Junior 2B Kevin Cislo (Novi, Mich./Novi) singled and moved to third on a hit and run single by co-captain CF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield). Rose stole second base and SS Jason Christian (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland) singled in two runs and senior LF Brad Roblin (Wayland, Mass./Rivers School) hit his first career homer and the Michigan lead was 5-1.
Abraham opened the sixth with a line drive homer -- his second of the year -- to make the score 6-1.
Michigan added five runs in the seventh inning with a pair of big hits -- a two-run triple by Pickens and a two-run single by Putnam.
The score went to 14-1 in the eighth on homers by Christian, leading off the inning, and freshman OF Alan Oaks (White Lake, Mich./Divine Child) who blasted a two-run pinch homer -- the first round-ripper of his career.
Northwestern scored six times in the bottom of the ninth for the 14-7 final. Antonio Mule, Geoff Dietz and Tony Vercelli each hit homers for the Wildcats in the inning.
Junior/sophomore Michael Powers (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair) collected his first win if the season as he pitched four shutout innings from the fifth through the eighth with six strikeouts; Powers was touched up for all six NU runs in the ninth. Abraham came over from third base to get the final two outs in a non-save situation.
Pickens paced the Wolverines on the weekend with nine hits including two doubles, a triple and two homers to knock in seven runs. Meanwhile, Putnam had seven hits and drove in six runs.
Earlier in the day, Pickens and freshman catcher Chris Berset (Vienna, Va./The Heights School) each had a single and a double in Michigans nine-run fourth-inning rally in an 11-3 win over Northwestern in a game that started Saturday (March 31) and was finished on Sunday (April 1).The second game of Saturdays doubleheader was delayed by rain for 58 minutes in the middle of the first inning with Michigan leading 1-0 on a run-scoring double by Putnam. The game was stopped again at 6:38 p.m. due to darkness with Michigan leading 11-3. Junior/sophomore Chris Fetter (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) worked the first five innings allowing seven hits and three runs to collect the win. Sophmore/freshman Sam Yashinsky (Farmington Hills, Mich./Frankel Jewish Academy of Metro Detroit) worked the final two innings.
The Wolverines took the early lead against Northwestern when junior 1B Nate Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) was hit by a pitch by Wildcats starter Ryan Myers (1-2). Putnams blast to deep center fell for a run-scoring double.
After the 58-minute delay NU took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first on a walk to LF Aaron Newman, a run-scoring double by 3B Jake Owens and a hard smash by RF Antonio Mule that scored Owens.
Michigan took advantage of seven hits, two errors and a walk to score nine runs in the second inning and chase starter Myers.
Pickens opened the inning with a single, advancing on a sac bunt by Cislo who reached on a throwing error. Following a wild pitch, Berset singled in two runs and the score was 3-1.
Berset advanced to second on a sac bunt and scored on a double by Christian. Roblin reached on an error and stole second -- his team-leading 12th of the season. With runners on second and third, Recknagel received an intentional walk.
Putnam singled to drive in two runs and -- with two outs -- Pickens doubled in two more runs in his second at bat in the fourth inning.
Cislo singled in the eighth run of the inning and scored on Bersets run-scoring double. Berset had three RBI in the inning.
Roblin scored in the fifth inning after reaching on an error and reaching the plate on a single by Abraham.
NU scored in the fifth inning on a pinch single by Rob Campbell that scored 3B Owens.
The Wolverines sent five batters to the plate in the top of the sixth inning; the game was called due to darkness before the start of the bottom of the sixth.
The Wolverines host Central Michigan on Wednesday (April 4, 3 p.m.) in Ray Fisher Stadium with freshman LHP Eric Katzman (Harrington Park, N.J./Northern Valley Old Tappan HS) listed as the tentative starter with a 1-1 record and 5.40 ERA this season.
N O T E S
In Big Ten baseball action Sunday, Michigan State took three of four at Indiana with a 6-1 win, Purdue gained a split with an 11-6 win over Illinois and Ohio State took three of four from Iowa with a 16-7 win. Minnesota was rained out at Penn State.
After the first weekend of play, the Big Ten Standings are: 1. Michigan 4-0, 2. Michigan State 3-1 & Ohio State 3-1 (.750), 4. Minnesota 2-1 (.667) 5. Illinois 2-2 & Purdue 2-2 (.500), 7. Penn State 1-2 (.333), 8. Indiana 1-3 & Iowa 1-3 (.250) and 10. Northwestern 0-4.
Former Wolverine co-captain OF Matt Butler (2002-05) and RHP Jeff Niemiec (2003-06), a member of the 2006 Big Ten Championship team, were on hand at Sundays (April 1) series finale.
The last time Michigan opened the Big Ten with a 4-0 start was 1996 under Geoff Zahn with four wins over Purdue; the streak went to five with one win against Illinois.
Co-captain Eric Rose collected a pair of stolen bases in the Sunday contest, giving him eight for the season and 64 for his career -- one shy of Steve Finken (65, 1986-88) for second place on U-Ms career stolen base list.
With four stolen bases in the NU, senior Brad Roblin -- the team leader with 13 -- notched his 44tth career steal. He ranks in a tie for sixth on the all-time UM stolen base list with 44 along with the trio of Barry Larkin (1983-85), Mike Watters (1983-85) and Chris Getz (2004-05).
Two Wolverines have 10-game hitting streaks following the weekend sweep over Northwestern, including DH/P Zach Putnam (10) and C/RF Doug Pickens. 1B Nate Recknagel had his streak snapped at nine games. Four players have seven-game streaks, including freshman catcher Chris Berset (Vienna, Va./The Heights School), 3B Adam Abraham, SS Jason Christian and CF Eric Rose.
Michigans leading hitters after 21 games are: P/OF Zach Putnam (32-for-81, .395), SS Jason Christian (33-for-85, .388), C/2B/OF Doug Pickens (30-for-83, .361), 1B Nate Recknagel (25-for-77, .325), 3B/P Adam Abraham (26-for-83, .313), 2B Kevin Cislo (14-for-45, .311), and OF Brad Roblin (25-for-83, .301).
Contact: Jim Schneider (734-763-4423)
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Powers, Michael (1-0)
L: Joe Muraski (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Putnam, Zach 1 ; Cislo, Kevin 1
3B: Pickens, Doug 1
HR: Christian, Jason 1 ; Roblin, Brad 1 ; Oaks, Alan 1 ; Abraham, Adam 1 ; Pickens, Doug 1
RBI: Christian, Jason 3 ; Roblin, Brad 2 ; Putnam, Zach 2 ; Oaks, Alan 2 ; Abraham, Adam 1 ; Pickens, Doug 3 ; VanBuskirk, Derek 1
SH: Roblin, Brad 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Christian, Jason 2 ; Roblin, Brad 2 ; Recknagel, Nate 1 ; Kalczynski, Tim 1 ; Oaks, Alan 1 ; Abraham, Adam 2 ; Pickens, Doug 2 ; Cislo, Kevin 1 ; Rose, Eric 2
SB: Christian, Jason 1 ; Roblin, Brad 1 ; Rose, Eric 2
HBP: Recknagel, Nate 1
Batting:
2B: Jake Goebbert 1
HR: Antonio Mule' 1 ; Geoff Dietz 1 ; Tony Vercelli 1
RBI: Jake Owens 1 ; Antonio Mule' 1 ; Geoff Dietz 3 ; Tommy Finn 1 ; Tony Vercelli 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Antonio Mule' 1 ; Caleb Fields 2 ; Jake Goebbert 1 ; Geoff Dietz 1 ; Tony Vercelli 1 ; Max Mann 1
CS: Aaron Newman 1
HBP: Tommy Finn 1
PO: Aaron Newman 1
