Abraham's Glove, Bat Spark Michigan Over Ohio State

Friday, April 13

Columbus, Ohio

6:35 PM

Michigan

19-6, 5-0

Ohio State

18-6, 4-3

Michigan

Ohio State

4/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Sophomore 3B Adam Abraham (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich./South HS) made two game-saving plays on defense in the bottom of the ninth and drilled a two-run game-winning double in the top of the 10th inning to lead Michigan to a wacky 10-4 Friday the 13th (April 13) win over Ohio State in Bill Davis Stadium.

The win for the Wolverines (19-6, 5-0 Big Ten) moved their current winning streak to 13 games -- on the 13th -- while Ohio State (18-6, 4-3 Big Ten) suffered a tough loss after the Buckeyes tied the game in the bottom of the ninth. The Wolverines remain atop the Big Ten standings with thir first conference win since sweeping Northwestern on the road (March 30-April 1).

Abraham made a diving play to his left to get a force play for the second out in the ninth inning after Ohio State used three walks to tie the game at 4-4. On a 3-2 pitch moments later -- a pitch intended to be ball four for an intentional walk -- OSU RF Ryan Drew slapped the ball and hit a liner towards left. Abraham made an incredible leap and catch to end the inning and send the game to the 10th.

With one out in the top of the 10th inning, junior 1B Nate Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) singled and DH Zach Putnam (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS), who pitched 8.1 innings and held a 4-3 lead when he left the game, drew a walk. Abraham lined the next pitch for a double to the gap in left-center to score both runners.

Junior catcher/RF Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice) singled in Abraham and -- when the smoke cleared -- six Wolverines had scored, and Michigan won in extra innings for the second time this season. OSU's Jake Hale (0-1) -- the third of four Buckeye pitchers -- took the loss. UM beat Bethune-Cookman 7-6 in 13 innings in the opening series of the season in February.

Putnam allowed nine hits and was charged with all four runs. He walked seven and fanned one, making big pitches all night to keep U-M in the mix.

Junior/sophomore Ben Jenzen (Grosse Pointe, Mich./South HS) replaced Putnam with one out in the ninth. He closed the inning -- and picked up his first win on the season -- with the help of the Abraham's plays on defense. Junior/sophomore Michael Powers (St. Clair Shores, Mich./South Lake HS) closed the win, allowing a double to the first batter he faced in the 10th inning but regrouping to strike out the final three batters.

The Wolverines jumped to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. Sophomore SS Jason Christian (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland), who had three hits against the Buckeyes, opened the game with a single and -- with one out -- scored from first base on a double in the right-center gap by Recknagel. Putnam launched his third homer of the week over the fence in right, giving U-M the 3-0 margin. It was Putnam's fourth homer of the year; he leads the team with 27 RBI.

OSU got one run back in the first inning, another in the second and tied the game in the fifth on a weird play that was a sac fly and an inning-ending double play at the same time. Senior co-captain Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield) made the catch in center and fired the ball to Recknagel at first to double off the runner for the third out, but OSU's CF Matt Angle scored before the final out of the inning was recorded.

U-M regained the lead with a run in the seventh. Sophomore 2B Kevin Cislo (Novi, Mich./Novi) reached second on an infield single and a throwing error by OSU starting pitcher Cory Luebke, and Rose singled to center snapping the 3-3 tie.

OSU put the first two runners on in the seventh on a pair of infield singles by 2B Cory Kovanda and DH Jacob Howell. CF Angle moved the runners up with a sac bunt, and catcher Eric Fryer drew an intentional walk to load the bases. OF J.B. Shuck grounded into a 6-3 double play, as Christian stepped on the bag and made the throw to Recknagel.

Putnam got out of another jam in the eighth, but OSU got the tying run in the ninth to set up Abraham's heroics.

Christian's three hits paced the 11-hit Michigan attack in the series opener, while Recknagel and Rose each had two. With the 11 hits in the win Friday, the Wolverines have had 10 or more hits in 11 consecutive games and 19 out of 25 games this season.

The Wolverines are scheduled to continue the weekend series at Ohio State Saturday (Apr. 14, 1:05 p.m.) with senior RHP Andrew Hess (Kalamazoo, Mich./Central) at 3-0 (3.00 ERA) pitching the opener. Junior/sophomore RHP Chris Fetter (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) at 3-1 (4.83 ERA) will start the second game.

N O T E S

In Big Ten action Friday, Michigan stayed unbeaten with the 10-4 win in 10 innings at Ohio State. Illinois beat Northwestern 6-2, and Purdue topped Indiana by a 4-2 count. The Penn State at Michigan State and Iowa at Minnesota series were moved back a day due to impending bad weather.

Big Ten Standings (including 4-13-07): 1. Michigan 5-0 (1.000), 2. Michigan State 5-2 (.714), 3. Minnesota 2-1 (.667), 4. Ohio State 4-3 (.571) & Illinois 4-3 (.571), 6. Purdue 4-4 (.500), 7. Iowa 3-4 (.428), 8. Indiana 3-6 (.333) & Penn State 2-4 (.333) 10. Northwestern 2-7 (.222)

Two-time U-M baseball captain Rich Bair (M letters 1981-84) was on hand at Bill Davis Stadium on Friday night.

The 13-game winning streak for the Wolverines is the career best for head coach Rich Maloney at Michigan. It is the longest U-M winning streak since the Wolverines won 13 in a row in 1988. It is the third 13-game streak in U-M baseball history (1921, 1988 and 2007). The last time the Wolverines won 14 straight was in 1914.

Co-captain Eric Rose collected his 11th stolen base of the year in the win at Ohio State on Friday -- his 67th career stolen base. Rose ranks second in career steals at Michigan, and is inching closer to the U-M career record of 74 stolen bases held by Jim Durham (1986-89).

Junior catcher/2B/of Doug Pickens extended his team-leading hitting streak to 14 games with his 10th-inning RBI single at OSU on Friday night. CF Eric Rose and SS Jason Christian each had hits to move hit streaks to 11 games, but freshman catcher Chris Berset (Vienna, Va./The Heights School), who went 0-for-2 after entering the game as a defensive replacement in the eighth inning, had his streak snapped at nine games. Berset's streak started March 11 in the win over Oklahoma and covered 16 Michigan games.

Michigan's leading hitters after 25 games are: P/OF Zach Putnam (36-for-93, .387), SS Jason Christian (40-for-104, .385), C/2B/OF Doug Pickens (36-for-98, .367), 1B Nate Recknagel (31-for-92, .337), 2B Kevin Cislo (17-for-53, .321), OF Eric Rose (29-for-93, .312), 3B/P Adam Abraham (31-for-101, .307) and OF Brad Roblin (Wayland, Mass./Rivers School) at .307 (31-for-101).