Abraham's Grand Slam, Hess Lead Michigan Over Buckeyes

Saturday, April 14

Columbus, Ohio

1:05 PM

Michigan

20-6, 6-0

Ohio State

18-7, 4-4

Michigan

Ohio State

Abraham's Grand Slam, Hess Lead Michigan Over Buckeyes

4/14/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Sophomore 3B Adam Abraham (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich./South HS) picked up where he left off the night before and senior RHP Andrew Hess (Kalamazoo, Mich./Central) earned his fourth win of the season, as the University of Michigan baseball team defeated Ohio State 12-4 Saturday afternoon (April 14) at Bill Davis Stadium.

The second game of Saturday's (April 14) doubleheader was postponed due to the steady rain and dropping temperatures. The game has been rescheduled as part of a doubleheader Sunday (April 15, 1:05 p.m.).

Abraham, the Wolverine hero of the 10-inning win against OSU Friday, was in the right place again as the fifth batter in the first inning. He hit his second career grand slam after the Wolverines loaded the bases on three walks from Buckeyes starter Josh Berrera (4-1).

The slam gave Michigan (20-6, 6-0 Big Ten) a 4-0 lead and proved to be Abraham's second game-winning RBI in the series. He has two doubles, the grand slam and six RBI in the series against OSU (18-7, 4-4 Big Ten). He also had two game-saving defensive plays in the ninth-inning of the opener.

Hess allowed eight hits and four runs -- just one earned -- and he had four strikeouts to record his ninth career win. It was Hess' second career win against Ohio State. Senior/junior Brad Seddon (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair) worked a scoreless seventh inning to close out the win.

The Wolverines scored runs in six of the seven innings -- and had a runner thrown out at the plate in the scoreless third inning -- en route to their 14th straight win.

Sophomore SS Jason Christian (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland), senior RF Brad Roblin (Wayland, Mass./Rivers School) and sophomore DH Zach Putnam (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS) drew first inning walks to set up the Abraham home run blast to left. The homer was Abraham's third of the season and ninth of his career. It marked the first U-M grand slam on the road in Big Ten play since Abraham hit one at Illinois last season (May 7, 2006).

Roblin led the Wolverines with three runs, and U-M knocked out starter Berrara when Christian and junior 1B Nate Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) hit doubles in the fourth inning to make the score 7-2.

The Buckeyes battled back, scoring single runs off Hess in the second and third innings and adding two runs in the fourth to make the score 7-4. Hess got out of the fourth with a strikeout and retired seven of the last eight batters he faced before turning the game over to Seddon.

The U-M defense, which had three errors in the game, came up with a big play behind Hess in that fourth inning on a fine 8-4-2 relay from senior CF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield) to 2B Kevin Cislo (Novi, Mich./Novi) to catcher Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice). The play nailed OSU 2B Cory Kovanda on an attempt to score from first on a Jacob Howell double.

The Wolverines added three runs in the fifth on run-scoring singles by Roblin and Putnam and a bases loaded walk by Pickens. The final run came in the seventh as Abraham doubled and scored on a Pickens single to make the score 12-4.

Abraham, Cislo, Roblin and junior LF Derek VanBuskirk (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair) each had two hits to lead the 13-hit Michigan attack on Saturday. The Wolverines have had 10 hits or more in 12 consecutive games and 20 of 26 contests this season. Michigan has scored 10 runs or more six times in the last seven games.

The Wolverines are scheduled to conclude the weekend series at Ohio State with a doubleheader on Sunday (April 14, 1:05 p.m.), starting with the seven-inning game that was postponed Saturday with junior/sophomore RHP Chris Fetter (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) at 3-1 (4.83 ERA) starting on the mound. Sophomore LHP Mike Wilson (Pickering, Ont./Pine Ridge Secondary) at 4-0 with a 0.72 ERA is slated to start the fourth game of the series.

N O T E S

In Big Ten action Saturday, Michigan stayed unbeaten -- all on the road -- with the 12-4 win at Ohio State. The second game of Saturday's doubleheader was postponed and moved to Sunday (April 15) as part of a doubleheader. In single games Penn State beat Michigan State 3-1 and Minnesota scored two in the bottom of the ninth to beat Iowa, 9-8. Illinois swept Northwestern 1-0 and 8-7 in a twinbill in Evanston. The first game of the Indiana at Purdue doubleheader was suspended in the first inning with the visiting Hoosiers leading 3-0. IU and Purdue will attempt to complete that game and play two additional contests on Sunday.

Big Ten Standings (as of 4-14-07): 1. Michigan 6-0 (1.000), 2. Minnesota 3-1 (.750), 3. Illinois 6-3 (.667), 4. Michigan State 5-3 (.625), 5.Ohio State 4-4 (.500) & Purdue 4-4 (.500), 7. Penn State 3-4 (.429) 8. Iowa 3-5 (.375) 9. Indiana 3-6 (.333), 10. Northwestern 2-9 (.181)

U-M received word that Robert Wolff (1948-50), captain of the 1950 Michigan baseball team, passed away Thursday (April 12) in Florida.

Former Wolverine teammates Matt Fleury (1994-96) and Andy Wade (1994-95) were on hand for Saturday's contest at Ohio State.

The 14-game winning streak for the Wolverines is the career best for head coach Rich Maloney at Michigan; it is the first 14-game U-M winning streak since 1914. It is the second 14-game streak in U-M baseball history (1914 and 2007). The last time the Wolverines won 15 straight was in 1988 as part of an 18-game winning streak. Michigan had a 16-game winning streak in 1985.

The Wolverines have won at least 20 games for 35 consecutive years. The last time U-M won less than 20 was in 1974 when Michigan was 18-14-1.

Co-captain Eric Rose collected his 12th stolen base of the year in the win at Ohio State Saturday. It was his 68th career steal. 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 15 games with his seventh-inning RBI single at OSU on Saturday afternoon. CF Eric Rose, with a first-inning single, and SS Jason Christian, with a fourth-inning double, each moved hit streaks to 12 games. 2B Kevin Cislo has hit in seven straight games.

Michigan's leading hitters after 26 games are: P/OF Zach Putnam (37-for-96, .385), SS Jason Christian (41-for-108, .380), C/2B/OF Doug Pickens (37-for-102, .363), 2B Kevin Cislo (19-for-56, .339),1B Nate Recknagel (32-for-95, .337), 3B/P Adam Abraham (33-for-104, .317), OF Brad Roblin (33-for-105, .314) and OF Eric Rose (30-for-96, .313).

Contact: Jim Schneider (734-763-4423)