Michigan Closes Regular Season With Win at Iowa

Sunday, May 20

Iowa City, Iowa

1:00 PM CT

Michigan

39-14, 21-7

Iowa

31-21, 17-13

Michigan

University of Iowa

5/20/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Site: Iowa City, Iowa (Duane Banks Field)
Score: Michigan 7, Iowa 2
Records: U-M (39-14, 21-7 Big Ten), Iowa (31-21, 17-13 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Wednesday, May 23 -- Big Ten Tournament (at regular-season champ, )

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Sophomore DH Zach Putnam (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) launched a grand slam homer in the third inning to pace the attack as the University of Michigan baseball team closed out the regular season with a 7-2 win over Iowa Sunday afternoon (May 20) at Duane Banks Field.

Michigan (39-14, 21-7 Big Ten) took three of four games in the final series of the season and will host the Big Ten Tournament starting Wednesday (May 23). Iowa dropped to 31-21 (17-13 in Big Ten).

Senior RHP Andrew Hess (Kalamazoo, Mich./Central) pitched the first five innings, allowing five hits and two runs to earn his seventh win of the season.

Iowa scored first for the third time on four games in the series. SS Jason White drew a leadoff walk and scored on a two-out double by LF Caleb Curry against Hess.

Senior CF Brad Roblin (Wayland, Mass./Rivers School) doubled down the right field line for the first U-M hit of the game in the third inning and -- after walks to sophomore 2B Kevin Cislo (Novi, Mich./Novi) and junior 1B Nate Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) loaded the bases -- it was Putnam who unloaded them with a grand slam homer -- his eight homer of the year.

The Wolverines put the game away with three runs with five consecutive hits in the ninth inning. The rally started with two outs and nobody on. Putnam started the rally with a hit, and sophomore 3b Adam Abraham (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich./South HS), RF Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice), LF Derek VanBuskirk (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair) and catcher Chris Berset (Vienna, ,Va./ The Heights School) collected the singles.

Freshman LHP Jeff DeCarlo (Medford, Mass./St. John's Prep) worked three innings and freshman RHP Mike Dufek (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain HS) pitched a scoreless ninth inning.

Putnam and Pickens each had two hits to lead the Wolverines on Sunday.

The Wolverines will continue action, hosting the Big Ten Tournament beginning Wednesday (May 16). Michigan's first game will be the late game on Thursday with the opponent to be determined. Putnam at 7-3 with a 3.69 ERA would be Michigan's first game starter.

N O T E S

Michigan's 7-2 win at Iowa and Ohio State 's 3-2 win at Penn State were the only road wins on Sunday (May 20) and OSU's win put the Buckeyes in the playoffs. Illinois beat Michigan State 8-7 to make the playoff and eliminate the Spartans from the playoffs. Indiana beat Minnesota 10-9 to split the series, but Minnesota gains the second seed vs. Penn State having taken the series against PSU. Northwestern topped Purdue 11-5 to sweep the final series of the season.

Final Big Ten Standings (Includes 5-20-07): 1. Michigan 21-7 (.750) 2. Minnesota 18-9 (.667) & Penn State 20-10 (.667) [Minn has tiebreaker vs. PSU] 4. Iowa 17-13 (.567) 5. Illinois 16-14 (.533) 6. Ohio State 15-15 (.500) 7. Michigan State 15-16 (.484) 8. Purdue 11-20 (.355) 9. Northwestern 9-23 (.281) 10. Indiana 8-23 (.258).

LF Derek VanBuskirk extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a ninth-inning RBI single, but 2B Kevin Cislo had his streak snapped at nine games.

The grand slam homer by Zach Putnam was the fourth Michigan slam lf the season and the first on the road since Adam Abraham's grand slam homer at Ohio State on April 14.

Michigan's leading hitters after 53 games are: LF Derek VanBuskirk (45-for-114, .395), 2B Kevin Cislo (51-for-135, .378), P/DH Zach Putnam (69-for-191, .361), 1B Nate Recknagel (69-for-193, .358), C/2B/OF Doug Pickens (70-for-199, .352), 3B/P Adam Abraham (68-for-200, .340), SS Jason Christian (71-for-213, .333), OF Brad Roblin (47-for-142, .331) and CF Eric Rose (57-for-177, .322).