Michigan's Dream Season Ends with Loss to Beavers

Monday, June 11

Corvallis, Ore.

4:00 PM PT

Michigan

42-19

Oregon State

44-18

Michigan

Oregon State

6/11/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Site: Corvallis, Ore. (Goss Stadium at Coleman Field)
Event: NCAA Super Regional (Game 2)
Score: #25 Oregon State 8, Michigan 2
Records: U-M (42-19), OSU (44-18)
Next U-M Game: Season completed

• Boxscore

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Defending national champion Oregon State took advantage of seven walks and a hit batter mixed with a pair of Darwin Barney run-scoring hits to beat the University of Michigan baseball team 8-2 in NCAA Super Regional action Monday (June 11) at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field.

Barney was 3-for-5 with a double and three RBI in the game.

The loss ends the season for the Wolverines (42-19), while the defending NCAA champion Oregon State Beavers (44-18) advance to the College World Series Saturday (June 16) against Cal Sate Fullerton.

Oregon State starter Mike Stutes (10-4) gave up a walk to senior RF Brad Roblin (Wayland, Mass./Rivers School) in the top of the first, but Roblin was doubled off on a line drive to right by junior 1B Nate Recknagel (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion).

Michigan sophomore LHP Mike Wilson (Pickering, Ont./Pine Ridge Secondary) struck out four batters in the first inning with one of the K victims reaching on a wild pitch, but he lost his rhythm in the second inning. With one out, Wilson hit RF Braden Wells on a 1-2 pitch and then walked three straight. CF Chris Hopkins drew the bases loaed walk to force in the first run of the game which proved to be the game-winning RBI. Wilson (7-1) suffered his first loss of the year.

Junior/sophomore Michael Powers (St. Clair Shores, South Lake) replaced Wilson after the Hopkins walk and he walked 2B Joey Wong to make the score 2-0. Barney knocked in two runs with the first hit of the game for a 4-0 Beaver lead.

The host Beavers added three runs in the fifth inning on three walks, a squeeze bunt by Wong, a balk and a run-scoring double by Barney.

Michigan senior co-captain CF Eric Rose (Blissfield, Mich./Blissfield) accounted for the entire Wolverine offense with a pair of solo homers -- his third and fourth of the season -- in the sixth and ninth innings.

Rose's homers accounted for half the Wolverine hits in the final game of the season; Roblin and VanBuskirk had the other hits.

Q U O T E S

Michigan Head Coach Rich Maloney
"I know hitting is a contagious thing. I love my offensive team, unfortunately we didn't get it done in this venue. A lot is Oregon State's pitching. Had we won the first game this series probably would have been a lot different. I thought we'd rebound better than we did. Of Oregon State's nine runs this weekend, eight were via a walk. We had no momentum offensively in this series."

"Were on the cusp, but what Eric (Rose) touched on is true -- we haven't been in this place yet. In the future, we'll have a new stadium and we'll be able to host. We'll get great crowds like OSU does. What you guys have here is what I envision for us in the future. The good thing is our program is in solid shape. These guys (Rose and Roblin) set the tone. We're a top 10 team next year and our goal is Omaha. It's been Omaha, but now we know we can make it."

U-M Senior outfielder Brad Roblin
"This is the expectation of the team now. We didn't play our best baseball, but they're a great team. Both Oregon State pitchers have good presence, they attack the zone.

U-M Senior outfielder Eric Rose
On his two home runs in his final at-bats ... "I just told myself to let it go as the season was winding down in my last two at-bats."

N O T E S

• The top hitters for the Wolverines in the light-hitting Corvallis Super Regional were senior co-captain Eric Rose and junior LF Derek VanBuskirk each hitting .333 (2-for-6) in the weekend that found Michigan getting out-hit by Oregon State, 9-8.

• The two solo homers by Rose, in his final game at Michigan, marked the first time a Wolverine hit two homers in a game since sophomore P/DH Zach Putnam (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) hit two at Eastern Michigan earlier his season on April 10. Rose had a 1.333 slugging percentage for the weekend.

• Rose closed out his career with a school-record 90 stolen bases and was fourth in career at bats (730), seventh in hits (228), tied for ninth in games played (207 -- with Bryan Besco, 207, 1995-99) and 10th in runs scored (161).

• Five players played all 61 games for the Wolverines in 2007 including 1B Nate Recknagel, SS Jason Christian (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland), 3B Adam Abraham (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich./South), P/DH Zach Putnam and C/RF/2B Doug Pickens (West Bloomfield, Mich./Brother Rice). The heart of the lineup included four batters in the same batting order in each of the 61 games with Recknagel batting third, Putnam fourth, Abraham fifth and Pickens sixth for every game.

• Junior/sophomore RHP Michael Powers pitched 2.2 innings in the season finale vs. Oregon State on Monday (June 11) giving him a team-leading total of 30 appearances for the season to tie Todd Marion (30, 1983) for the second best number of pitching appearances in a season, one shy of John Arvai's U-M single-season record of 31 set in 1995. Powers appeared in both games at the Oregon State Super Regional, allowing one run in three innings while striking out five batters.

• Powers finished third on the team with 52 strikeouts in 56.2 innings behind team leader Zach Putnam at 87 in 102.1 innings and Mike Wilson with 64 K's in 71.2 innings.

• LF Derek VanBuskirk closed out the season with a four-game hitting streak, the best active streak to start 2008 as SS Jason Christian had his late-season streak snapped at seven games. The best streak of the year was 28 games by senior CF Eric Rose.

• Michigan's 2007 final leading hitters (61 games) following the NCAA Corvallis Super Regional: LF Derek VanBuskirk (56-for-146, .384), 2B Kevin Cislo (Novi, Mich./Novi) at .364 (59-for-162), 1B Nate Recknagel (80-for-227, .352), C/OF Doug Pickens (78-for-231, .338), P/DH Zach Putnam (74-for-224, .330), SS Jason Christian (80-for-244, .328), 3B/P Adam Abraham (74-for-231, .320), OF Brad Roblin at .320 (56-for-175, 3.20) and CF Eric Rose (63-for-204, .309).