Notes and Quotes: #22 Michigan 4, Ohio State 1
5/2/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
N O T E S
• Michigan's 4-1 win over Ohio State in front of a crowd of 2,234 in the Wilpon Baseball Complex Dedication Game Friday night (May 2) kept the Wolverines ahead of idle Purdue in the Big Ten standings. In other Friday action, Minnesota used a ninth-inning homer from Matt Hanson for a 7-6 win at Iowa, while Michigan State beat Penn State 7-3 on the road. The Northwestern at Illinois and Purdue at Indiana series were moved back to Saturday-Sunday-Monday due to impending bad weather.
• Big Ten Standings (After 5/2/08): 1. MICHIGAN 18-3 (.857), 2. Purdue 16-4 (.800), 3. Illinois 11-9 (.550), 4. Ohio State 10-10 and Northwestern 10-10 (.500), 6. Penn State 10-11 (.476), 7. Michigan State 8-12 (.400), 8. Minnesota 7-14 (.333), 9. Indiana 6-14, 10. Iowa 6-15 (.286).
• Junior P/DH Zach Putnam collected his sixth win of the season, pitching a seven-hitter with two strikeouts against the Buckeyes. The nine-inning complete game was the first for the Wolverines this season and the third of Putnam's career. The pitching win was Putnam's 20th career win (20-7) to move into a tie for 13th on the all-time U-M win list with Chris Lutz (20-3, 1986-88) and Bill Shuta (20-5, 1981-84) Putnam has 51 strikeouts in his last six starts moving his career K total to 176. At the plate Putnam reached base three times going 1-for-2 with a hit-by-pitch, a walk and a run-scoring single to move his batting average to .321 (51-for-159).
• Junior shortstop Jason Christian's fourth inning sacrifice fly snapped a 1-1 tie, becoming his fourth game-winning RBI of the season and his 10th career gamer. Christian was 1-for-1 with a single, two walks and the sac fly moving his batting average to .356 (42-for-118).
• Senior 1B Nate Recknagel set a Michigan single-game record in conference play and fell one shy of the Big Ten single game record, recording 20 put outs at first base in the 4-1 win over Ohio State on Friday (May 2).
• Recknagel was 1-for-4 with a run-scoring single in the seventh inning in the win over Ohio State. Recknagel has hits in 37 of U-M's 42 games this season and in 136 of the 167 games he has played in his career at U-M. For the season Recknagel leads the Wolverines in hitting at .409 (63-for-154), runs (42), hits (63), home runs (18), RBI (56), slugging (.825) and on-base percentage (.484). Recknagel ranks sixth on U-M's career RBI list (158).
• Fifth-year senior 2B Leif Mahler, who was 1-for-3 with a bunt single in the two-run seventh inning for the Wolverines, matched his career single-game best with eight assists. He had eight assists playing shortstop on the road against Ohio on March 20, 2005.
Q U O T E S
U-M Head Coach Rich Maloney
On your emotions after the dedication game... "It was a special day from the beginning. I was overwhelmed at the Schembechler Hall ceremony preceding the game. It was a packed house; so many people that I had no idea were coming. It was a dream that became a reality for the baseball family. It was special, and then to play a nice game today against the excellent Ohio State team. The performance Zach (Putman) gave ... what a performance. He is a phenomenal member of this ball club.
There were so many people here from the alumni base, supporting Michigan Baseball. It's extremely gratifying."
On the team's mindset coming into the game... "I really felt like the guys were going to come out and play well. Our guys are a veteran team and I think they get energized under pressure. When they tighten up their focus they are pretty good. We played really well on the infield -- Zach (Putnam) was outstanding and Leif Mahler getting a drag bunt in the bottom of the seventh, setting up the big boys to get the insurance runs, was huge. Jason Christian hit the sac fly to give us the lead ... we played a solid baseball game."
On OSU's starting pitcher Jake Hale ... "He's an outstanding pitcher. I thought for sure he would turn pro last year. Fortunately his pitch count was up and (Nate) Recknagel gave us that big hit to get the third run was huge. Fortunately for us, Zach (Putnam) was just a little bit better today.
