Postgame Notes: #18 Michigan 3, Purdue 2
5/24/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
• Top-seeded Michigan (45-12) defeated second-seeded Purdue 3-2 Saturday night to capture the 2008 Big Ten Tournament and earn the Big Ten's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The regional fields will be announced at 12:30 p.m. Monday (May 26) on ESPN.
• The Big Ten Tournament title is the eighth for the Wolverines in 20 appearances since the conference went to a tournament format in 1981, and it is the second title in the past three seasons (2006, '08). Michigan has hosted the tournament 10 times and won it at Fisher Stadium fives times (1981, '83, '87, 2006, '08). Michigan has won twice in Minneapolis, Minn., (1984, '86) and once in Columbus, Ohio (1999).
• Saturday's title-game win over Purdue gives Wolverine head coach Rich Maloney his fifth Big Ten championship in his six years as head coach, with three regular-season titles (2006, '07, '08) and a pair of postseason Big Ten titles (2006, '08).
• Maloney added to his a career season-best total with 45 wins. The 45 wins are the most for the Wolverines since winning 49 in 1989. Maloney is 237-124 in his six seasons at Michigan, and his career record in 13 years as a head coach is 492-268-1 including his seven seasons with Ball State.
• Senior/junior RHP Michael Powers was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Big Ten Tournament as he set a tournament record by notching his third save in three games. He allowed two hits while pitching two shutout innings in the 3-2 win over Purdue on Saturday. In the three Michigan wins Powers pitched six shutout innings, allowing four hits while recording nine strikeouts. He finished each game with a strikeout. In fact, not only did Powers set the individual record with three saves in the tournament, his three saves are more than any other team recorded since the tournament's inception in 1981. Michigan had been the last with two saves in 2006, while four pitchers, including Michigan's Tyler Steketee (1995-98), had two in 1997.
• Powers is the seventh Wolverine to earn MOP/MVP honors in the Big Ten Tournament, joining catcher Gerry Hool (1981), SS Barry Larkin (1983), OF Kurt Zimmerman (1984), relief pitcher Greg Everson (1987), 2B Bobby Scales (1999) and current teammate P/DH Adam Abraham (2006). Everson had two wins and a save out of the bullpen in 1987.
• Powers earned his team-leading seventh save of the season in Saturday's win over Purdue. Powers is 6-4 with a 2.64 ERA and has 59 strikeouts in 58.0 innings. Powers has 13 career wins and 11 saves, and he is tied for fifth on U-M's all-time saves list with current teammate Ben Jenzen (11 saves, 2006-08).
• The pitching appearance for Powers vs. Purdue on Saturday was his team-leading 26th of the season. Powers, the active career leader with 69 appearances, pulled into a sixth-place tie on Michigan's career pitching appearance list with Phil Tognetti (69 appearances, 2002-05). Greg Everson (73 appearances, 1985-87) is fifth on the list.
• Michigan's 2008 All-Big Ten Tournament team members included pitchers Michael Powers, Chris Fetter and Zach Putnam, 3B Adam Abraham and OF Kevin Cislo. Abraham has been named to the Big Ten all-tournament team at three positions in his career, making it as DH and pitcher when he was MOP in 2006 and at 3B in 2008.
• Junior CF Kevin Cislo was 3-for-5 vs. Purdue in Saturday's Big Ten Championship game with a career-best pair of doubles, and he scored the game-winning run from third base on a wild pitch in the seventh inning. Cislo, who has reached base in 42 consecutive games, collected his fifth three-hit game and the 17th multi-hit game of the season in the win. Cislo has nine three-hit games and 35 multi-hit games in his career. Cislo is second on the team with a .363 (61-for-168) batting average and leads the team with 17 stolen bases.
• Freshman RHP Tyler Burgoon worked 4.1 shutout innings out of the bullpen while allowing two hits and recording three strikeouts to earn his second win of the season in the Big Ten Championship game against Purdue Saturday night. Burgoon is 2-0 with a 4.81 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 33.2 innings.
• Senior LF Derek VanBuskirk was 2-for-3 in Saturday's win over Purdue and had five hits in the Big Ten Tournament. The two-hit game vs. Purdue was VanBuskirk's 18th multi-hit game of the year and the 50th of his U-M career.
• Freshman OF Ryan LaMarre hit his second career home run and his first at the Wilpon Complex in the sixth inning to tie Saturday's Big Ten championship game at 2-2. LaMarre has hits in the past four games and in 13 of his last 14 games. LaMarre is hitting .290 (38-for-131) with five doubles and two homers, and he has eight stolen bases.
