Kalczynski Posts Career Day in U-M Loss to Minnesota

Friday, May 8

Ann Arbor, Mich.

6:35 PM

Michigan

26-22, 7-12

Minnesota

32-13, 14-4

Minnesota

Michigan

5/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Wilpon Complex)
Score: Minnesota 9, Michigan 5
Records: U-M (26-22, 7-12), Minnesota (32-13, 14-4)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, May 9 -- vs. Minnesota (Wilpon Complex), 1 p.m.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Despite tallying 12 hits and striking out 11 Golden Gophers, the University of Michigan baseball team fell to visiting Minnesota, 9-5, on Friday night (May 8) in game one of its three-game weekend series at the Wilpon Baseball Complex, home of Ray Fisher Stadium.

Senior third baseman Tim Kalczynski(Farmington Hills, Mich./Brother Rice) put together a career night at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI in the loss. Senior leftfielder Kenny Fellows(Holt, Mich./Holt), junior catcher Chris Berset(Vienna, Va./Heights School) and junior second baseman Mike Kittle(Clarkston, Mich./Clarkston) contributed a pair of hits each, with Berset also collecting an RBI.

The Wolverines got on the board first, scoring a run in the opening inning when Berset singled home sophomore centerfielder Ryan LaMarre(Jackson, Mich./Lumen Christi) to give U-M a 1-0 lead.

Senior starting pitcher Chris Fetter(Carmel, Ind./Carmel) was stellar through two innings, fanning four of the first six Gopher hitters before running into trouble in the third, giving up a solo homer to Minnesota second baseman Derek McCallum and allowing a second run on an RBI single that gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead.

The Gophers added to that lead in the fifth inning, scoring a pair of unearned runs off Fetter to go on top 4-1. Minnesota then added four more runs in the seventh inning off a combination of Fetter and sophomore reliever Matt Gerbe(Shelby Twp., Mich./Eisenhower) to take a 8-1 lead.

After Gerbe held Minnesota scoreless in the eighth, the Wolverine bats got kick-started by back-to-back hit-by-pitches to begin the eighth inning. With one away, Kalczynski deposited his third homer of the season -- a towering shot over the brick monster in left -- to cut the lead in half, 8-4. Kittle and Fellows followed with back-to-back singles, and a walk to sophomore shortstop Anthony Toth(Lorain, Ohio/St. Ignatius) loaded the bases for LaMarre, who sent a towering blast to left that was caught at the wall for a sacrifice fly, making it 8-5.

That was as close as the Wolverines came, however, as Minnesota added an insurance run in the ninth en route to the 9-5 victory.

Fetter took the mound loss, falling to 6-3 on the season after working six-and-one-third innings and striking out seven.

The Wolverines will continue their three-game series with the Golden Gophers on Saturday (May 9) with game two of the three-game set beginning at 1:05 pm.

N O T E S

Michigan (26-22, 7-12 Big Ten) remained in seventh place with its 9-4 loss to second-place Minnesota (32-13, 14-4 Big Ten) in the series opener Friday (May 8) night in the Wilpon Baseball Complex. Big Ten leader Illinois (15-4) scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat Ohio State (13-6) by a 5-4 margin in a game OSU led 4-1 in the eighth inning. Illinois is first, Minnesota is second and OSU is third with two weekends of conference action remaining. Penn State defeated Iowa, 8-6, in the last game on Friday. Fourth-place Indiana (11-6) was rained out with Northwestern on Friday and fifth-place Michigan State (11-7) hosts sixth-place Purdue (7-10) in a Saturday-Sunday-Monday series due to Purdue exams. Michigan is seventh, followed by Penn State (5-13), Northwestern (3-13) and Iowa (3-15).

Senior co-captain Tim Kalczynski, making his sixth start of the season at third base, went 3-for-4 with a three-run homer in the opener vs. Minnesota. Kalczynski collected his fourth multi-hit game of the season while recording his first career three-hit game. Kalczynski, who has three home runs this season, has hits in seven of his last eight games.

Junior catcher Chris Berset was 2-for-4 with a run-scoring single and reached base three times Friday vs. Minnesota and was also hit by a pitch. Berset is 7-for-10 (.700) with seven RBI in three games this week after going 5-for-6 in the two wins vs. Western Michigan. Berset had a run-scoring single vs. Minnesota. Berset, who has hits in five straight games, is hitting .297 (22-for-74) and has six multi-hit games this season.

Senior OF Kenny Fellows, who ranks second on the team with a .329 (57-for-173) average, was 2-for-5 with a double Friday vs. Minnesota. Fellows, who has 10 doubles, collected his 11th two-hit game of the season and his 15th multi-hit game.

Veteran IF/OF Mike Kittle, making his fifth start of the season at second base, was 2-for-4 Friday vs. Minnesota and collected the first career multi-hit game of his Wolverine career.

Sophomore OF Ryan LaMarre, who leads the team with a .341 (56-for-164) batting average, was 1-for-3 with a sac fly Friday vs. Minnesota. LaMarre, who has hits in five straight games, gave the Wolverine fans a thrill when his bid for a game-tying grand slam homer fell just short of the Brick Monster in left for a sac fly in the bottom of the eighth inning. LaMarre is second on the team with 51 RBI.

Senior RHP Chris Fetter pitched 6.1 innings, allowing nine hits and eight runs (six earned) while striking out seven in the 9-5 loss to Minnesota Friday night. Fetter is 6-3 on the season with a 2.89 ERA and has 94 strikeouts in 87.0 innings.

Fetter pushed his career strikeout total to 272 in Friday's series opener vs. Minnesota. Fetter ranks third on U-M's career strikeout list and is chasing Mike Ignasiak (286, 1985-88) in second place, and the record is 288 held by Jim Burton (1969-71).

With the seven strikeouts vs. Minnesota, Fetter moved into fifth on Michigan's single-season strikeout list with 94 as he snapped his tie for seventh place with former teammate Zach Putnam (87 Ks, 2007) and also moved ahead of Steve Howe (92, 1978). Next on U-M's single season strikeout list is Ross Powell (98, 1989) in fourth place. Fetter needs just six more strikeouts to become the fourth Wolverine to reach 100 Ks in a season.

With the loss to Minnesota, Fetter has a 27-10 career record and remains tied for third place with Steve Howe (27 wins, 1977-79) on U-M's career wins list. Second place is held by Rich Stoll (1981-83) with 30 wins.

Q U O T E S

Michigan Head Coach Rich Maloney
On Chris Fetter's performance on the mound... "Early on, he was absolutely fantastic. He was throwing petro and they were swinging and missing on fastballs. He must have thrown 30 fastballs in a row and they swung and missed on 20 of them. Then some unfortunate things happened. I felt bad for Chris because he has had a phenomenal career for us and we wouldnt have had the success we have had these past couple years without him. For this to be his last performance at home, that is tough. At the same time, he was electric for the scouts early; he was throwing 95. When I recruited him, he was throwing 83, so I am really proud of him. He has come a long way and he should be proud."

On the team seemingly not getting the ball to bounce its way... "It is just the way it has been around here this year. It is inches. Ryan LaMarre hits a ball to the wall and if he hit it just a foot farther -- he hit it 311 and we needed 313 -- if he hit it 313, we would have tied it up. In the past, that is what would have happened, but for whatever reason, we have just been a little bit short."

On the bases-loaded situation in the eighth... "I was hoping we would get to a situation where those two guys (LaMarre and Dufek) would get a chance and we did. Ryan (LaMarre) did everything he could but hit it out. That was unfortunate because something like that would have been a great comeback and that can catapult you from a confidence standpoint."

On the offense performing at a higher level recently... "That is four games in a row, which is very encouraging. Starting back from the last Ohio State game, the two Western Michigan games and this game, I think we have played better offensively. I told the boys that 'hey that is encouraging. It is one game at a time right now and we just got to try to win a game. We cant worry about anyone else, we got to give ourselves a shot so going into our last weekend we have a chance'. With that being said, it is encouraging that we are hitting because you have to score runs to win and we are doing a better job of that."

Contact: Matt Fancett (734) 763-4423