No. 19 Michigan Sweeps Saturday Doubleheader at Hawaii

Saturday, March 12

Honolulu, Hawaii

12:05 PM HT

Michigan

10-3

Hawaii

6-10

Michigan

HAWAII

No. 19 Michigan Sweeps Saturday Doubleheader at Hawaii

3/12/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

March 12, 2016

Baseball
Cody Bruder

» Freshman William Tribucher earned his first career victory in game one of the doubleheader, tossing three complete innings and allowing just two hits.
» The 4-0 sweep of Hawaii is Michigan's second series sweep this season and pushes Michigan to 11-3 overall.
» Senior Cody Bruder led the Wolverines with four RBI on the day, recording four hits.

• Boxscores: Game 1 | Game 2

Site: Honolulu, Hawaii (Les Murakami Stadium)
Scores: #19 Michigan 9, Hawaii 4; #19 Michigan 5, Hawaii 3
Records: U-M (11-3), UH (5-10)
Next U-M Event: Friday, March 18 -- at Oklahoma State (Stillwater, Okla.), 4 p.m. CDT

HONOLULU, Hawaii -- After rallying for a 9-4 victory in the first game and picking up a 5-3 win in the second game of a doubleheader Saturday (March 12), the 19th-ranked University of Michigan baseball team closed out the four-game series at the University of Hawaii with a clean sweep of the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors at Les Murakami Stadium. Freshman William Tribucher and senior Evan Hill both earned victories for Michigan on the afternoon.

Sophomore Ryan Nutof started game one of the doubleheader, tossing three innings and allowing two runs on four hits. In the bottom of the fourth, freshman William Tribucher took the mound, throwing the next three innings and striking out two. Allowing just two hits and two walks, he gave up his first earned run of the season in the outing and clinched his first career victory.

Coming out for the bottom of the seventh, freshman Ricky Karcher made his collegiate debut. He faced two batters and allowed an unearned run before freshman Troy Miller closed out the game on three-consecutive outs.

Though Michigan scored first in the Thursday and Friday night contests, Hawaii got on the scoreboard first in game one of the doubleheader. After a scoreless first, the Rainbow Warriors took advantage of a walk and a long single in the bottom of the second, scoring one for their first lead of the series. With Michigan unable to get any offense going early on, Hawaii added another run in the bottom of the third on a walk, a sacrifice bunt, and two singles for a 2-0 lead.

Down by two, the Wolverines responded in the top of the fourth with a run of their own. Senior Matt Ramsay led off the inning with a one-out double through the left side, and quickly advanced to third on a groundout. After a walk to junior Harrison Wenson put Michigan runners on the corners, senior Cody Bruder picked up a timely RBI single to right field, scoring Ramsay and bringing the Wolverines within one.

In the top of the fifth, however, Michigan executed its game plan effectively to tie the score at 2-2. Junior Johnny Slater led off the inning with a walk, taking second on a sacrifice bunt from junior Michael Brdar. Slater then stole third and it was freshman Ako Thomas who laid down a suicide squeeze bunt, allowing Slater to cross home plate and tie the game.

In the bottom of the inning, however, Hawaii took advantage of two-consecutive two-out walks and an outfield single to regain the lead, 3-2.

Refusing defeat, the Wolverines took the first lead of the game with three runs on three hits in the top of the sixth. Ramsay again led off with a single to leftfield, taking second on the following single from junior Carmen Benedetti. Ramsay then stole third, putting runners on the corners for Michigan as the offense threatened with no outs. Wenson then stepped to the plate, delivering a sac fly to centerfield that scored Ramsay and tied the game at 3-3. With Benedetti still on first and one out, it was Bruder who recorded his second RBI of the day with a double to the right-centerfield wall that allowed Benedetti to score as Bruder himself took third base on the throw home. With two outs on the board and a Michigan runner on third, freshman Jonathan Engelmann ended the rally with a sac fly to right field, scoring Bruder for a 5-3 lead.

Despite a two run lead heading into the seventh and final inning of game one, Michigan refused to slow its offensive attack. Brdar jumpstarted the seventh with a leadoff first-pitch single to right field, taking second on another well-placed sacrifice bunt from Thomas. With Brdar in scoring position, sophomore Jake Bivens then sent an RBI double to right-center, scoring Brdar for a three-run lead. Two-consecutive walks to Ramsay and Benedetti then loaded the bases, and a two-RBI double to the leftfield wall scored two, pushing the Wolverines ahead, 8-3. With Wenson and Benedetti in scoring position, Bruder again came up clutch with an RBI single to score Benedetti and force a 9-3 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh.

The Rainbow Warriors scored one run in the bottom of the seventh on a walk and two Michigan errors, but the late effort was not enough as the Wolverines took the game by a 9-4 score.

After a short break, the two teams got back at it with the second game of the doubleheader, signaling the fourth and final game of the series.

Much like Thursday and Friday, Michigan took to the scoreboard first in game two of the doubleheader on Saturday. After a scoreless first and second inning, Brdar walked to lead off the third, and was sacrifice bunted over to second by Thomas to give Michigan a runner in scoring position. Bivens then sent a single to leftfield, and an additional fielding error allowed Brdar to cross home plate for the first run of the game.

The Maize and Blue broke it open in the top of the fourth inning, scoring three runs on five hits for a 4-1 lead. Bruder and sophomore Drew Lugbauer led off the inning with back-to-back singles, and Bruder was able to score on a wild pitch while Lugbauer advanced to second. Slater then scored Lugbauer with an RBI double to left-centerfield, taking second on the following sacrifice bunt from Brdar. With a runner on third and just one out, Thomas sent a single up the middle to score Slater and end the inning up by three.

Hawaii responded in the bottom of the inning with one run on three hits. Despite the offensive surge and Rainbow Warriors loading the bases, however, the Michigan defense stranded three runners.

Leading 4-1, Michigan tacked on another run in the top of the fifth on an RBI single from Lugbauer to take a four-run lead.

Trailing by four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Hawaii attempted a rally but came up just short. The Rainbow Warriors did score two runs on a walk, a single, a Michigan error, and a passed ball, but it was Michigan who took home the 5-3 victory.

Senior lefty Evan Hill started on the mound for Michigan in the victory, tossing 5.2 innings and allowing just five hits. He walked one, striking out seven for his second victory this season.

Sophomore RHP Jayce Vancena closed out the bottom of the sixth, recording a flyout to end the inning. The righty then came out for the seventh and final inning of the series, recording two outs and allowing an unearned run, before Benedetti took the mound for the save. Benedetti allowed another earned run but ultimately closed the game out with a strikeout for the series sweep.

In total, Michigan recorded 19 hits on the day, walking seven times and tallying seven extra-base hits. Additionally, the Wolverine pitching staff combined for nine strikeouts and allowed just 13 hits on the afternoon.

Tweet of the Day

When you sweep a four-game series... 〽️⚾️

U-M takes home a 5-3 victory over Hawaii for the series sweep! #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/5tl3ZGdw7Y

-- Michigan Baseball (@umichbaseball) March 13, 2016

After making the 4,388 mile trek home, the University of Michigan baseball team will return to action on Friday, March 18, when it heads to Stillwater, Oklahoma, home for a three-game series against highly ranked Oklahoma State. First pitch for Friday's single game is scheduled for 4 p.m. CDT.

Communications Contact: Katie Gwinn Hewitt