A Grandfather's Inspiration, a Grandson's Hot Bat and Henry's Mound Mastery
6/25/2019 10:10:00 AM | Baseball, Features
By Steve Kornacki
OMAHA, Neb. -- How's this for a script?
Grandfather who was a pitcher on the school's last national championship team 57 years ago meets current team along with a teammate and speaks to them about what they have in common and what they need to do to be successful in the NCAA College World Series championship series.
Grandson of that pitcher gets the biggest hit of the night -- a two-run homer in a 0-2 count -- against the heavy favorite to propel his team to within one win of its first baseball national championship since 1962.
That script likely would've been too corny for Hollywood to buy, but it's exactly what happened here Monday night (June 24) before 24,707 fans at TD Ameritrade Park and millions more watching on television.
Jimmy Kerr, now batting .389 and leading the CWS with three homers and eight RBI in four wins, hit the long ball in the seventh inning to get the University of Michigan back in control of a game it won, 7-4, over No. 2-seed Vanderbilt. The Commodores had allowed only six runs total in three previous World Series victories.
Starting pitcher Tommy Henry was strong once again, going 8.1 innings and allowing three earned runs while striking out eight against a lineup that featured seven MLB draft picks.
John Kerr, the grandfather who threw 19 innings in one day as the Wolverines took their regional to advance to the CWS more than a half century ago, and shortstop Dick Honig, who went 2-for-6 with one RBI and one run in the 15-inning, 5-4 win over Santa Clara in the championship game, spoke to Team 153 in a meeting room at its downtown hotel.
Brewer's 12th outfield assist of the year stifled a late Vanderbilt rally.
"It gave me chills when they walked into the room," said Henry. "It was awesome. We look up to those guys, and those are the shoulders that we stand on. They laid the foundation for Michigan baseball. They've had the success, and to just get a little insight from guys who have done it, who have the rings, was awesome. For them to lend their time was special for all of us."
Jimmy shook his head and smiled when asked about Grandpa.
"That was the most I've ever heard my grandpa speak," said Jimmy, "and it was great. I loved every second of it. To hear him talk about his team was special."
Right fielder Jordan Brewer, who revived his offense with advice from assistant coach Nick Schnabel to "stay on the ball and trust your hands" and gunned down a runner trying to take third base on a single to quell an eighth-inning rally, said, "It's so awesome that they come out here to watch us play and then talk to us. The alumni (group) is so powerful for us. It's so unreal to see the whole university behind us."
Catcher Joe Donovan, who launched a solo homer and scored two runs with two hits and one walk, said: "[John] drew parallels from our team to his team and how we just try to grind it out and how some didn't believe in us but we believed in ourselves. Him and Dick Honig said we have fun and try to stay in the moment. It's cool to get the insights of two guys who have done it before.
"They said they have a teammate who is in the south of France and there's a seven- or eight-hour time difference, and he stays up every night to watch it. It's great to know those guys and the whole Michigan baseball family are behind us."
Shortstop Jack Blomgren, who turned a big double play, had three hits and scored one run, added: "They talked about how we never give up and started the season not ranked very highly and how that was similar to them. They said, 'You just have to play baseball at the right time and the rest is history.' They motivated us."
It was a magical night for the Wolverines (50-20), who triumphed over the Commodores (57-12), a gold standard program that set its school single-season victory total and had lost only twice since April 14.
"We did have some big plays," said Michigan coach Erik Bakich. "A huge hit, a two-run home run by Jimmy Kerr when they started to get the momentum back. (Vanderbilt starter Drake) Fellows was settling in, and we needed that blast right there.
"And Jordan Brewer's throw was a huge throw at the time, and then Joe Donovan's home run for more insurance."
Donovan's solo blast in the eighth, his ninth homer of the season, closed the scoring.
Kerr was in trouble against tall and lanky reliever Zach King and his funky delivery on that crucial at-bat. He was a lefty facing a lefty and down in the count, 0-2.
That wasn't the likely scenario for heroics. But when King hung a curve high and over the plate, Kerr didn't miss it. He crushed the ball high and deep into the first rows of seats beyond the bullpen in right field.
"In my earlier at-bats it was a little tougher to see here because the sun's in the eyes of the batters," said Kerr. "So, it was difficult conditions, and I was having trouble picking up the ball my first three at-bats (two strikeouts and a flyout). But that time, the sun was down.
"He was deceptive, a side-arming lefty. But the ball looked better than it had the first few at-bats, and I got a curveball up that I hit pretty well. I usually never know the ball's gone, but I knew that one was gone as soon as I hit it."
As he rounded the bases, the Wolverines in the dugout rose to their feet, and their spirit rose, too. The momentum that the Commodores were gaining, cutting the lead to one run, had been stifled.
"Brewer cracked me up," said Kerr. "He was standing there staring at me as I was rounding first and that was awesome. He was giving so much energy to the team and that was cool to see."
Brewer said, "I didn't even move at first when Jimmy hit it. It was unreal. And I just looked at him like, 'This is ours. We're taking this game.'"
Henry tied a school record with his 12th win of the season.
Donovan said, "That homer allowed us to exhale and play with a little more swagger."
Kerr took off his helmet near home plate and tapped helmets with on-deck batter Blake Nelson and then with Brewer, who had reached base ahead of him by narrowly beating out an infield hit.
Kerr's face was full of fire as he brought his right elbow up high to tap elbows with Christan Bullock and Dominic Clementi. Kerr also received a bit of a water shower from the drinking bottles of teammates.
"One big family coming out of the dugout," said Kerr. "That was the best part of it."
ESPN had a camera focused on his grandparents, John and Sharon, during the celebration. Grandpa was beaming with pride, flushed with emotion.
The scene reminded me of a conversation I'd had at the team hotel with Jimmy's father, Derek Kerr, who was a backup catcher on the 1983 and 1984 Wolverine CWS teams.
Derek, whose wife, Carolyn, is enjoying this ride, too, was answering congratulatory texts following the previous win over Texas Tech in which Jimmy hit two homers. He smiled and said, "This is unbelievable. Let's never wake up."
I asked Jimmy about that thought, and he said, "Nope, and I still don't want to wake up either. I can't come up with the words to describe this. It wasn't our best offensive performance, but we still found a way."
Jimmy had one homer and four RBI last season, hit the weights big-time, and he now leads the team with 15 homers and 64 RBI. The Detroit Tigers drafted him in the 33rd round as a third baseman, where he played much of his earlier career.
Kerr is in serious contention for CWS Most Outstanding Player.
So is Henry (12-5), who now shares the school single-season victory total with teammate Karl Kauffmann and Rich Stoll (1982 and 1983). Henry has a 1.56 ERA in the CWS after 17.1 innings that have produced 18 strikeouts with only one walk on 10 hits.
"I thought another gutsy performance by Tommy Henry," said Bakich. "Just the thing about his last three outings, for him to finish his Michigan career tonight, the way he pitched and to know that he's emptied the tank for three straight years and poured his heart and soul into our program, and we wouldn't be here without him, and to pitch with the flu and pneumonia in Los Angeles (against No. 1 seed UCLA), to do what he did against Florida State (a shutout last week), to pitch into the ninth inning tonight, just an incredible performance.
"And that's what we needed. We needed a guy to put the team on his back. He's been a great captain, great leader, an inspiration to a lot of younger pitchers about what hard work looks like, and showing up here tonight."
Bakich (23) got another "incredible performance" from Henry, who went 8.1 innings.
What did Henry, a second-round pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks, do best in his final college start?
"His ability to move the fastball in and out," said Donovan. "Sometimes when he's going really good, he's got a little bit of cut and ride on his fastball. So, as it's coming in, it'll get off some barrels. And when he gave up the solo homer to (JJ) Bleday, that's not going to beat you."
Henry got two big plays to avoid potential trouble innings.
Austin Martin led off the third with a single, but after Henry got Bleday to pop out, Blomgren scooped up a grounder by No. 3 hitter Ethan Paul to turn a 6-3 double play.
"It was a big play and a big momentum-changer," said Blomgren. "Luckily, Jimmy picked me up on the other end (and scooped the throw at first base). That was a bad throw, but it was a big play."
Blomgren (left) and Jesse Franklin
The Commodores had Martin walk on four pitches to start the eighth, and then Henry got Bleday to go down swinging. But Paul, who leads his team with 72 RBI, responded this time by lashing a single to right. Martin came roaring around second headed to third, where Brewer gunned him down for his 12th outfield assist of the season.
"I looked at my (belt) card before that batter and saw he was a green runner," said Brewer. "That means he's fast, and I knew he was going to go to third. I came in a little on the hitter for that at-bat, and when he hit it and it got by (second baseman) Ako (Thomas), I was flying. I always get excited and mess up getting the ball in those situations. But this time I took my time getting the ball and then made the throw.
"Oh, my God, it gives me chills just thinking about it right now."
Henry said, "I don't think I've yelled that loud on the baseball field in a long time."
Brewer added, "I could hear Tommy. He pointed and shouted, 'Let's go!' I just pointed back at him and said, 'You got my back, I got yours.' Tommy got the crowd going again."
When Henry came out, having thrown 110 pitches, Kerr pounded his glove so loudly that Henry could hear it. Then he was greeted outside the dugout by two rows of appreciative teammates and the Maize and Blue fans, chanting, "TOMMY! TOMMY! TOMMY!"
"I don't know what the words are for something like that," said Henry. "I mean, to hear our families and everyone with a block M on their chests here who made the trip to Omaha to come support us and cheering for us throughout the entire game was special.
"That's something I'll remember forever. That's why we play the game -- for the community back home, the university, the athletic department. We play for them, and it's cool to have them all here. We cherish every bit of it."
It was a special, special victory.
But the job's not done in this best-of-three series, and Michigan needs win No. 51 if Team 153 is to join the 1962 and 1953 Wolverines as NCAA champs.
