Paige's Pitching Not Enough Tuesday; Kauffmann, Criswell Ready for Title Game
6/25/2019 11:59:00 PM | Baseball, Features
By Steve Kornacki
OMAHA, Neb. -- Isaiah Paige did more than keep the University of Michigan in the game with Vanderbilt. The poised redshirt freshman right-hander gave it a chance to win what could have been the title-clinching game in the College World Series.
Paige threw four impressive innings against the Commodores on Tuesday night (June 25) and limited one of the most dangerous batting orders in college ball to one unearned run on three hits. He also had a season-high five strikeouts and zero walks.
But the Wolverines (50-21) couldn't get much going against Vanderbilt starter Kumar Rocker, who went 6.1 innings and allowed one run on three hits with 11 strikeouts to win, 4-1.
So, it comes down to one game for the national championship here Wednesday night (June 26) at TD Ameritrade Park. Karl Kauffmann, who is 2-0 with a 4.15 earned-run average in the CWS, will start for Michigan, which now has a rested Jeff Criswell ready to come in when needed. Criswell has thrown 5.2 scoreless innings in the CWS, and has allowed only two hits and two walks while striking out 10.
"Feel good about Karl Kauffmann and Jeff Criswell for tomorrow," said Wolverine coach Erik Bakich, "and feel good about the makeup of our team responding after a tough night."
Bakich noted that having to bounce back from not winning the potential championship game is nothing new for his team in double-elimination NCAA tournaments. Michigan lost in that setting to Creighton in the Corvallis (Oregon) Regional and to No. 1-seed UCLA in the Los Angeles Super Regional, but then beat both teams in winner-take-all settings.
"We've been here -- we've had a lot of repetitions with these types of games," said Bakich. "All the adversity that we've faced in the last month, month and a half, it's just callused our mind and guys are very comfortable in these environments and in these spots. I told the team, 'It seems very fitting that this is going to come down to Game 3.' That seems like how it should be with the storyline of this particular team, with Team 153.
"I like our chances. I think our mindset will be right. Whatever happens, our mindset will be right tomorrow."
Paige said, "We have two great arms going tomorrow with Karl and Jeff. So, we feel really, really good about tomorrow. It helps a lot. UCLA was No. 1 (seeded in the tourney). These guys are No. 2. So, if we can do it against the No. 1 team, we can do it against the No. 2 team (Vanderbilt). We'll be ready for tomorrow and will attack like we have the whole tournament."
Kauffmann
Shortstop Jack Blomgren added, "I think our whole team always has confidence no matter what happens, and we've been resilient all year. Those two guys coming in (to pitch) tomorrow have been great all year. So, we have so much confidence in them, and it's going to be about how bad -- which team wants it how bad."
One important factor in the showdown game is that the Commodores (58-12) used closer Tyler Brown for 2.2 innings and he threw 40 pitches. Criswell threw nine pitches to get two outs Monday night, didn't have to get hot in the bullpen Tuesday night and the season-long starter should be able to do virtually whatever is asked of him.
"The silver lining in all this is that we have Jeff Criswell ready to go tomorrow," said Bakich.
"The impetus for the decision to start Paige was more the desire to have Jeff Criswell out of the pen in an extended role. We knew that if we got any kind of a lead in the middle innings (Tuesday), we were going to go right to Criswell. And instead of extending him in the start like we did at UCLA a couple of weeks ago coming off of pitching an inning the night before, we felt like he would better serve our team finishing the game off."
The bad news for Michigan is that designated hitter Jordan Nwogu (.321, 12 home runs and 46 RBI) strained his quad muscle while trying to beat out an infield hit and landed awkwardly while trying to avoid first baseman Julian Infante stretching forward for the throw.
"I would guess with the way he was coming off the field, that would be a tough assignment to be ready to go in 24 hours," said Bakich. "Maybe he'll do a little Kirk Gibson or something. But, you know, we've been in this position multiple times in the year. Nwogu has been out, (Jesse) Franklin has been out, (Jordan) Brewer has been out. So, we've had a lot of guys step up and get opportunities.
Paige soaks in the moment before he threw his first pitch in the first inning to calm his nerves
"Dom (Clementi who was hitless in two at-bats while replacing Nwogu) could be a guy that we could run back out there, but I'm probably leaning towards a guy like Riley Bertram (.467 with three RBI and three doubles in 15 NCAA tourney at-bats) who's been a spark throughout this postseason. A guy like Miles Lewis could do it and has done it all year. He's got 200-something at-bats and 16 doubles and had a lot of clutch hits."
Bakich said he'll watch film to determine who matches up best with Vanderbilt right-handed freshman starter Mason Hickman (8-0, 2.08 ERA), who pitched six scoreless innings against Louisville on Friday (June 21) and will be going on the same amount of rest as Kauffmann.
Bertram is a freshman switch-hitter. Lewis, a senior, bats right-handed. Clementi is a junior who hits left-handed, and was All-Big Ten first team as a DH last season before an injury got him off to a slow start this season. Bakich said he'll likely move everyone up in the batting order with Franklin leading off and drop the DH into the No 9 spot.
It's a big blow, but the Wolverines have thrived on the next-man-up approach with injuries this season and it allows for an impact from an "outlier," which former Michigan basketball coach John Beilein discussed with the team in a video offering he made for them from his new post with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Paige definitely fit the "outlier" tag. He hadn't pitched since allowing only a solo homer to Colorado Rockies first-round pick Michael Toglia in 2.2 innings at UCLA on June 8. But he came up very big in this game and said that experience against the Bruins was critical.
"It did help," said Paige. "UCLA's as good a team as Vanderbilt is, just as talented. What I learned from that outing is to attack the zone and let my defense work. I had only one strikeout against UCLA."
Paige, the son of a Los Angeles fire chief who lives in suburban Diamond Bar, struck out three of the first five batters he faced in a Vanderbilt batting order that featured seven MLB draft picks, and then got his last two outs on strikeouts.
His parents and other family members were in the stands.
"They gave me a hug after the game and said they were proud of me," said Paige. "So, that was pretty cool."
Paige didn't learn he'd start until the gameday breakfast, when pitching coach Chris Fetter broke the news.
"Coach Fetter said, 'I wanted you to sleep last night.' So, he didn't tell me until the morning, and I don't think I would've slept if he'd told me."
He gave up one-out singles in the third and fourth innings, but got the next two batters both times. When he struck out Stephen Scott to end the fourth, Paige threw so hard that his hat went askew. He threw down both fists and shouted, "Yeahhh!"
Paige said, "When I got that strikeout, I knew our offense was going to get something going, and it was big. It was exciting. My slider was just working well and Coach Fetter was drawing up a good game plan."
Paige was lifted after giving up a leadoff single in the fifth, and was all smiles when he went to the dugout to stand next to CWS pitching star Tommy Henry.
"Tommy told me I did a good job," said Paige. "And that means a lot coming from him -- someone who's shined in the spotlight."
Bakich said, "Two things impressed me most. No. 1 was poise in that environment with 25,000 people, and he did a good job of staying under control. That allowed him to execute his pitches -- which is the second thing I was very impressed with. He commanded three pitches and filled the strike zone up with his fastball, slider and changeup.
"Not only does that bode well for his future, but he gave us exactly what we needed tonight. He put up some zeroes and got us to the middle of the game, and that's what we were hoping for. He had a very good team off-balance at times."
Paige
Paige had a poor outing followed by a good one against Creighton in the Corvallis Regional, and had been a weekday starter during the regular season. His most impressive outings came against Manhattan (five innings with no runs and two hits and one strikeout) and Michigan State (four innings with no runs on four hits with a previous season-high four strikeouts).
Still, without having thrown a pitch in a game for 17 days, Paige was on his game.
"A lot of it was Karl and Tommy settling me down," said Paige. "I had nerves going into the game, but I went out there and soaked in the moment and said, 'OK, here we are. Let's get it. Let's get after it.' I channeled the nervousness and made it excitement."
Paige (4-1, 2.75 ERA) took the hard-luck loss when the final batter he faced scored what was an unearned run.
Bakich emptied the bullpen after Paige with Benjamin Keizer, Jack Weisenburger, Angelo Smith, Willie Weiss and Walker Cleveland combining to allow three runs over five innings.
"I thought our guys that we pieced this game together with did a good job," said Bakich. "They scored an unearned run as a byproduct of an error, we spike a couple of wild pitches that score two runs. But outside of that, the solo home run (by Philip Clarke) was really the one run that they had really got into."
The Wolverines just couldn't get enough offense going, though, and Ako Thomas' RBI single to score Blomgren, who led off the seventh with a single off Rocker, was all they could manage.
It was a night when Michigan didn't have enough to win.
However, on the final night of the college baseball tournament, they are feeling pretty good about what they have on the mound. Kauffmann is 4-0 with a 2.40 ERA in four NCAA starts.
"I haven't talked to him," said Bakich, "but I'm sure in a World Series Final Game 3, he's feeling pretty good. I know he and Coach Fetter have had those conversations, and that's been the plan all along. He (started) on Friday against Texas Tech, and if it went to Wednesday, he was going to be ready to go.
"The one thing about Karl, he's older, he's mature, he knows how to take care of his body. So, he has done the things he needs to do from a workout standpoint and a recovery standpoint to get his body and himself ready to go on four days' rest and pitch on the fifth day."
Bakich was smiling as he spoke, knowing what he has going in the game for all the marbles -- an accomplished veteran starter and a dominant reliever.
