The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - April 18, 2005 - 5B
LINE OF THE WEEK
Matt Whitmore
Illinois Starting Pitcher
Saturday Nightcap vs. Michigan
WHAT DID YOU SAY?
"To be honest with you, I thought
coach was going to yank me."
- Michigan pitcher Michael Penn
PLAYERS OF THE SERIES
Chds Robinson
(Illinois)
The Illinois catcher was a key part
of the Illini offense all weekend long.
He went 6-for-13 and drove in two
runs while scoring one himself.
Jeff Kunkel
(Michigan)
The Michigan backstop spearheaded the
Wolverines' offense with a double in each
game. Kunkel went 5-for-13 with 8 RBI and
he hit his second home run of the year.
P H R ERBB
7 4 11 2
so
5
FRIDAY'S GAME
Michigan Wolverines 3
LP: Derek Feldkamp (4-3)
Illinois Fighting Illini 4
* WP: Brian Blomquist (7-1)
SATURDAY, GAME 1
Michigan Wolverines 6
WP: Michael Penn (4-1)
Illinois Fighting Illini 1
LP: Jimmy Conroy (5-1)
SATURDAY, GAME 2
Michigan Wolverines 1
.P: Paul Hammond (1-3)
g Illinois Fighting Illini 4
WP: Matt Whitmore (3-1)
YESTERDAY'S GAME
Michigan Wolverines 8
WP: Derek Feldkamp (5-3)
Illinois Fighting Illini 5
LP: Jake Toohey (1-2)
M'-nine u set with
umps in ampaign
By H. Jose Bosch
Daily Sports Writer
CHAMPAIGN - In the ninth inning of
Friday's game, the crowd of 1,600 was grow-
ing increasingly louder as Illinois pitcher
Jake Toohey looked to his catcher for the
sign. Michigan freshman Doug Pickens rep-
resented the tying run at third. Senior first
baseman Kyle Bohm was at the plate with a
2-2 count.
As the crowd clapped in unison and the
situation grew tenser by the second, Toohey
set and delivered. What ensued will go down
as one of the stranger endings of a baseball
game in a season that has been anything but
normal for the Wolverines.
Bohm thought he had ball three when he
checked his swing. Home plate umpire Dave
Smith began pointing toward first base for
an appeal but then quickly changed his mind
and made the call himself. Bohm had swung,
and the Wolverines lost another heart break-
er, 4-3.
The final play of the game set off an
uproar from Michigan players and fans
alike. Led by Bohm, the Wolverines walked
up the rightfield line into the outfield for
their usual postgame meeting. But this time,
the players and coaches took out their frus-
trations of the game and the season on the
home plate umpire, screaming and yelling
until their faces turned blue.
"I don't even know what to say," Michigan
coach Rich Maloney said. "It's been amazing."
Though it seemed to be the most impor-
tant, the final call was just one in a series
of questionable calls that went against the
Wolverines.
To lead off the seventh inning, sophomore
Eric Rose seemed to have a walk to first base
after being hit by the pitch. But the home
plate umpire called strike three, claiming
that the ball hit the handle of the bat, rather
than Rose, before being caught by the catch-
er. Rose went ballistic, and Maloney barely
showed restraint when discussing the matter
with the official. Things seemed to cool off
until later in the inning.
Senior Matt Butler hit a weak ground ball
up the middle. Knowing he couldn't force
junior Chris Getz out at second, Illinois
shortstop Toby Gardenhire made a despera-
tion throw to first base. In a bang-bang play
that seemed to favor Butler, umpire Mark
Winter called him out to the surprise of
almost everyone in the stadium, including
Butler, who jumped up and down in disbelief
after the play ended.
The usually mild-mannered Maloney
sprinted from his spot on the third base side
across the diamond to first base so that he
could kindly give the umpire his opinion. In
an unusual show of raw emotion, Maloney
berated the official, who showed restraint by
not tossing the third-year coach. If both calls
had gone Michigan's way, the bases would1
have been loaded with nobody out.
INSIDE THE
NUMBERS
KEY STAT
4
The number of scoreless innings
that Michigan reliever Clayton
Richard pitched during Saturday's
doubleheader.
YESTERDAY's GAME
Michigan 8, Illinois 5
Michigan (20-12)
Player ASR
Rose cf 4 1
Butler rf 4 1
Getz ss 4 2
Bohml1b 4 1
Kunkel c 2 1
Schmidt If 3 1
VanBuskirk dh 5 0
Mahler ss 4 0
Martin 3b 3 1
Scheidt 3b 1 0
Taylor p 0 0
Feidkamp p0 0
Totals: 338
H B1
2 0
2 01
31
1 11
1 2
1 1
1 1
1 1I
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
117
Illinois (20412-1)
Player ABUR
Keyes 2b 4 1
Rogowski If 5 1
Davidson cf 5 1
Bensko 1b 2 2
Robinson c 3 0
Rohde dh 3 0
Frk 3b 3 0
Huisinga rf 4 0
Gardenhire ss2 0
Roof ph 1 0
Morris p 0 0
Saving p 0 0
Toohey p 0 0
Murphy p 0 0
Totals: 32 5
H
0
2
2
1
0
0
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
s
B!
0
0
0
3
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
LOB - Michigan 8; Illinois 7. E - Illinois: Gardenhire
(9); Morris (1). HR -Illinois: Bensko (9).
DP- Michigan; Iowa 2. 2B- Michigan: Kunkel
(7). 3B -Michigan: Bohm (1). HBP -None.
SB- Michigan: Schmidt (3); Mahler (1). CS
Michigan: Rose (2). SH -None. SF- Michigan:
Kunkel (1); Schmidt (1); Illinois: Rohde (2).
MIKE HULSEBUS/Daily
Michigan coach Rich Maloney was unhappy with the umpires at several points during the series in Illinois.
"I just don't understand why - it seems strange. All I can say is that our kids played
like everything's going against us," Maloney hard. And we're inches away, but those inch-
said. "Every call is going against us. It's just es are miles right now."
Michigan
Illinois
Michigan
Taylor
Feldkamp (W, 5-3)
Illinois
Morris
Saving
Toohey (l, 1-2)
Murphy
R H
040 010 102 8 11
300 020 000 5 8
E
0
2
IP H R ER BB SO
5.0 65 5 6 2
4.0 2 00 0 3
IP
1.2
4.0
0.1
3.0
H
4
2
1
4
R
4
1
I
2
ER
1
1
1
2
BB
3
2
2
0
SO
2
3
1
0
ILLINI
Continued from page 1B6
stop Toby Gardenhire, who fired to sec-
ond on a fielder's choice. The play allowed
junior Mike Schmidt to score, cutting the
Illinois lead to 3-2. *
After junior Alex Martin hit into a
fielder's choice of his own, sophomore
Eric Rose laid down a perfect drag bunt,
putting runners on first and second for
senior Matt Butler. With two outs, Butler
hit a slow bouncer to the left side of the
infield and took off down the line, setting
up what would have been a close play
at first. But Gardenhire fired an errant
throw wide of the bag, and Martin raced
around third to score the tying run.
The Wolverines weren't done. Junior
Chris Getz hit one of his trademark chop-
pers up the middle, and Gardenhire
appeared to have a play on it. But his slid-
ing attempt came up short, and Rose scored,
giving Michigan the 4-3 advantage.
"I said 'Finally!' " Maloney said. "Have
you seen that many breaks come our way?
Today, we took advantage of those (errors),
and that was huge. They gave us the little
window, and, for once, we were able to cash
in on it."
After the Wolverines put up another-
run in the fifth, Illinois scored two runs
off Michigan starter Drew Taylor to even
it up at five. But another Illini fielding
mistake would put Michigan back in the
driver's seat.
Leading off the seventh, Getz hit an inno-
cent bouncer at Illinois second baseman
J.R. Kyes. But the ball took a strange hop,
hit Kyes in the chest and rolled onto the dirt.
With the speedy Getz racing down the line,
Kyes didn't have a play. Illinois reliever Jake
Toohey followed with two straight walks,
advancing Getz to third. Schmidt followed
with a liner to center, scoring Getz and giv-
ing Michigan a 6-5 lead.
The margin was safe with Feldkamp on
the hill. The fireballing righty had been
struggling with his control, beaning a total
of seven batters in starts against Iowa and
Minnesota. And he struggled in Friday's
game, picking up the loss in relief.
But Feldkamp was nothing short of spec-
tacular. He consistently got ahead of Illini
hitters, keeping them off balance with his
hard fastball and sharp breaking pitch. Dur-
ing Feldkamp's four innings, no Illinois
runners advanced past first base.
"(Feldkamp) was outstanding, simply
outstanding," Maloney said. "He gave us a
lift when we had to have this. We couldn't
afford another game where relief wouldn't
have finished the job - for our psyche. For
Derek to give us the lift he did was huge."
Michigan's two victories in Champaign
were particularly impressive given the way
the series began. On Friday, the Wolverines
took a 3-1 lead into the eighth but gave up
three runs and lost, 4-3. Michigan respond-
ed with a 6-1 victory on the first game of
Saturday's doubleheader but dropped the
nightcap, 4-1.
SATURDAY, GAME 2
Michigan 1, Illinois 4
Michigan (2-9 BIg Ten,1942)I
Player AB R H SI1
Rose cf 2
Getz 2b 3
Butler rf 3
Bohm 1b 3
Kunkel c 3
VanRuslirk dh3
Scheidt 3b 2
Mahler ss 3
Schmidt If 2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
i
0
1
0
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
Illinois (9-2,209,1 overall)
Player AB R H BI
Kyes2b/rf 3 1 2 1
Rogowski If 3 1 1 1
Davidson cf 2 1 0 0
Roof 2b 0 0 0 0
Benskod1b 2 0 0 0
Rohde dh 3 Q 2 2
Frk 3b 2 0 0 0
Huisingarf/cf3 0 0 0
Robinson c 3 1 2 0
Gardenhire ss2 0 0 0
Totals: 23 4 7 4
Totals: 24 1 4 1
LOB - Michigan 5; Illinois 5. E - Michigan:
Richard (1). HR - Michigan: Schmidt (4). 2B
-Michigan: Kunkel (6). 3B- Illinois: Rogowski
(5) DP- Michigan: 1. HP- Illinois: Bensko. SB
- None. CS - Illinois: Rohde (2) SH - Michigan:
Rose (2); Illinois: Gardenhire (4). SF- None
Michigan
Illinois
Michigan
Hammond L(1-3)
Richard
Illinois
Whitmore
R H E
000 010 0 1 4 1
103 000X 77 0
IP H R ERS-BB SO
2.2 5 44 2 2
3.1 2 0 0 0 3
IP H R ER BB SO
7 4 11 2 5
SATURDAY GAME 1
Michigan 6, Illinois 1
MIKE HULSEBUS/Daily
Catcher Jeff Kunkel led the Michigan offense with eight RBI in the Wolverines' four-game series at Illinois this weekend.
MIchigan(2-8 Big Ten,19-11)
Player AB R H BI
Rose cf 4 00 0 1
Getz2b 4 2 3 0
Butler rf 3 1 0 01
Bohm 1b 3 2 2 11
Kunkel c 4 1 2 51
VanBusk dh 4 0 3 01
Mahler ss 3 0 1 01
Pickens If 0 0 0 0
Schmidt if 2 0 0 0
Illinois(8-2,19-9-1 overall)
Player AB R H BI
Kyes 2b 4 00 0
Rogowski If 4 0 1 0
Davidson cf 2 1 0 0
Benskolb 3 0 1 0
Huisinga rf 2 0 0 1
Frk 3 0 0 0
Robinson c 3 0 3 0
Murphy pr 0 0 0 0
Gardenhire ss3 0 0 0
PENN
Continued from page 1B.
six and one third solid innings of work.
And although Michigan took home a seemingly lopsided
6-1 on decision Saturday, Penn was instrumental in keeping
the Wolverines afloat early on. Michigan couldn't get any
runs across in the first five innings, but Penn allowed just
three Illinois runners to reach base in that span.
"I know the key for me (in a seven inning game) is to get a
good start," Penn said. "You can't let them get ahead of you
early. I think it's key for our offense to bust out early. They
didn't do it today, unfortunately, but the key in a seven-
inning game is to strike first. It's a little different approach
than a nine-inning game."
Finally, in the sixth, Michigan gave Penn some run sup-
port, pouring in four runs off Illinois starter Jimmy Conroy.
But the Illini wouldn't give up. Perhaps the most impres-
sive part of Penn's start was his composure when the bounc-
es started to go against the Wolverines.
After recording a groundout to start the inning, Penn hit
Illinois centerfielder Drew Davidson with a pitch. Then, he
jammed cleanup hitter Dusty Bensko, causing him to hit a
seemingly innocent popup to shallow left-centerfield. But
Michigan sophomore shortstop Leif Mahler was unable
to make the over-the-shoulder grab. Penn followed with a
walk of Illinois designated hitter Mike Rhode, loading the
bases.
With redshirt freshman phenom Clayton Richard warm-
ing up in the bullpen, Maloney could have opted to take out
Penn. But he stayed with him and the decision paid off.
"To be honest with you, I thought coach was going to
yank me." Penn said. "But I think you just have to keep
Totals: 30 6 128 Totals:
261 5 1
LOB- Michigan 9; Illinois 9 E - Michigan: Bohm
(2). HR- Michigan: Kunkel (2). DP. Illinois 1.
218- Michigan: Getz (4), Kunkel (5); Illinois:
Robinson (5). HBP-Michigan: Butler, Mahler;
Illinois: Davidson. SS- Michigan: Getz (18). CS
- None. SF- Illinois: Huisinga (4). SH- None
R H E
Michigan
Illinois
Michigan
Penn W(4-1)
Richard
Illinois
Conroy L(5-1)
Saving
000 004 2 6 12 1
000 001 0 1 5 0
IP H R ER BB SO
6.151 1 2 5
0.2 0 00 1 1
IP H R
6.2 12 6
0.1 0 0
ER
6
0
BB
3
1
SO
So
5
0
FRIDAY'S GAME
Michigan 3, Illinois 4
Michigan (1-8 Big Ten, 18-11) Illinois (8-1,19-8-1overall)
Player AB R H BI Player ABR H BI
Rose cf
Getz 2b
Butler rf
Bohm lb
Kunkel c
Scheidt 3b
VanBusk dh
Mahler ss
Pickens If
4
5
4
4
4
4
3
4
3
I
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
3
1
0
1
1
0
1
3
1
0
0
1
0
1
0
1
2
Kyes 2b 5
Rogowski If 5
Davidson cf 4
Bensko lb 3
Rohde dh 3
Huisinga rf 2
Frk3b 2
Robinson c 4
Gardenhire ss 4
0
0
0
1
2
1
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
3
0
2
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
2
0
Totals: 3S 3 113 Totals:
324 9 4
I I