The Michigan Daily - SportsMonday - April 3, 2006 - 5B SUICIDE S QUEEZE Baseball Friday's Game 1: NORTHWESTERN 2 LP: Andrew Smith (2-4) MICHIGAN 6 WP: Craig Murray (3-1) Friday's Game 1: NORTHWESTERN 5 WP: Dan Brauer (1-1) MICHIGAN 0 LP: Paul Hammond (1-3) Friday's Game 1: NORTHWESTERN 4 WP:George Kontos (1-5) MICHIGAN 2 LP: Drew Taylor (1-3) Friday's Game 1: NORTHWESTERN 5 WP: Julio Siberio (1-0) MICHIGAN 4 LP: Adam Abraham (2-2) A Comedy of Errors Michigan's defense still a problem at The Fish PLAYER OF THE WEEK Chris Fetter Michigan The redshirt freshman stepped up in the biggest way on Saturday. With the team trailing the Wildcats 4-1, Fetter did all he could to keep Michigan in the game. He pitched four perfect innings, striking out four in the process. NOTABLE QUOTABLE "What better guy to have in there than your closer, to close out the first inning?" - Michigan coach Rich Maloney in reference to starting pitcher Adam Abraham. Michigan wasn't able to get out of the first inning without giving up at least one run in any game this weekend. By David Murray Daily Sports Writer Michigan's performance this weekend resembled many first dates - full of mistakes and missed opportunities. Against Northwestern, the Wolverines looked nervous and had difficulty closing the deal. In the four-game series they committed five errors and stranded 27 runners on base. "One thing we preach really strongly is playing good defense, and we didn't play good defense," Michigan coach Rich Maloney said. "If you don't play good defense and you're fac- ing some good pitchers and the wind is playing like it is, it's going to be more about who gets the big hit." In Friday's game, the Maize and Blue played flawless defense and took advantage of most of its scoring opportunities, winning easily, 6-2. But Saturday's doubleheader was a different story. After a few poorly played innings, Saturday's date with the Wildcats turned south quickly. In the first inning of the first game, both third baseman A.J. Scheidt and pitcher Paul Ham- mond committed throwing errors in a five-run Northwestern spurt. Then, with a chance to chip into the deficit in the fifth, junior shortstop Leif Mahler struck out looking with the bases loaded. If Mahler's at-bat was disappointing, three similar at-bats in the third game left the Wolver- ines dumbfounded. With Michigan trailing 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth, the bases were juiced, this time with no outs. Scheidt came to the plate overanxious to drive in a few runs and swung at the first pitch, popping it up to the shortstop. The next batter, second baseman Kevin Cislo, took a third strike with his bat on his shoulders. Then, with two outs and three Wolverines begging to run across home plate, shortstop Jason Christianson flied out to centerfield. Those six runners over two games were just a few of the chances in which Michigan failed to capitalize. It left a total of 16 ducks on the pond in the 14 innings played on Saturday and lost both games by a combined 9-2 score. "We needed the big hit all weekend," Scheidt said. "We would have runners on base, and we just wouldn't get the big hit. So, in a different series, a different world or different day we get that big hit. We come out of this series three out of four or four out of four (wins)." Despite its meager offensive output on Sat- urday, Michigan swung the bats well enough to win on Sunday. But they had sweaty hands while in the field, tallying three errors in another disappointing loss. The most detrimental error came in the first inning, with freshman pitcher Adam Abraham bobbling leadoff hitter Jake Owens's bunt. The freshman mistake rattled Abraham, who went on to give up five runs in the inning and left the game before recording an out. The Wolverines went on to lose 5-4, even though Northwestern's defense (four errors) was worse. Michigan, which was amongst the nation's leaders in fielding percentage (980) before it played its home opener last Friday, has commit- ted 17 errors in the last 12 games and dropped its fielding percentage to .967. "Since we've come home we've just fielded porous, and it's just strange," Maloney said. "You talk about slumps, it's a fielding slump at a bad time." 0 BY THE NUMBERS Number of runs allowed by the Michigan bullpen over 13 innings during this weekend's series. 'M' STAT LEADERS Home runs Doug Pickens 5 BEN SIMON/Daily Jason Christian tries to field a ground ball. Michigan had trouble playing solid defense all weekend. Mediocre first innings pose a problem for Blue Runs Pickens 21 Hits Leif Mahler 27 RBI Pickens 19 Average Mahler .370 BIG TEN STANDINGS Team Big Ten Overall 1. Ohio State 3-1 15-5 Michigan State 3-1 12-10 Northwestern 3-1 6-16 4. Illinois 2-2 13-8 Purdue 2-2 13-8 Minnesota 2-2 12-10 Penn State 2-2 6-18 8. Michigan 1-3 12-10 Indiana 1-3 8-16 Iowa 1-3 11-9 AROUND THE BIG TEN Friday's results: MICHIGAN 6, Northwestern 4 ILLINOIS 9, Purdue 7 MICHIGAN STATE 17, Indiana 7 Ohio State 12, IowA 5 Penn State 7, MINNESOTA 3 Saturday's results: Northwestern 5, 4 MICHIGAN O, 2 ILLINOIS 3, 4 Purdue 2, 10 MICHIGAN STATE 2, 7 Indiana 1, 12 IowA 7, 4 Ohio State 1, 6 Penn State 12, 0 MINNESOTA 2, 5 Sunday's results: Northwestern 5, MICHIGAN 4 Purdue 9, ILLINoIs 4 MICHIGAN STATE 9, Indiana 8 (10) Ohio State 15, IowA 1 MINNESOTA 5, Penn State 0 *Home teams in caps DIAMOND GRADES The four Daily baseball writers will grade the team on four different aspects of the game each weekend. Sure, baseballs may be simple, but we're classic. By Colt Rosensweig Daily Sports Writer If the first inning of every game this week- end could be erased from the record, the Michigan baseball team might have gone 4- 0 instead of 1-3 in its weekend series against Northwestern. The Wildcats scored 13 first-inning runs but just three in the subsequent innings. Michigan, on the other hand, scored exactly one first- inning run over the four-game series. On Friday, senior pitcher Craig Murray, who got the surprise start with freshman Zach Putnam out (leg injury), overcame a two-run Northwestern first to pitch a complete game. He gave up just five more hits the rest of the way. Murray's performance should have set the Wolverines up for a successful weekend. Instead, Northwestern sealed victories in the first inning of each of the next three games. In the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, senior Paul Hammond struggled through the opening frame. After striking out leadoff man Jake Owens, Hammond gave up four straight hits and two runs. It looked as though he might escape the inning when third baseman Caleb Fields grounded the 0-1 pitch back to Hammond. But Hammond's throw to second bounced into centerfield, instead of starting an inning-end- ing 1-6-3 double play. Designated hitter Anto- nio Mule scored from third on the play. The inning was further extended with two outs by another error, this one an errant throw from senior third baseman A. J. Scheidt. Two more runs scored and Michigan lost 5-0 even though Hammond pitched shutout ball the rest of the way. "The first inning of game one, unfortunately, pretty much took us out of the game," Michi- gan coach Rich Maloney said. "I just don't understand how we could play so poorly, after before recording an out." "(The bullpen) did a really nice job (on Sunday)," Maloney said. "The job that Ali (Husain) came in and did and the job that Andrew Hess came in and Ben Jen- zen. ... It was very, very pleasing." Maloney seemed calm for a coach having so many weeks and so many games of playing so well defensively." The Wolverines seemed to be getting back on track in Saturday's second game when senior Drew Taylor gave up just one run in the first, which his teammates immediately matched in the bottom of the inning. But the early-game problems persisted into the second inning. Taylor gave up three more runs on four hits, and Michigan lost 4-2. "Two big innings did us in (on Saturday)," Maloney said. "Outside of that, we were OK. But we allowed two big innings, and you can't do that when you're facing two good pitchers." Possibly the most painful first inning came in the series finale. With freshman Adam Abraham, the team's closer, on the mound, the Wolverines expected to finally make it to the bottom of the inning with the score still knotted at zero. "What better guy to have in there than your closer, to close out the first inning?" Malo- whose team just lost three of four games. But the fourth-year coach understands that it is still early in the conference sea- son and - similar to last season's turn- around - he knows that it takes one big series to get back into the heat of the con- ference championship race. ney said. "And then we got five runs (scored against us)." Abraham left the game without even recording an out. Northwestern's lead- off man grounded back to Abraham. The pitcher bobbled the chance and opened the floodgates. He gave up four singles and a walk before junior Andrew Hess relieved him. Two more of Abraham's runners scored before Hess was able to shut down the Wild- cats. Hess, senior Ali Husain and freshman Ben Jenzen pitched scoreless baseball for eight more innings, but the offense could muster just four runs to Northwestern's five. "Unfortunately, the first inning counts," Maloney said. "We need to be able to make plays in the first inning. We spotted (North- western) runs in the first inning in four straight games. I think in baseball history about 70 per- cent (of teams) win when they score first. And that worked out. They won three games, that's 75 percent." "The guys competed, and I give them credit," Maloney said. "After the way we lost (on Saturday), they could've died out, and they didn't. We had a chance to win, and we just couldn't get over the top. If we keep pushing forward and just try to get better, we'll turn this thing around." WILDCATS Continued from page 1B sible for pitching freshman closer. chased out of the; all nine innings after Adam Abraham was game by the Wildcats bt Firiu P I STAFF PICKS Colt Rosensweig DEFENSE The defense was inconsis- tent in the series. After an errorless win, five errors in the next three games helped the Wildcats to two five-run first innings. PITCHING The pitching was both really great and really poor over the weekend. Paul Ham- mond struggled on Friday in the first, but kept it together to close the game out. And the relievers did an excellent job keeping the team in the games. OFFENSE The Wolverines struggled offensively against the Wild- cats. They hit the ball hard, but couldn't seem to find holes in Northwestern's defense. Despite that, they struck out way too many times. H. Jose Bosch David Murray Ohio State Colt Rosensweig Chris Herring Big Ten First Place Purdue Purdue Michigan ;.F- Big Ten Second Place Ohio State Iowa Minnesota Purdue Ohio State Big Ten Third Place Minnesota Michigan Illinois . .: ;;: ,: Big Ten Tournament Winner Big Ten Tournament Second Ohio State Minnesota Michigan Purdue t 1~ Minnesota Ohio State~ Bob Todd, Ohio State Michigan Illinois Big Ten Coach of the Year Paul Stevens, Northwestern John Anderson, Minnesota f- .nf~ l Rich Maloney An 40 1 David Murray