The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Big innings s ark Blue By COURTNEY RATKOWIAK Daily Sports Writer After walking to the plate to the tune of Kanye West's "Jesus Walks," junior Derek VanBuskirk hit a grand slam on the CMU 3 first pitch MICHIGAN 13 he faced. His shot to right-center field set the tone for a dominating first inning and foreshadowed an equally successful final inning as Michigan's big bats beat Central Michigan yesterday 13-3 at The Fish. The Wolverines' two six-run innings helped rout the Chip- pewas and continued the Maize and Blue's trend of games featur- ing both explosive hits and rain delays. Michigan (16-6) has struggled with slow starts this season, rely- ing on a big inning later in the game. But against Central Michi- gan (15-12), the Wolverines had their impressive at-bats early. Their six-run first inning began with seven straight balls and forced three pitching changes. But between the first and eighth innings, the Wolverines had just one run and one extra-base hit. Michigan's opportunity for anoth- er early run was lost when junior Nate Recknagel was tagged out at home plate in the fourth inning while attempting to score on an Adam Abraham ground ball to right center. The only other time the Wolverines had a runner in scoring position before the eighth inning was in the sixth, when they failed to score with a runner on third and no outs. "We're very potent, and at any moment, we can score a lot of runs," Michigan coach Rich Maloney said. "We just have to be patient and do what we can do. We missed an opportunity ... and with those things, we've got to do a bet- ter job. Outside of that, I felt like we were in control of the game." Freshman Eric Katzman had five strikeouts in his second mid- week start. Closer Ben Jenzen, pitched outside of his traditional spot and worked three innings of relief. Maloney said the shift would help Jenzen work more innings during the week. "I'll take innings, no matter when they come," Jenzen said. "I haven't pitched a lot of innings during games, and coach came up to me today and said, 'If we need you in the third or fourth would you go?' and I said yes. I'll do whatever it takes to help my team." After Central Michigan closed the deficit to four runs in the top of the seventh inning, a rain delay halted the game with two runners on base and two outs. Jenzen walked the first Chip- pewa batter he faced after the game resumed, loading the bases with the tying run at the plate, but ended the scoring threat with a strikeout. The delay was Michigan's fourth in two weeks, following last Tuesday's home game and two delays against Northwestern last weekend. "It's frustrating, being in a rain delay as much as we've been, but it's Michigan and we understand it's going to happen here," Abra- ham said. "It wears on you a little when the game's getting over and we're getting to the end and we're winning, and it kind of sucks that you have to wait a little longer, but we've been playing well out of rain delays." With two outs in the eighth inning, it looked as if Michigan's bats had cooled. But with the bases loaded, Chippewa outfield- ers dropped consecutive fly balls, allowing four Wolverines to score. On the heels of the two botched plays, Abraham and junior Doug Pickens hit doubles that solidified Michigan's second big inning and gave the Wolverines a runaway victory. "Early on, we were energetic, but when you come out with six runs, its tough to stay in the game sometimes," Abraham said. "I think in the middle innings, we lost a little of that concentration, but we picked it up and took care of business at the end of the day." Wednesday, April 4, 2007 - 9A SOFTBALL Broncos downed by slam By ANTHONY OLIVEIRA Daily Sports Writer Every kid dreams of it. Bases loaded, trailing in the game's final inning, down to the final strike and the win just a swing away. As you hit the pitch, everyone watches it trail out of the park. The crowd goes wild. WMU 2 And you're celebrating MICHIGAN 5 with your teammates at WMU 0 home plate. MICHIGAN 7 Or areyou? WhenthedugoutclearedfollowingfreshmanAnge- laFindlay's walk-offgrand slam, the Michigan softball team gathered around home plate disappointed, if not disgusted, following a 5-2 victory over Western Mich- igan yesterday afternoon. The Wolverines completed the home-opening sweep with a 7-0 win. "Obviously, we were happy to get the win, but we weren't happy with the way we played," Findlay said of the first game. "We needed to go up there and have better at-bats. Our process wasn't good that game." The Wolverines were just one out away from a Lori- lyn Wilson no-hitter when the Broncos turned the tables after a Lauren Fuller single. The next hitter, Becky Bartosz, followed with a two-run home run in just her second at-bat of the season. Rather than resting up for the second game of the doubleheader, Michigan suddenly found itself battling a 2-1 deficit. As juniors Angie Danis and Alessandra Giampaolo reached on base with walks, senior Rebekah Milian loaded the bases following an error by Western Michi- gan second baseman Amanda McBride. After junior Samantha Findlay struck out, the game was left inher sister's hands. For the second time in four days, the contest came down to Angela Findlay's final at-bat with the bases loaded. As familiar as it seemed, Tuesday's result would be different. Just days after grounding out to the short- stop againstNorthwesternlastweekend,AngelaFind- lay's shot lifted the Wolverines to a win in the first game. But the victory wasn't the type Michigan dreamt of. "You certainly want to give their pitcher credit, but we allowed her to do some of the things she did," Michigan coach Carol Hutchins said. "We took a lot of swings at bad pitches. I was notchappy with it because we can't come out here and play against our opponent. You have to play your game." Following the intermission and a short rain delay, the Wolverines found their game, posting five runs in the third inning ofthe second contest en route to a 7-0 victory. "We just came out there and attacked the ball more," Angela Findlay said. "We took a lot of pitches in the first game and we decided to take that pitch to right field. We did a much better job going out there and hitting that ball to right field." To add to Findlay's home run, senior Tiffany Wor- thy and Giampaolo both wentyard in the second game. As Worthy recorded her second home run of the sea- son, Giampaolo tallied her first, matching last season's total. "It's good to get that out of the way," Giampaolo said. "I usually hit the top of the fence. When I hit it, I said 'Oh, that's out.' But in my head I was thinking, 'With my luck, it's probably goingto hit the top of the fence. Got to get to second."' Along with a home run, Giampaolo notched a dou- ble and went 4-for-5 in the series, recording an RBI in each contest. Freshman Nikki Nemitz and sophomore Stacy Del- aney followed Wilson's two-hit performance with gems of their own, combining for just two hits and 17 strikeouts in the second game. The Wolverines will need those arms to tackle a hard-hitting Penn State squad and a tough Ohio State team this weekend. But for the meantime, Michigan won't be having any nightmares. DEREK BLUMKE/Daily TOP: Junior Derek VanBuskirk follows through on his first-inning grand slam. BOTTOM: The Michigan baseball team celebrates at home plate following VanBuskirk's home run. M' pounces on Chippewa miscues By ANDY REID Daily Sports Writer After a weekend full of rain delays, suspended games and a lot of wait- ing around, it was a welcome surprise for the Michigan baseball team when its scheduled game was moved up one day. The contest was rescheduled for yes- terday afternoon because of weather conditions. And judging by the way they came out of the dugout, it was the Wolverines' day. The first inning was one of those "you just had to be there" moments where nothing could go wrong for the home team. "That was a great inning," Michigan coach Rich Maloney said. "When you get that big of an inning in the first, it just relaxes the team. It's a positive to get the bats going like that." After allowing a hit to right field, Michigan pitcher Andy Katzman set- tled down and Central Michigan didn't reach base again for the rest of the inning. The Chippewas left two run- ners on base before taking the field. That's when the fun started. To say that Chippewa pitchers strug- gled early would be an understate- ment. Central Michigan pitcher Jeff Rich- ard threw eight of his first nine pitches for balls, walking the first two hitters he faced. Visibly shaken, Richard threw junior Nate Recknagel a pitch right down the middle, which Recknagel blasted to right field to load the bases. Sophomore Adam Abraham quickly took care of that when he drove in two runs with a single to center field. Richard was pulled after just one out - a foul tip into the catcher's glove - 17 balls, two runs and two hits into his appearance when he walked junior Doug Pickens to load the bases again. The Wolverines, however, were not about to let the offensive circus end. Designated hitter Derek VanBus- kirk, whose injury has hampered his baserunning, has recently needed pinch runners to get the job done after he gets on base. Yesterday, no such thing was neces- sary. The St. Clair native took the first pitch from the new hurler and barreled it over the leftfield wall. The shot found its way onto the softball field, stopping play during the softball game. "When we get a good lead, it makes it easier for our pitchers to throw strikes and easier to play the game," VanBus- kirk said. "It felt really good." Holding his elbow, Chippewa pitch- er Devon Kline walked off the mound, making room for the third hurler of the inning. When Central Michigan finally escaped the inning after sophomore Jason Christian flew out in his second at bat of the inning, the pitching stats told the story: 23 total balls, three walks and six runs on three hits. Yesterday's first inning broke a less- than-impressive pattern of lackadaisi- cal starts for the Wolverines. After scoring just two total runs in the first innings of a four-game series against Northwestern last weekend, the outburst is a nice change for the Maize and Blue. "Their pitchers made mistakes, and we capitalized," VanBuskirk said. "When we get that many walks, we need to get runs, and we did that." Even though the rest of the game wasn't exactly invigorating, the first inning was surely one to remembered.