4B - March 23, 2009
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 4
Baseball
Preview 2009
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The Ace of Michigan's staff
By RYAN KARTJE
Daily Sports Writer
Don Lund had never before been
to a championship.
During the 1945 Major League
Baseball season, Lund sat appre-
hensively in an office in New York
City. It would be his first contract
negotiation with a professional
team, and he struggled over num-
bers in his head to settle his con-
tract. Across from Lund sat Branch
Rickey, former Michigan baseball
coach and then-general manager
of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Rickey offered the former Mich-
igan star outfielder his first profes-
sional contract with the Dodgers'
Triple-A team, the Montreal Roy-
als. Joining Lund on the Royals
was another man who was gaining
the scouts' and the nation's atten-
tion. It was in the 1947 season that
both would be called up to the
major leagues, and Lund would
watch his teammate - Jackie Rob-
inson - break the color barrier.
That year, the Dodgers earned a
spot in the World Series to take on
their cross-town rivals, the New
York Yankees. But Lund wasn't
there. Since he had spent some
time on the Dodgers' minor league
St. Paul team, he hadn't been
optioned to the Major Leagues
until after Sept. 1 and had to miss
the Dodgers' shot at the pennant.
Fifteen years later, as the
head coach of the Michigan var-
sity baseball team, Lund saw the
chance at a championship that he
had missed so many years ago sit-
ting right in front of him.
On June 16, 1962, at Omaha's
Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, Lund
decided to use his best pitcher,
Fritz Fisher, against Santa Clara
in the final game of the College
World Series. It was the first time
the Wolverines had been there
since legendary coach Ray Fisher's
championship run in 1953.
Fritz Fisher and the rest of the
Wolverines had never seen a stadi-
um like "The Blatt." It was a spec-
tacle. But Fisher, the ace of Lund's
rotation, wasn't shaken by his
matchup with the Broncos. And
Lund knew that he wasn't going to
let this chance slip away.
"He was our number one, our
key guy," Lund said.
The Michigan ace went nine
innings, almost unheard of in
today's college game, and kept the
Wolverines' World Series hopes
alive. But after regulation, Lund's
team still had work to do.
In the 15th inning, on the coat-
tails of Fisher's first nine innings,
the Wolverines' left fielder
watched a pop fly soar toward
him through the Omaha sky. The
ball dropped into his glove, to give
Michigan its second-ever National
Championship. He lost his glove
in celebration while Lund's team,
steered by the resiliency of its ace
pitcher, won its coach the champi-
onship he'd been looking for.
Forty-seven years removed from
that game, the Michigan baseball
program hasn't been back to the
final round of the College World
Series since.
And in his seventh season as
Michigan baseball's head coach,
Rich Maloney knows that he needs
a workhorse in the mold of Fritz
Fisher to get the Wolverines back
to Omaha.
A PAIR OF ACES
Last season, the stars seemed to
be aligned for the Michigan pitch-
ing rotation.
The Wolverines boasted two
All-Americans on the mound in
then-senior Zach Putnam and
then-junior Chris Fetter, both of
whom Maloney said could almost
guarantee a win in the weekend
series' first two games.
"We always felt like we had two
Friday night starters last year,"
Maloney said. "We had two fan- TheMichigan Daily bas
tastic pitchers that you knew on comingintotlie Big Ten
any given day, the other team
would have them starting on Fri- STAFF PICKS
day night."
But Putnam, Maloney's No. 1 The Daily baseball b
in the rotation, was drafted by makes its predictior
the Cleveland Indians in the fifth
round of last year's MLB Draft. seaSon.
That left Fetter, a 10-game win-
ner last season, to fill the void of These writers look it
Michigan's ace. future to guess who
The position was one Lund was it all - and who wil
all too familiar with. disappointing.
Fritz Fisher wasn't slated to
be Lund's ace pitcher until just Michigan overalrecod
before the 1962 season began, Michigan Big Ten record
when his original game- Mic Mae
changer, Mike Joyce, Michigan Pitcher of the Year
was signed to a pro-
Michigan Freshman of the Ye
a
eball beat pored over the numbers and came up with the Wolv
season.
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nto the
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Chantel Ryan
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fessional contract. It left
Lund's team in the hands
of an unproven leader. But
it paid dividends.
And this season, pitch-
ing coach Bob Keller has
no problem putting the
rotation in the hands of
his four-year starter.
"Putnam was our ace
last year," Keller said. "And
r you don't often get a chance
to work with that type of
talent. But (Fetter) had to
work harder to be where he
is today ... He is going to go
down as one of the winningest
pitchers in Michigan baseball."
CARMEL DELIGHT
In 2004, Carmel High School
baseball coach Greg Lentz
learned how important having
an established ace in your pitch-
ing rotation is to a team's suc-
cess.
Against one of the top teams
in the state of Indiana that year
- Indianapolis Bishop Chatard
- Lentz, Fetter's high school
coach, put Fetter in one of the
most difficult matchups of his
career. It was Lentz's first year
Big Ten Regular Season Champion
Big Ten Regular Season Runner-Up
Big Ten Regular Season Third Place
Big Ten Tournament champion
Big Ten Tournament Runner-Up
ig Ten MVPA
Big Ten Surprise Team
Big Ten Disappointing Team
Michigan Season Ends Here
NationalChampion
at the helm and the first time he
completely put the game in one of
his pitcher's hands.
Fetter, a high school junior atthe
time, responded by allowing just
one hit, dictating the entire game
from his place on the mound.
"At that point, I knew he had
the ability to be a pitcher who
dominated the game," Lentz said.
"When he was on the mound, he
had the potential to completely
dominate the opposing team."
In the Wolverines' NCAA
regional matchup against Arizona
last season, Maloney put Putnam
in the batting order as a designated
hitter toshore up the offense. That
left Fetter to take on the Wildcat
offense in Michigan's most impor-
tant game of the season.
Through the first three innings,
Fetter had allowed four runs and
Michigan's offense hadn't contrib-
uted. -
But Fetter rebounded to allow
only three hits the rest of the way,
and in Fritz Fisher-like fashion,
pitched a complete game. Although
the Wolverines could manage just
three runs and fell short of a come-
44-11
18-6
Ryan LaMarre
Fetter
Coley Crank
Illinois
Michigan
Ohio State
Michigan
Ohio State
Alex wimmers, OhioState
Minnesota
Northwestern
Super Regionals
Texas
45-10
19-5
Chris Fetter
Fetter
JohnLorenz
Michigan
Ohio State
Illinois
Ohio State
Michigan
Fetter
Minnesota
Northwestern
Super Regionals
North Carolina
43-12
19-5
LaMare
Fetter
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Michigan
Otho State
Illinois
Otio State
Michigan
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Minnesota
Purdae
Super Regionals
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back, the game served as Fetter's
coronation as Michigan's ace for
the 2009 season.
In a rematch of that game this
season, Fetter allowed just one
earned run to Arizona and one
unearned run on a passed ball.
His 7.1-inning effort was one of his
strongest of the season thus far, but
the offense was shut out, handing
Fetter his first loss of the season.
When the offense is manufactur-
ing runs like it did this past week-
end against IPFW (17 total runs),
Maloney knows that Fetter will set
the tone of how his team pitches.
"He's our leader on the mound,"
Maloney said. "It's going to be sig-
nificant that he is good every Fri-
day night. Call it what we will, but
the bottom line is we've got (Fet-
ter), and then we've got some other
guys who we think can be good."
Those "other guys" are Fetter's
focus.
"I've been through a lot of bat-
tles here at Michigan," Fetter said.
"I've seen countless games. So
when a situation arrives that I've
been through, I've got to take a guy
under my wing and keep reaching
out to the younger guys."
He's spent much of this season
adjusting to his leadership role,
which Keller and the rest of the
staff hope will translate into sig-
nificant support behind Fetter in
the rotation.
"When you set the tone like
(Fetter) does, that kind of thing
becomes contagious," Keller said.
"One guy learns from another,
and you start multiplying leaders.
That's what he's been able to do
thus far."
ESPN baseball expert Buster
Olney recently made a list of Major
League Baseball's indispensable
players. And it's no coincidence
that six of those 10 players were
the aces of their pitching staff.
"If you canhavethatgreat pitcher,
someone to just get the ball over the
plate whenever youneed himto, then
you're doing quite well," Lund said.
And 47 years after Lund's indis-
pensable pitcher was the cata-
lyst in the Wolverines' last World
Series win, Fetter is the ace that
Michigan needs to take the reins if
they want to see the hallowed field
in Omaha again this year.
FILE PHO
Behind strong pitching effort, 'M' Nine sweep IPFW
1 1
By CHANTEL JENNINGS
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan baseball coach Rich
Maloney describes his team as a
bunch of dirtbags.
Respectfully.
"(It's) someone who is willing for
the good of the team to do whatever
it takes to get it done," Maloney said.
"Diving for a ball, taking it off the
chest, getting hit by the pitch and
running to first base ... doing what-
ever it takes to lay his body in front
for the good of the team - that kind
of an attitude."
And this weekend, as the team
opened its home slate at Ray Fisher
Stadium, the Wolverines' dirtbag
attitude was on full display. Michi-
gan swept away visiting Indiana
University-Purdue University Fort
Wayne in a three-game series.
Michigan improved throughout
the weekend, winning 4-2, 4-1 and
9-2.
But yesterday, the IPFW Mast-
odons (15-10) took an early 1-0 lead
over the Wolverines in the top of the
third inning before Michigan junior
first baseman Mike Dufek connect-
ed on a two-run home run to put the
Wolverines (14-5) on the board.
Dufek shined inthe spotlight dur-
ing the series, hitting 5-for-10, tally-
ing two home runs and six RBI.
"Mike's a special player and he's
been waiting in the wings," Malo-
ney said. "He's been groomed for
this moment. So it's not by surprise.
I thought that he'd hit really well."
But batting was just one of the
areas in which Michigan excelled
during the series. Behind starting
pitchers senior Chris Fetter, junior
Eric Katzman and senior Mike Wil-
son, Michigan slowed down IPFW
and allowed just five runs during
the series.
Despite allowing numerous
Mastodon baserunners, the Michi-
gan defense stifled IPFW scoring
threats.
"(The pitchers) battled through
some tough situations," Maloney
said. "They kind of did the 'bend,
don't break.' They had runners on
and (IPFW) could have had a big
inning, but we didn't allow it. They
came up with a big pitch when they
had to."
Maloney relied on three sopho-
more relief pitchers - Tyler Bur-
goon, Matt Miller and Travis Smith
- to pitch three innings in each
game. And despite their inexperi-
ence on the mound, the trio only
gave up combined one run in Michi-
gan's first home appearance.
With Friday's win, Maloney
improved to 7-0 in home openers as
Michigan's skipper.
"One thing we take pride in is
protecting this house," senior Mike
Wilson said. "We've been able to
do a good job of that over the years.
We're a very tough team to beat in
general, especially at home."
The Wolverines found them-
selves down early in two of the
three games this weekend. The
Mastodons scored two runs Fri-
day before Dufek hit a long double
to bring in senior Kevin Cislo and
sophomore Ryan LaMarre.
But it was a familiar situation for
the Wolverines. They have let them-
selves fall behind several times this
season, only to post comeback victo-
ries. In Michigan's first game of the
season, on Feb. 20, it trailed South
Florida 3-0 before coming back to
win 6-5. The very next day, the Wol-
verines spotted Purdue a 2-0 lead
before surging late to win 4-3.
"We have found ourselves behind
many times ... but we've had some
success in coming back," Maloney
said. "It's certainly better if we had
a big lead early, it would certainly
make me sleep better. Neverthe-
less, that's a good characteristic of
a team that they have a lot of fight
in their battle, with a never-say-die
attitude."
And with only one game between
now and the Big Ten season opener
against Iowa next Friday, Maloney
is confident that his dirtbags will
answer the call.
On Wednesday, Michigan hosts
Eastern Michigan, a team that will
be looking for revenge from last
week when the Wolverines beat the
Eagles 11-5 in Ypsilanti.
"We know that we are supposed
to win," Dufek said. "It's only a mat-
ter of us focusing and playing well
and we should be able to win the I
game."
GETTING TO KNOW THE CAPTAINS
My favorite baseball player...
one word that describes coach Rich Maloney...
If I played another varsity sport, it would be...
My childhood dreamjob...
Expectations for this season...
Tim Kalczynski, C
Tigers 1B Cecil Fielder
Passionate
Basketball
Doctor
Win the Big Ten title
Kevin Cislo, 2B
Cardinals SS Ozzie Smith
Passionate
Football
Orthodontist
Win the Big Ten title and go
to regionals
Chris Fetter, SP,
Giants P Randy Johnson
Enthusiastic
- Basketball
Doctor
Win the Big Ten title
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