The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, September 23, 2010 - 7A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, September 23, 2010 - 7A Sophomore Patrick Blondi, shown here, was one of the Wolverines' best players as a freshman last season. Maloney to depend on brand-new core EMILY CHIU/daily Sophomore Coley Crank, pictured here, provides the Wolverines with a power-hitting bat after losing Mike Doufek. 'M' squashes Blue Jays Despite losing top players to minors, Maloney sees much potential in 2010 By STEVEN KELLNER For theDaily With the departure of five Wol- verines to the pros, the Michigan baseball team looked to break in some new players in Wednesday's scrimmage against the Ontario Blue Jays. Many fans remember the ESPN * highlights of the Wolverines over- coming a 14-1 deficit to topple Northwestern last spring, but this is an entirely new squad. Led by speedy centerfielder Patrick Biondi and power-hitting catcher Coley Crank, Michigan looks to build on an impressive 2010 campaign that saw the Wol- verines finish second in the Big Ten regular season. A 24-1 victory over the Blue Jays on Wednesday in Ann Arbor was a sign of good things to come. Trhe core of last season's team was drafted within the first 20 rounds of the Major League Base- ball draft this past June, beginning with star outfielder Ryan Lamarre going 61st overall to the Cincinnati Reds. Lamarre hit .282 with the low class-A Dayton Dragons before get- ting a late-season call up to high-A Lynchburg. The Reds also selected former Wolverine catcher Chris Berset in the 20th round. He was sent to the Billings Mus- tangs of the rookie Pioneer League. The Seattle Mariners and Florida Marlins picked pitchers Alan Oaks and Tyler Burgoon in the eighth and 10th rounds, respectively. Oaks was a former Friday starter and Burgoon was the closer last season. The biggest surprise of the 2010 draft class was pitcher Matt Miller. A fifth round pick of the Milwau- kee Brewers, Miller went 7-2 with a 4.06 ERA en route to helping the Helena Brewers (also of the Pio- neer League) to a league champion- ship this season. "I keep tabs with all of them over time," Michigan Coach Rich Malo- ney said, "They're great guys." The main goal of the day for Michigan was to work in the new players. Michigan started four players who have yet to see exten- sive action at the collegiate level, including one true freshman. "We were playing a lot of kids at different positions, kind of getting a feel for our team," Maloney said. Sophomore outfielder Kevin Krantz, who has only four hits in 22 career at bats at Michigan, made his presence felt in the second inning with a home run over the left center field fence, along with another blast that almost landed on the softball field later in the game. True freshman Alex Lakatos also made a worthwhile contribu- tion. A right-handed pitcher by trade, Lakatos started in the nine-hole, at designated hitter. He ended a solid afternoon with a solo home run. Last season's returning starters played well against the Blue Jays, too. Biondi, a sophomore, was back to his normal self, sliding head-first into bases, while walkingtwice and stealing two bases. Crank added a solo shot over the left centerfield fence. The brightest spot for the Wol- verines, however, was sophomore Bobby Brosnahan. Brosnahan, who came on late last season and developed into the Sunday starter for Michigan, pitched three scoreless innings while allowing only two hits. Michigan will likely lean on him this season to be an anchor of the rotation. A great baseball team needs to be solid up the middle of the field, and Michigan returns Crank at catcher, senior Anthony Toth at second base, sophomore Derek Dennis at shortstop and Biondi roaming cen- terfield. Maloney is looking this fall to see what his team can improve upon. And so far, he likes what he sees. "I thought we did a pretty nice job," said Maloney, "I saw pretty much what I was hoping for." By EVERETT COOK For theDaily It is unusual for a college baseball game to ONTARIO 1 be played MICHIGAN 24 in Sep- tember, so it makes sense that an early-season scrimmage for the Michigan baseball team would be anything but ordinary. The Wolverines defeated the Ontario Blue Jays 24-1 in a game that was planned to last 14 innings, behind an impres- sive display of power from many up-and-comers. Michigan hit six home runs, with Kevin Krantz blasting two against the helpless Blue Jay pitchers. "It's always good when we can manufacture runs," Krantz said. "This game put everything in perspective for where we are as a team, and it's great." The Wolverines put on an impressive show in their first preseason scrimmage, even though it came against an under- I8 team. The Blue Jays are a summer baseball program in the Premier Baseball League of Ontario, and despite their youth, they stuck with the Wolverines until the fourth inning when Michigan broke through for six runs. This served as a first test for, the young Wolverines, and coach Rich Maloney was impressed with their performance. "I saw what we were pretty much looking for," Maloney said. "I thought it was an encouraging game." There are many questions surrounding the team's lack of experience following departures from last year, but Krantz is not worried. "We are young, but today real- ly shows we can play," Krantz said. "This was very positive." Maloney mentioned the importance of young, inexperi- enced players stepping up, and many of those players welcomed the challenge. Freshman Alex Lakatos had three hits, including a home run, and Krantz had four hits and four RBI, including two long balls. Some big contributors from last year did not want to be left out of the scoring party. Red- shirt junior first baseman Gar- ret Stephens drove in seven runs on three hits and a homer, and junior catcher Coley Crank accounted for three RBI and a home run. obviously, the offense was impressive, but holding a team to one run over 14 innings is also nothing to scoff at. Pitch- ers Bobby Brosnahan (redshirt freshman) and Kolby Wood (junior) both impressed, com- bining, for six innings, no runs and six strikeouts. In the end, one of the main dif- ferences between the two squads proved to be the leather. The Wolverines played solid defense throughout the night, turning four double plays, while the Blue Jays kept innings alive with their six errors. Michigan also did a good job of capitalizing and not letting many opportunities pass them by. Despite the lopsided score, the win gave the team something to build upon, which is substantial, considering they will not play another game for roughly four months. "We got the chance to play somebody else and got the chance to be responsive to who we are," Maloney said. It may have just been a scrimmage, but the players and coaching staff are clearly eager for the spring.