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6A - Thursday, March 29, 2012

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

EMU pounds Michigan,
12-2, ending win streak

By LIZ NAGLE The gap between the pitching
Daily Sports Writer staff's top tier - senior right-
hander Brandon Sinnery, junior
YPSILANTI - The Michigan right-hander Ben Ballantine
baseball team has struggled to and redshirt junior left-hander
maintain its win streaks. After Bobby Brosnahan - and the rest
two consecutive wins against of the bullpen is wide. Though
Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne in the Wolverines are already half-
the first ____ way through the season, Malo-
home series MICHIGAN 2 ney is still waiting for someone
of the sea- EMU 12 to step.up and bridge the gap.
son, the Michigan didn't have a lot to
Wolverines looked to tally two choose from - much of the staff
more before Big Ten play. lacks experience' and reliability.
They had back-to-back mid- So Maloney rotated through the
week opportunities against Oak- bullpen in hopes of finding at
land (3-18) and Eastern Michigan least one pitcher to produce.
(9-15), but after knocking off the Wednesday's starting hurler,
Golden Grizzlies on Tuesday, the freshman right-hander James
Eagles snapped the three-game Bourque, looked promising, com-
streak by handing the Wolver- ing in with a 3.00 ERA. But in 3.1
ines a 12-2 loss. innings of work, Bourque had
It was Michigan's second-lon- already given up four hits, four
gest win streak this season, but earned runs and four walks.
the team still lacks the consis- It was time for a change, and
tency that Michigan coach Rich even though five different Wol-
Maloney wants to see. verines took -the mound, only.
There was a drastic difference one threw well enough to earn
between the team that posted Maloney's recognition - redshirt
three straight wins and the freshman right-hander Jay Perry.
team that played in Oestrike Sta- "Two games in row, he's come
dium on Wednesday. Michigan in there and done a nice job,"
fell into an immediate hole and Maloney said. "Therefore, - he
couldn't pull itself out. gets more (of an) opportunity."
Earlier in the week, Maloney Perry closed the eighth with a
predicted what would prove to strikeout and didn't give up asin-
be the demise of the Wolverines: gle hit. But the first seven innings
walks. were lackluster, not only from
"Will we be able to limit our the mound, but also at the plate.
walks?" Maloney asked on Sun- The Wolverines recorded nine
day. "If we do that, that will give hits - three by junior center
us a much better chance for suc- fielder Patrick Biondi and two by
cess. ... We gotta limit the free- freshman left fielder Will Drake
bies." - but managed just two runs.

Michigan was held score-
less until the seventh inning,
when Biondi doubled down the
right-field line. With two outs,
Drake singled Biondi home. But
the middleman was missing.
Sophomore right fielder Michael
O'Neill popped up to the Eagles
shortstop and failed to contrib-
ute to the batting order's usual
triple-threat production.
"Guys are going to go ... 0-for-
(3)," Biondi said. "It's part of the
game - it's baseball."
A handful of Wolverines have
recently experienced this kind
of slump. With just four players
batting above .300, Michigan has
witnessed agradual decline in its
averages.
But Biondi boosted his batting
average to .323 against Eastern
Michigan and continues to feed
off the momentum of an eight-
game hitting streak. He seems to
be peaking at the right time, just
before the Big Ten season begins.
Maloney is waiting for the
rest of the team to catch up. He
hoped to see the team find its
rhythm and stay above .500, but
the Eagles kept the Wolverines
from the mark.
Eastern Michigan outplayed
them in-every facet of the game.
The Eagles put the game out of
reach early, scoring eight runs in
the fourth and fifth innings.
"We're trying pretty much
everything we have in the arse-
nal," Maloney said. "It's just a
matter of guys being the best
they can and execute what
they're asked to do."

Sophomore left fielder Nicole Sappingfield hita grand slam to clinch Michigan's 12-2, mercy-rule victory on Wednesday
Offensive outbreak i fts
in midweek contest

By ALEXA DETTELBACH
Daily Sports Writer
It was just another day at the
office for the Michigan softball
team.
The 20th-ranked Wolverines
wrapped up their five-game
home stand
on Wednes- BGSU 2.
day with IMICHIGAN 12
a 12-2 win
over Bowling Green (15-10).
With a five-run explosion in the
second inning, Michigan (3-0 Big
Ten, 22-9 overall) took control
and never looked back.
"I've known all along that
we're a capable offensive team,"
said Michigan coach Carol
Hutchins. "It's nice to see the
entire order swingingtheir bats."
After a midseason offensive
slump, the Wolverines are back
on track in the batter's box.
For the second-straight game,
Michigan recorded 13 hits, their
season-high, highlighted by
senior left fielder Nicole Sap-
pingfield's walk-off grand slam
to end the gaite via mercy rule in
six innings.
"(During) my last at hat, I was

just trying to hit the ball hard,"
Sappingfield said. "It was a good
opportunity to be in that clutch
situation and just be able to pull
it through for the team."
There is no question that
teamwork has been at the cen-
ter of the Wolverines' offensive
streak. The team has recorded at
least 10 hits in four consecutive
games.
Since returning home on
March 21, freshmen have being
stepping up to make a difference
at the plate.
Most notably, Big Ten Fresh-
man of the Week catcher Lauren
Sweet went 6-for-8 and scored
four runs in three games last
weekend against Penn State,
adding a hit and two runs on
Wednesday.
Freshman right-hander Sara
Driesenga had two hits and two
RBIs, and junior shortstop Amy
Knapp hit a home run - her
third of the season.
"I think our offense is really
starting to turn around," Sap-
pingfield said. "We've been
practicing well, and it's really
just taking what we've done in
practice and putting it into the

game."
On the mound, Driesenga
allowed only three hits, while
striking out four.
But it was not all fun and
games for Driesenga.
Halfway through the second
inning, Hutchins met with Dri-
esenga on the mound after she
allowed a double to center field
that brought in a Bowling Green
run.
"(Driesenga) has to bring her
bullpen (mindset) out there with
her," Hutchins said. "That's what
I went out to the mound to tell
her. She was getting behind alot,
and she needed to make adjust-
ments to get ahead of hitters and
command them."
The freshman rebounded well,
striking out a batter in three of
the next four innings to keep the
Wolverines' lead out of reach.
"(Driesenga) had some good
moments," Hutchins-said. "We're
trying to get her to be consistent
in every inning.
"Sometimes you take a few
steps forward and (then) you
take a step back. We think she's
got it and we just have to keep
working (at) it."

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