8 - Tuesday, April 3, 2012 B L3
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily com
0
eball: Position by Position
Vrter
hey
ur-
is
:he Wolverines get deeper
eason. There are a few areas
ainty and Maloney has been
th different possibilities.
ey reiterates that the team
r against itself, and in com-
o last season, Michigan has
. The Wolverines hover
ddle of the Big Ten pack in
1 statistical rankings; they
as the numerical bottom
n nearly every category last
s the time for Michigan's
layers to step up in Big Ten
make up for its mediocre
rence results.
hovered above .300 but has since
cooled off.
Second base
Maloney had a big void to fill when
Anthony Toth graduated after last
season, and he has yet to find a per-
manent replacement. Though there
are three candidates that rotate at
second base - redshirt sophomore
John DiLaura, freshman Eric Jacob-
son and redshirt junior Kevin Krantz
- no one has earned the official ros-
ter label.
DiLaura seems to be the top con-
tender, but his declining batting aver-
age may get him bumped from the
leading role.
DiLaura accumulated a promis-
ing .600 batting average and .600 on
base percentage in his first handful of
at-bats. But in the last 11 games, he's
gone 4-for-29, which may be enough
for Maloney to pull the plug.
Third base
After spending a summer in the
Arizona Collegiate Wood-Bat League,
senior co-captain John Lorenz looked
refreshed and fit for the season ahead.
He has met fielding expectations
and he's been a semi-dependable hit-
ter - he just hasn't had many stellar
at-bats. Though Lorenz posted five
RBIs against West Virginia, he went
11 straight games without batting-in
a runner.
Shortstop
Junior Derek Dennis was recruit-
ed as the 10th-best shortstop in the
country coming out of high school.
Though the ranking seemed promis-
ing, Dennis was unavailable for three
weeks of conference play last year
after an ankle injury.
Dennis played in the firstsix games
this season but is not expected to
return to his original post until May
because of a thumb injury. He's now
making sporadic appearances as a
pinch runner, cast and all.
Freshman Dylan Delaney has
played in Dennis' absence and has
started consistently, even with a mea-
sly .182 batting average.
Right field
Sophomore Michael O'Neill had a
veteran-like year in his first season
with Michigan and continues to set
the bar high. His skill level gave the
Wolverines an extra edge at the plate,
and he has yet to disappoint.
O'Neill leads the team with 37
hits, nine doubles and six home runs.
Though he recorded multiple hits in
10 of the first 12 outings this season,
his hot hitting has been fading little
by little.
Center field
The leadoff hitter, junior co-
captain Patrick Biondi, has recently
excelled at the plate. He's fulfilled his
role getting on base with ease and fre-
quency, and he leads the team with a
.466 on-base percentage.
Before the Minnesota series, Biondi
boasted an eight-game hitting streak,
including five multi-hit games. His
batting average has jumped from .214
to .327 in less than a month.
Biondi has an almost-perfect .987
fielding percentage, with only one
error this season. He's started every
game between O'Neill and freshman
Will Drake in the outfield, except
against Chicago State, when he
experimented at second base.
Adding to Biondi's bragging rights
are his conference-leading 17 stolen
bases, as he climbs Michigan's career
stolen-base list. One more will tie him
for second place all-time with Jim
Durham (1986-89) at 74.
Left field
In his rookie campaign, Will Drake
has proven his worth to the team. He
holds much promise in Michigan's
rebuilding year with a .333 batting
average and .405 on-base percentage.
Drake has been the only Wolver-
ine to start every game this season in
the same position. And his consistent
spot in the batting order, following
Biondi, shows the left-handed hitter's
value.
He is tied for sixth in the nation
with four triples this season and
added to the one-two punch that
Biondi and O'Neillpacked last season.
Catcher
It's been a split between Coley
Crank and sophomore Cole Martin
crouching behind home plate.
Crank divides his time between
catcher and designated hitter, and
even though his batting average has
sunk below .20q, he produces during
crunch time. He's tallied 20 RBIs and
five home runs this season en route
to oth-place on Michigan's career
home runs list with 28.
Martin's results at bat (.246)
haven't impressed anyone, but him
learning under Crank will be a long-
term advantage.
Starting pitching
Michigan has three potential aces
in the running - senior right-hander
Brandon Sinnery, junior right-hander
Ben Ballantine and redshirt junior
left-hander Bobby Brosnahan.
The trio of hurlers has shown'
major signs of improvement from last
season, which could be credited to
the new pitching coach, Steve Mer-
riman.
Before the Minnesota series, each
had recorded at least 34 innings on
the mound. Brosnahan posted a 2.10
ERA, Ballantine had tallied 29 strike-
outs and Sinnery had been reliable
but lagged behind a bit. Maloney did
not see weekend starters as an area of
concern.
But in the first bit of conference
action, the pitching staff dropped
the ball. Against the Golden Gophers,
Sinnery gave up six runs and Ballan-
tine and Brosnahan were pulled early
after poor performances.
Brosnahan allowed 10 hits and
eight earned runs in just 1.1 innings of
work. To put that into perspective, he
had given up just eight earned runs in
his first five starts this season.
Michigan will face have scant
pitching options if this becomes a
regular occurrence against Big Ten
bats.
Relief pitching
Maloney has been experimenting
all season to find steady relief pitch-
ers. Though he has a few in mind, no
one has stepped-up to claim a perma-
nent spot.
Young pitchers, freshman right-
hander Matt Ogden and left-hander
Trent Szkutnik, have the potential to
succeed.
In Ogden's last 8.1 innings on the
mound, he has allowed only one
earned run. And Szkutnik threw 11
scoreless innings and notched eight
strikeouts over his last three appear-
ances.
Since the start of the season, Malo-
ney has kept a close eye on the two
rookies and waited to reap the bene-
fits. This is the perfect time for Szkut-
nik and Ogden to pull away from the
mediocrity in the bullpen.
W0
itcher, sophomore
a fair amount of
man year, but not
th success at the
made the tran-
Jolverine batting
struggles to find
ig lineup, Winger
h the middle but
leanup spot along
r Coley Crank.
n, Winger posted
tting streak and
On Baseball: It's time to flip the switch
By STEVEN BRAID
Daily Sports Writer
"Flip it."
That was the motto for the
season. "From worst to first,"
the Michigan baseball team
proclaimed at "Meet the Wol-
verines" night on February 15 -
and the players meant it.
On that night, the Wolverines
were adamant that this season
would be different. They talked
about how last year was a fluke
and how they were certainly not
as bad as their 17-37 record indi-
cated. They set out to prove that
this was no 2011 and that their
tenure as the worst team in the
conference was over.
And through the first week or
so of the 2012 schedule, Michi-
gan did look like a changed
team. It opened up the season
5-2 behind a red-hot lineup and
great starting pitching.
But then the Wolverines
began to struggle, and the los-
ing snowballed. All of a sud-
den the 2011 version showed
up - the offense couldn't hit
and the bullpen fizzled in the
late innings. At one point, the
Wolverines lost seven of eight
games, including five in a row.
And as they scratched and
clawed to a 12-13 nonconfer-
ence record, they offered up
phrases like, "it's all about pre-
paring so we can play our best
baseball entering the Big Ten
season" and "as long as we can
pick it up during Big Ten play,
we'll be okay." For them, it's
been about the Big Ten season
from day one.
Well now it's come time for
the Wolverines to make good
STAFF PICKS
The Daily baseball beat
predicts the 2012 season
These writers guess how
Michigan can stack up to
the rest of the Big Ten and
which players will step up. Gz
Glenn Liz Steven Isabella
Miller Jr. Nagle Braid Achenbach
cia ra21-35 25-26 30-26 19-37
Michiga s Big Ten record 9-15 10-14 15-9 7-17
Michigan'sMVP Patrick Biondi Bondi Biondi Biondi
Michigan Offensive Player of the Year Michael O'Neil O'Neill O'Neill Biondi
MichiganFreshman oftheYear WillDrake Drake Drake Drake
Big Ten Regular-Season Chamnpion Nebraska Purdue Purdue Purdue
Big Ten Regular-Season Runner-up Purdue Nebraska Nebraska Michigan State
Big Ten Regular-Season Third Place Michigan State Michigan State Michigan State Minnesota
BigTenTournamentChampions Purdue Purdue Purdue Purdue
Big Ten Tournament Runner-up llinois Michigan State Michigan State Michigan State
BigTen MPChad Christensen, Neb Eric Charles, Pur Christensen _Charles
Bg Ten Surprise Team Iowa Minnesota Minnesota Illinois
Big en Disappointing Team Penn State Mchigan Illnois Mchigan
on their bold preseason predic-
tion, to finish what they set out
to accomplish: collect a 36th Big
Ten Championship.
But if they're serious about
achieving that goal, they'll need
to improve - and do it fast.
It's time for the offense to
show us that the lineup doesn't
just consist of Patrick Bion-
di, Will Drake and Michael
O'Neill.
At least one of the three out-
fielders leads the team in every
major offensive statistical cat-
egory, and in many categories,
they rank as the top three. Brett
Winger, Coley Crank, John
Lorenz, Dylan Delany and Cole
Martin have slumped terribly
since the first two weeks of the
season, and none are batting
above .265. -
It's time for them to prove
that they can score runs consis-
tently, or at least put the bat on
the ball - the team entered Big
Ten play ranked first with 200
strikeouts.
And it's time for the pitch-
ing staff to show us that it can
be elite and that it can get a
strikeout when it needs one - it
ranked eighth in the conference
with 142 strikeouts before Big
Ten play started. It's time for
the erratic hurlers to show us
that they can take care of their
control issues and limit their
"freebies."
The pitching staff ranked
first in walks given up and wild
pitches, with 98 and 30, respec-
tively. They also ranked second
with 30 hit batsmen. It's time
for the relievers to show us that
they can be a reliable bunch and
close out games on a consistent
basis, and that someone can step
up and take control of the late
innings. Five different relievers
have recorded at least one save.
The Wolverines don't need to
finish first in the Big Ten, they
just need to improve enough to
finish in the top-six of the con-
ference. If they can make the
Big Ten Tournament, they will
give themselves an opportunity
to steal the Big Ten's automatic
invitation to the NCAA Tour-
nament by winning the confer-
ence's postseason tournament.
So if the Wolverines want
to play their way into a NCAA
Tournament berth, this motto
can't just be some motivational
tactic.
It needs to be a necessity for
them because it's unlikely that
there will be another route to
the NCAA's.
The Big Ten offers up a
chance for a clean slate.
So forget about the five-game
slide in early March and the
current sub-.500 record. The
slumping lineup, the inconsis-
tent bullpen, the erratic pitch-
ing - it all needs to be left in the
past.
Mycalendar says it's not 2011
anymore. It's time for Michigan
to start playing like it.
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