The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - 7A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - 7A 'M' keeps rolling behind Bourque Sophomore takes nearly eight frames. "It was James Bourque no-hitter into the night," said Michigan coach Erik - h n Bakich. "He was on. Everything was on. He had a terrific night dominant outing and he's the reason we won the game." Bourque pitched a total of 7.2 By SHANNON LYNCH innings, giving up his first hit in Daily Sports Writer the top of the eighth. With good command of three pitches - fast- The Michigan baseball team ball, curveball and his change-up is hot. - Bourque tallied a career-high Tuesday, the Wolverines eight strikeouts. recorded their 10th consecutive "The real story of the day was win, defeating Notre Dame 8-2 James Bourque coming out and at Ray Fisher Stadium. The game really controlling the game," said featured a sophomore designated hitter number of NOTRE DAME 2 Kevin White, who had a perfect outstand- MICHIGAN 8 game at the plate. "I was happy ing per- to help win the game for him." formances, like sophomore It looked like Bourque was right hander James Bourque, going to pitch a no-hitter, until who worked a no-hitter into the top of the seventh, when second baseman Eric Jacobson BY1T EUM4BERS missed a line drive through cen- Michigan on a rolter. The play was eventually ruled lfl an error, not a hit, keeping hopes of a no-hitter alive. Consecutiveewins for Michigan, a streak "It was pretty suspenseful, spanning twoweeks. but kind of a fun little ride," said Bourque. "I know that everybody was watching, all my teammates were watching, trying to tell } them to make it an error." Straight games for the pitching staff of While Bourque was without three or fewer runs allowed a doubt the player to watch, his play was complemented by a dominant batting performance. The Wolverine batters were Outs recorded by James Bourque on on point at the plate. Offensive Tuesday before allowing a hit. production began with sopho- more outfielder Zach Zott, who ..4 blasted a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning, his Kevin Whites day at the plate. The sopho~ second of the season. more third baseman scored two runs. White went 4-for-4 with three PAUL SHERMAN/Daily Sophomore right-hander James Bourque wasn't perfect on Tuesday, but he was close. He struck out eight batters in 7.2 innings and surrendered just one hit. singles, a double and two runs scored, and sophomore catcher Cole Martin went 3-for-4 with three hits and two RBI. A slew of infield errors by Notre Dame (4-8 Big Ten, 19-15 overall) gave the Wolverines opportunities to score in nearly every inning. Michigan (7-2 Big Ten, 21-14 overall) outshined the Fighting Irish at the plate, recording 13 hits in eight innings of offensive play. "Earlier in the year, we were kind of looking at each other, try- ing to figure out who would get the big hit in the big situation," White said. "But now we come to the field with more confidence, and we know we're going to exe- cute the game plan and put our- selves in a good situation to win the game." The Michigan baseball team is hot, but not on fire. There's a difference, and Bakich doesn't want that differ- ence to go unnoticed. "Once you start feeling good about yourself, about where you are, three to four weeks into Big Ten play, that's when you get bit in the butt," Bakich said. "We're playing well right now, but we're not playing our best." The win marked Michigan's 13th straight game that the pitching staff has allowed three or fewer runs. The Wolverines have recorded two shutouts over the course of their 10-game win streak, and they're tied for first place in the Big Ten. If this isn't their best, Michi- gan baseball fans have a lot to look forward to. The Michigan baseball and softball teams have combined for 28 consecutive victories. Here's a closer look at the success on the diamond: - Outscoring opponents 54-13 Team's longest winning streak since 2008 (16 games) -First consecutive Big Ten sweeps since 2008 -Tied with Minnesota for first place in the Big Ten -Outscoring opponents 176-49 13-0 in Big Ten play during streak -Longest conference winning streak in the nation - Averaging 7.62 runs per game, second in the nation I PATRICK BARRoN/Daily Senior second basemanAshley Lane connected on her 40th career home run Tuesday at Indiana in a 7-4 win. Sogg by softball takes one before cancellation By NATE SELL before senior second baseman Daily Sports Writer Ashley Lane hit a solo home run in the third inning, to give the Wol- The Michigan softball team verines a 2-0 lead. traveled to Indiana on Tuesday, The long ball was Lane's 40th where it played the Hoosiers career home run and her third under ominous clouds all day long. home run in her last five at-bats. The first game of what was sup- Later in the inning, Michigan posed to be a doubleheader start- stretched its lead to four, after ed at 2 p.m. Sweet hit a single with the bases and after MICHIGAN 7 loaded to drive in two runs. four-and-a- INDIANA 4 In the sixth inning, Indiana half hours loaded the bases and drew a walk in the rain, the Wolverines pulled off sophomore right-hander Hay- out a 7-4 win in the ninth inning. lie Wagner. The Hoosiers fol- The second game only reached lowed with a base hit, bringing the bottom of the third, with them within two runs and forcing Michigan up 4-0, before being Michigan coach Carol Hutchins delayed multiple times and even- to bring in sophomore right-hand- tually cancelled. er Sara Driesenga in relief of Wag- In the first game, No. 9 Michi- ner. Indiana got one more base hit gan (13-0 Big Ten, 36-7 overall) to score two more runs to tie the jumped out to an early 4-0 lead game before the Wolverines got over Indiana (3-10, 19-24). Sopho- out of the inning. more catcher Lauren Sweet drove The rain started to come down in a run in the second inning harder as the game went into extra innings. The umpires sent both teams to the dugouts in the top of the ninth inning, and after a short delay, the tarps came off and Michigan's bats came alive. The Wolverines scored quickly on back-to-back singles from fresh- man shortstop Sierra Romero and junior first baseman Caitlin Blanchard to go up by two. Freshman outfielder Sierra Lawrence added an RBI of her own to push the score to 7-4. The Wolverines made it through the bottom of the ninth without allowing a run, and came away with their 18th straight win. Michigan's bats stayed hot in the second game. Blanchard drove in a run in the first and Romero hit a bases-clearing double in the sec- ond inning with the bases loaded to put the Wolverines up 4-0. Then the rains came, and after several delays, the game was can- celled. k