6 - Friday, March 28, 2014
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
2014 Baseball Preview
Position-by-
position: How
does'M'play out
ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Michigan coach Erik Bakich, in his second year, has made this year's goal for his
team simple: to win a Big Ten regular-season championship. The achievement
would be its first since 2008.
On baseball: A
new beginning
By BEN FIDELMAN
Daily Sports Writer
After playing 24 games in five
different states, the Michigan
baseball team made its home
debut this week. The team got
off to a frustrating 2-8-1 start to
the season, but it has rebounded
of late and is trending upward
moving into Big Ten play. The
Daily broke down the team
position by position.
Outfield
Led by junior center fieldet
Jackson Glines, the Wolverines
outfield has provided a solid
footing for the lineup on both
sides of the ball. Offensively, the
startingtrio of Glines, freshman
right fielder Jackson Lamb and
junior left fielder Kyle Jusick
combine for a .300 batting
average and make up just under
half of the team's runs batted in
This is a new combination for
the team - it's Glines' first yeat
at Michigan after transferring
from Fresno City College, Lamb
is fresh out of high school and
Jusick was primarily a firs:
baseman and designated hitter
in the 2013 season. The three
have big shoes to fill, including
accounting for the absences
of former outfielders Michae
O'Neil and Patrick Biondi, who
are now playing minor league
baseball.
Often, when a group of
players pack such a punch on
offense, there is skill conceded
on defense, but not here. Al:
three see significant time in the
field and have only committed
one total error. Not only are they
consistent, but they also come
through when it counts. In the
By JASON RUBINSTEIN
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan baseball team
is near the bottom of the league
in every statistical hitting
category. Its 175 strikeouts are
34 more than the next Big Ten
team. The woeful hitting is,
perhaps, the principal reason
for the team's underwhelming
10-14-1record.
Now, as the Wolverines enter
the heart of Big Ten play, the
excuses - dominant opposing
pitching, freshman mistakes
and, yes, even bad luck - are
starting to fall on deaf ears.
Michigan has shown glimps-
es of being a Big Ten title team.
At times, it looks like a last-
place finisher. But after a 4-3
win against Indiana on Sunday,
arguably the conference's top
team, there's reason to believe
this team is underachieving.
Before the season, Michigan
was faced with a number of
questions.
How would the team's
youth fit into the lineup? Who
would fortify the bullpen while
sophomore right-hander Jacob
Cronenworth recovered from
See RUBINSTEIN, Page 7
third game of the Indiana series,
Lamb made a game-saving
catch in the eighth inning that
e is an early candidate for Big Ten
defensive play of the year. One
e of the team's major focuses is
t defense, and this is one position
area that has shown tremendous
I consistency all year.
i Glines was named the Big Ten
e Player of the Week on March 9,
after going 9-for-17 with eight
RBI in the Wolverines' Spring
Break trip in Florida.
r Infield
Michigan is loaded with
I young and versatile infielders,
many of whom are raising
e eyebrows throughout the Big
Ten.
I Freshman Ramsey Romano
and sophomore Jacob
Cronenworth have proven to
r be flexible when it comes to
. positioning - both have split
r time evenly between second and
r third base.
Cronenworth is coming off
a 2013 campaign that yielded
i a .320 batting average, 41 RBI
t and a Freshman All-American
r Team selection. Though he's
e overcoming early-season
struggles at the plate, he posted
a .416 batting average in the
I Wolverines' opening Big Ten
series at Indiana.
e As one of two freshmen
regularly starting for the
f squad, Romano went through
some expected early-season
I turbulence. His average is a
l modest .247, but he has proven
e to be a key role player at the
i bottom of the lineup.
Perhaps the most well-
See MICHIGAN, Page 7
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Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
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ALLISON FARtAND/Daily
Freshman right-hander Keith Lehmann will have tough cnmpetition ahead.
Big Ten
Preview:A
P e ,,rough road
ACROSS
1 Dominion
6 Food on a stick
11 Olympus OM-2,
briefly
14 Templo Mayor
builder
15 Home to some
mollusks
16 Plus
17 Gu with plenty
of time tot child
care?
20 Stirling topper
21 One in Marseille
22 Is gagaoer
23 Aster
24 They're
established
26 Lament following
an Elizabethan
wardrobe
mafunction?
31 He-tii kwearers
32 Passes between
peaks
33 "Stall,'
34 op star John
35 Sched. producer
36 Tie together
38 Island R&B
derivative
39 "Dragonwyck"
author Seton
40 Resolution targets
41 Like Barney with
his pal?
45 "Twisted" actress
Richards
46 Shortlifestory?
47 Small power
source
49 The lot
50 Banff Upper Hot
Springs, e.g.
53 Got loke ut of
a Finnish sauna
duing winter?
57 Feel olaen
58 End oft_
59 Remove
60 Gnarly relative
61 Greek salad
features
62 Lets
DOWN
1 Slew
2 University
founder Conell
3 "Up and _!"
4 Sheltered side
5 Nationwide
sandwich debut
of 1972
6 Citizen of Little
Salem, Colorado
7 Flightstat
8 Its good for
Michel
9 NFLowner who
moed the
Oakland Raiders
toL.A. and back
10 11-nwn
supporters
11 Show founded as
a vehicle fnn
Scntt Hamilon
12 Ear piece
13 Acuff and
Orbison
18 _acte
19 Big Ben sound
23 Prefixwith
ballistic
24 "Hallelujah!"
25 'That's for sure!"
26. blue streak
27 Inconsistent way
to run
28 Baker's
creations
29 Pointed out 47 Wayout there
30 Milk sources for 48 Musical highlight
Pecorinoscheese 49 Cries of
31 Fit together well discovery
36 Outdoor camera 50 Sibelius' 'The _
user's accessory ofTuonela"
37 Actor Robert 51 Unwanted
De _ visitor
39 Dye compound 52 Some pints
42 "Holy moly!" 54 Fishing aid
43 Greening up 55 Musical syllable
44 Willingohort? 56 PritUble rak
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Indiana heads
in as conference
favorite
By BRAD WHIPPLE
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan baseball team
has shown in the past that it is
capable of being a legitimate
contender in the Big Ten. The
Wolverines boast 35 conference
titles but the program has been
in a six-year drought.
The last time Michigan (1-2
Big Ten, 10-14-1 overall) won the
regular-season title or the post-
season conference tournament
was in 2008 under coach Rich
Maloney, but Maloneyisnow out
of the picture and Erik Bakich
has stepped into the frame.
After the Wolverines posted
losing seasons in 2011 and 2012,
Bakich brought Michigan back
above .500 in his first season.
He'll try to keep Michigan on
the road to becoming Big Ten
Champions once again but will
meet roadblocks alongthe way.
Indiana (2-1,12-10)
The Hoosiers are the
reigning Big Ten conference
and tournament champions,
earning an automatic bid into
last year's NCAA Baseball
Championship where they
made it to the College World
Series - the first Big Ten team
since 1983.
They remain one of this
year's toughest conference
teams and were unanimously
chosen by Big Ten coaches to
win the conference for a second
straight year. After going 2-1
against the Wolverines last
weekend, Indiana is tied for
first in the standings with Ohio
State, Minnesota and Iowa.
Players to watch: third
baseman Dustin DeMuth and
catcher Kyle Schwarber.
DeMuth currently leads the
Indiana roster with a .343 bat-
ting average, good for 10th in
the conference. Meanwhile,
Schwarber was named the top
MLB draft prospect by Baseball
America. The junior led the con-
ference with a.647slugging per-
centage and had the third-best
batting average at .366 last year.
Ohio State (2-1,16-7)
The Buckeyes are in a slump
- they finished 2013 with
their worst hitting since 1971,
combining for a .258 batting
average. In Ohio State's final
15 games last season, the team
scored more than three runs
only once and let a share of the
conference title slip away with
two straight losses in the final
regular-season series against
the Hoosiers.
Third-year head coach Greg
Beals will try to get his team
back into the NCAA Tourna-
ment after a four-year drought.
Players to watch: right-
handed pitcher/first baseman
Josh Dezse.
Out of high school, Dezse
turned down a chance to
play professional ball as a
28th-round pick by the New
York Yankees so he could play
in college. He earned Big Ten
Freshman of the Year due to his
performance on the field and
the mound, where his fastball
broke 100 miles per hour on the
radar gun.
Nebraska (1-2,14-10)
In the program's third year
in the Big Ten, the Cornhuskers
were picked to finish second
after dropping last year's
conference tournament
championship game to Indiana.
Nebraska is ranked second in
Big Ten fielding percentage at
.975, but went 1-2 in its opening
Big Ten weekend against Iowa.
But don't let the Cornhuskers'
current fifth-place standing
fool you.
Nebraska is returning some
injured players this year, both
in the bullpen and at the plate.
Last season, left-hander Kyle
Kubatstarted eight games, with
opponents hitting .208, but he
missed 33games dueto shoulder
soreness. With him back in the
rotation, the Cornhuskers have
a deeper bullpen to fall back on.
Players to watch: First
basemanAustin Christensen and
outfielder Ryan Boldt.
Christensen is a redshirt
sophomore who missed 2012
due to an elbow injury and
spent 2013 recovering from
Tommy John Surgery, but
his senior year in high school
showed potential that may
surface this year. He led the
entire state of Iowa in batting
average (.555) and home
runs(19) and was the 2011
Gatorade Player of the Year.
Boldt injured his knee in
April, but is still shaping up to
be a possible first-round pick in
the MLB draft and is currently
hitting.342,12th in the Big Ten.
Illinois (12-10)
Last season, the Fighting
Illini earned an at-large bid
for the NCAA Tournament but
were eliminated in Regionals.
In the conference coach's
preseason poll, they were voted
to end this season in a fifth-
place tie with Michigan.
Illinois has won its last
three games and will play its
first conference game against
Purdue on Friday. The Illini
have the second-best ERA in
the Big Ten at 3.23 and come
in at fourth with a .267 batting
average.
Player to watch: catcher Jason
Goldstein.
Goldstein has posted a .373
batting average, good for fourth
inthe BigTen.
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03/28/14