16 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, May 15, 2006
-SPORTS-
Michigan rides its starters'
arms to three more victories
By H. Jose Bosch
Daily Sports Editor
Pitching isn't rocket science. It's just
about throwing strikes.
Michigan pitcher Drew Taylor would
know the difference. He's a graduate
student working on a masters in cellular,
molecular and developmental biology.
Using change-
ups and curveballs
with pinpoint con-
trol, Taylor struck out three batters and
went the distance during the Wolver-
ines' 4-0 win yesterday over conference
foe Penn State.
Michigan (19-9 Big Ten, 33-18 over-
all) bounced back from a mediocre
weekend against Illinois two weeks
ago by taking three of four games
from the Nittany Lions this past week-
end. All three wins were shutouts.
Starters Chris Fetter, Paul Hammond
and Taylor combined for a total of 23
1/3 scoreless innings.
"All three of them did a great
job," catcher Jeff Kunkel said. "They
mixed up their pitches really well and
basically kept their hitters off balance
all weekend."
Hammond started the weekend off
with his fifth consecutive win of the sea-
son and his team-leading sixth overall.
Fetter improved his record to 4-1 and
now leads the team in ERA (2.21).
But the crown jewel of the three
pitching performances was Taylor's
complete-game shutout on Sunday.
He has won three-straight decisions
"and improved his overall record to 5-4.
During this winning streak, the Toron-
to, Ontario native has dropped his ERA
from 7.11 to 4.96.
"(For me) to be able to have a really
good performance and last the entire
game was really important, not only to
the team, but for me personally - for
(my) confidence level going into the
final series," Taylor said.
Taylor stifled Penn State's hitters all
day. The closest he came to giving up
a run came in the bottom of the sixth
inning.
The Nittany Lions (12-16, 19-32) had
runners on first and third with nobody
out. But Taylor stopped the potential
rally by inducing a popout to the second
baseman and picking off the runner at
first soon after. He faced just two more
batters before finishing the inning.
"(The pickoff) really changed the
momentum of the game," Kunkel said.
"And he remained calm throughout the
whole game. The defense was making
plays behind him and he was working
fast and doing everything we needed
him to do to win today."
Taylor's improvement over the sea-
son has been similar to the improve-
ment of the entire pitching staff over the
year. Just before the Big Ten season, the
team's ERA was 5.77, but following this
weekend's series, it has dropped to4.43.
Michigan has held a Big Ten opponent
to two runs or less in 15 out of 28 con-
ference contests, including six shutouts.
That kind of pitching has taken some
pressure off of the hitters.
"It gives you a little bit of confidence
as a team to know that you don't have to
go out there and score 11 runs," Kunkel
said. "You know if you don't get some-
thing done, your pitcher will be there to
pick you up and hold the (other) team
down for you a little bit."
The pitching staff is hitting its
stride, and it comes at the perfect time
for the Wolverines. With one weekend
left in the season, Michigan is in a tight
race for the regular-season conference
championship with Northwestern,
who goes into its contest today against
Michigan State trailing the Wolver-
ines by half a game. The winner of the
regular season conference champion-
ship will host the conference tourna-
ment from May 24-27.
DAILY SPORTS.
ONLY 25 PERCENT OF THE BASEBALL BEAT THOUGHT
MICHIGAN WOULD WIN THE BIG TEN ... OOPS. RODR
Taylor was only one of three pitchers to have a great weekend against Pe