Monday, June 11, 2007 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 11 sports@michigandaily.com 734-764-8585 Putnam just misses no-no By COURTNEY RATKOWIAK Daily Sports Writer It was a nearly flawless pitching performance for Michigan sopho- more Zach Putnam, OREGON STATE 1 an out- MICHIGAN 01 ing that Michigan coach Rich Maloney called "one for the ages". Eightstrikeouts.Six1-2-3innings. 16 groundball outs. But in the end, it was the career-low one hit he allowed that counted. Putnam had a no-hitter through eight innings before an Oregon State ninth-inning, two-out RBI single broke a scoreless tie. The Wolverines couldn't match the run in the bottom of the inning and fell 1-0 in the first game of the Corval- lis Super Regional. With the heartbreaking loss, Michigan's season and College World Series hopes could end in tonight's 7 p.m. game against the defending national champions. "All we had to do was score two runs - which we do 95 per- cent of the time - and that game was ours," Maloney said after his team was shut out for the first time this year. "It was just unfortunate because Zach pitched the game of his life. That game was as good a game as you'll ever see in Michi- gan college baseball." In the top of the ninth inning, Putnam walked Oregon State right- fielder Scott Santschi on a full count. A sacrifice bunt moved the pinch- runner to second, marking the first time in the game a Beaver runner advanced past first base. After Put- nam's eighth strikeout of the game, Oregon State second baseman Joey Wong hit a breaking ball to shallow leftfield. Junior leftfielder Derek VanBuskirk threw the ball home as Santschi sprinted for the plate, slid with his right hand outstretched and clumsily rolled on the ground, his legs flailing, to score the only run of the game. Though Putnam called the hit "upsetting" and the game "bitter- sweet," he acknowledged his strong individual performance and said that he felt the pressure of the no- hitter in later innings. "It's not like I can sit here and tell you that I didn't even know it was happening," Putnam said. "I obvi- ouslyknew that,goinginto the ninth inning, I had a no-hitter going. But I wasn't so much concerned with trying to throw the ball by people. It was more just putting the ball in play or not giving away any freebies. I didn't want to walk anybody." Putnam was countered by the Oregon State pitching staff, which held the Wolverines hitless until a leadoff single by sophomore short- stop Jason Christian in the fourth inning. But after advancing to sec- ond on a two-out balk, Christian and the Wolverines couldn't capi- talize on the scoring opportunity. VanBuskirk reached third base with two outs in the fifth, but the inning ended one batter later to leave him stranded. The Wolverines' lack of hitting was a departure from their usually explosive offense. Though the Wol- verines were making contact with Oregon State's pitches, almost every Michigan at bat resulted in an easy groundout or fly ball. Maloney attributed the shutout Sophomore pitcher Zach Putnam was one out from pitching a no-hitter yesterday. to the lack of timely hits by the Wol- you can't go out there tryingto hit a verines,addingthat Michiganwould homer. You'll never get it. But I just likely need to hit one or more home think we're going to end up having runs to win tomorrow's game. to do it." "Unfortunately, I thought we Tonight, with undefeated pitcher would have had another two or Mike Wilson on the mound, the three hits if we were playing on Wolverines hope that they will a different surface because the rediscover their big bats and tally (turf) just slowed (balls) down and another strong pitching perfor- gobbled them up," Maloney said. mance in the must-win game. "If some balls get hit in the air, we "We come off a game like this, can get some jacks and I think that's and it's not at all like we got out- going to be significant for us. We played," Putnam said. "I think that can't try to hit home runs, because See BASEBALL, Page 12 Playing on fast turf, Blue has few offensive opportunities National Champs FULL COVERAGE Read more online about the men's and women's track and field teams (michigandaily.com) By ANDY REID freshman Jorge Reyes didn't Daily Sports Writer let a single runner on base until the fourth - the turf on the Both the Michigan and Ore- field had a great deal to do with gon State baseball teams had the easy grounders. brick walls for infields in the Oregon State's Goss Stadium opening game of their super is home to an artificial infield, regional. Or so it seemed. a grass-like substance held in A total of 28 ground balls place by rubber pellets, much were handled by the infielders like the playing surface at - mostly by the second basemen Michigan Stadium. or shortstops - and routinely Everything in the infield but tossed over to first base for the the pitcher's mound and the bat- easy out. More than half of the ter's circle was comprised of the game's total outs were tallied rubbery material. Groundballs thanks to a routine ground ball. often became engulfed in a black While some of the credit for cloud of rubber pellets. the outstanding defensive per- The explosion of recycled tire formances from both squads pieces slowed every ground ball can be awarded to top-notch drastically, making it easy for the starting talent from the mound infielders to locate the ball and - Wolverine sophomore Zach execute a throw to first base. Putnam gave up just one hit in "Reality is, this is the field eight-plus innings and Beaver they have and it's just slow," Michigan coach Rich Malo- ney said. "With that being said, we're probably going to have to find some holes and hit some balls and probably a couple balls are going to have to get up in the jet stream." Said Pickens: "We're really not going to do much as far as change our approach to the game. We just have to find some balls that we can drive out." Finding those pitches is a task much easier said than done. Both the Wolverines and the Beavers sat deep in the infield, aided by the slow-motion grounders, and caughtup toballs hit into> weak spots throughout the entire game. If Michigan wants to create more offense in today's contest, it's going to have to send some See OFFENSE, Page 12 ANDREW ELLERTON 800-meter 100-meter hurdles ANNA WILLARD 000-meter steenterha'