Orientation Edition 2008 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com MICHIGAN BASEBALL Michigan coach Rich Maloney has his team rising through the college baseball ranks. After upsetting No.1 overall seed Vanderbilt to win an NCAA regional last year, the Wolverines were one of six regional hosts this year. The future looks bright for Michigan's oldest varsity sport. 33 'M' bounced in A2 Regional Alan Oaks celebrates with teammates after his 10th-inning homer helped Michigan upset No.1 Vanderbilt in a reginnal last year Miracle in the Music City By ANDY REID three straight Wolverine batters. Daily Sports Writer As the game entered extra innings, the Vanderbilt faithful June 5, 2007 - NASHVILLE, jumped to their feet, practically Tenn..- Michigan baseball coach shaking the stadium with a noise Rich Maloney just got a new hair- level never before seen at Hawkins cut - and there isn't much hair Field. As the cheap seats boomed left. with yells of "Black!" and fans That's because of a promise he behind the dugout responded with made to the Wolverines before "Gold!," Price and the Commo- their improbable 4-3 upset of No. 1 dores appeared destined for vic- Vanderbilt to win their first NCAA tory. Regional since 1984. Enter freshman Alan Oaks and Maloney told his team that if it his .188 batting average and just pulled off its second win over the nine hits all year. Commodores in three days, he Oaks would go on to change the would completely shave his head. course of Michigan baseball histo- And after the Wolverines exhil- ry with one swing ofthe batagainst arating win over the top-ranked the best pitcher in the nation. team in the country Monday, he's Maloney, made the decision to done just that. pinch hit Oaks just two pitches Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin before the freshman stepped up to decided he would pull out all the the plate. And the decision was all stops in his team's comeback effort or nothing. after the Commodores rallied from "I told him before he went out down 3-1 to tie the game. In the there, 'You're not there to get bottom of the eighth, NCAA Play- walked. You're there to get a hit,' er of the Year and probable No. 1 " Maloney said. "He has hit mam- overall pick of the upcoming MLB moth home runs in practice." Draft, David Price came out of the Ahead in the count 2-0, Oaks bullpen. took a swing at Price's next fast- The crowd of more than 3,500 ball. Commodore fans erupted as Price The White Lake native put the took his place on the mound. And barrel on the ball and sent a shot he showed what all the hype was over the wall in left center. The about by quickly taking care of Wolverines exploded out of the dugout, crowding around home plate to shower Oaks with back slaps and high fives. "I can't really put it into words yet," Oaks said. "I hardly even . remember running the bases because the adrenaline was pump- ing. It's definitely one of the great- est highlights off my baseball career, if not the highlight. "If someone would have told me (about my game-winning home- run) before the game, I just would have looked at him and said, 'yeah, nice joke.' " Michigan faced a scare in the bottom the 10th, but junior left- fielder Derek VanBuskirk's spec- tacular catch near the top of the outfield wall for the second out helped earn redshirt sophomore Michael Powers the save. The Wolverinesvictory prompt- ed abench-clearing,hat-and-glove- tossing celebration, culminating in a massive maize-and-blue dog pile on the pitcher's mound. Maloney's days of running his fingers through his hair have ended, but the same can't be said for Michigan's season. The Wol- verines will play next weekend in a best-of-three Super Regional at Oregon State. If they win that, they'll be headed to Omaha, Neb. - and the College World Series. By JASON KOHLER Daily Sports Writer June 2, 2008 - The Michigan baseball team thought it would be charging onto the field at Ray Fisher Stadium after a victory yes- terday afternoon. After all, the Wolverines were hosting the NCAA regional. They had already beaten Kentucky a day earlier, so another win over the Wildcats was in their grasp. But the only hugs the Michigan baseball players gave after a 12-6 loss to Rentucky were consolatory "It's over now," junior third baseman Adam Abraham said. "I don't have any regrets. We played hard. In the end we did everything we could, and it just wasn't quite enough." The night before, the 16th- ranked Wolverines (46-14) lost a heartbreaking game against No. 23 Arizona, 4-3, and were pushed into the loser's bracket. No. 24 Kentucky (44-18 overall) then eliminated the Wolverines from the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats didn't waste time tearing apart Michigan. The best hitting team in the Southeastern Conference (.319 combined batting average) scored seven runs in the first inning. Michigan coach Rich Malo- ney started lefty sophomore Jeff DeCarlo on the mound because of a favorable matchup against Ken- tucky's left-hand-heavy lineup, even though DeCarlo had pitched just 15 innings entering the game. He still had 15 after the game. Maloney pulled his starter with the bases loaded before he ever recorded an out. "We thought the matchup, left on left, was the right matchup," Maloney said. "As it turned out, we didn't get it done." Junior Ben Jenzen relieved DeCarlo and allowed all three runners to score, letting in four of his own before the inning ended. "If you really look at our season, we only lost 14 times, and teams had to get us in the first inning," Maloney said. "If they didn't get us in the first inning, we didn't lose too many games." Michigan clawed back when junior Zach Putnam hit a three- run home run in the fourth inning, and fifth-year senior Leif Mahler had an RBI double in the fifth to pull the Wolverines within three "In the dugout, we thought we had a chance," Abrahamsaid. "They just came up with some good plays on us. You need to have breaks in this tournament, and we definitely didn't get any breaks." Michigan had chances to close the gap even more, putting run- ners on base every inning. But the Wolverines also left men on base every inning - 17 in all. The Wol- verines actually out-hit Kentucky 16-12, but the Wildcats stranded just five runners. "We just didn't get the timely hits the way we needed to in order to win the tournament," Maloney said. "We just didn't get the hits to knock in the runs. Sometimes that happens." Michigan had arguably its best season in the program's recent his- tory. Its Big Ten record for most wins in a season (26) will likely never be broken because the con- ference season will be reduced to 24 games next year. The Wolver- ines had their most wins in a sea- son since 1989. And for the first time since 1986, Ann Arbor hosted a regional. But all its accomplishments were soured with two losses this weekend. "We were flying high to win this tournament and had alot of confi- dence in this team with good rea- son," Putnam said. "It just knocks the wind right out of you."