Monday, May 23, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Blue loses two to Penn State By DANIEL WASSERMAN Daily Sports Writer In the grand scheme of things, the games this past weekend meant nothing. Good thing nobody told that to the Michigan baseball players, who got a rare chance to celebrate on the field, follow- PENN STATE 1 ing 5-4 walk- MICHIGAN 0 off win in 11 innings over PENN STATE 4 Penn State on MICHIGAN 5 Friday. The win PENN STATE 11 was sand- MICHIGAN 8 wiched between two more frustrating 1-0 and 11-8 losses to conclude the Wol- verines' disappointing season. Saturday was Senior Day for Michigan's lone departing seniors, fifth-year senior pitcher Matt Gerbe and injured fifth-year senior captain Anthony Toth. The Wol- verines (7-16 Big Ten, 17-37 overall) honored Gerbe by allowing him to start just his third career game. And the righty - who has bat- tled injuries for much of his career - didn't disappoint early on. Through four innings, Gerbe allowed no runs and just one hit, striking out a career-high five. But trailing 2-0 in the fifth inning, the Nittany Lions (12-12, 32-30) ended Gerbe's day. After allowing two singles and a walk, center fielder Sean Deegan - the conference's leader in homers and slugging percentage - tied the game with a two-run double. Junior pitcher Kevin Vanghe- luwe came on in relief, allowing a run-scoring sacrifice-fly, a two-run homer and a single before being pulled. By the time freshman hurl- er Alex Lakatos finally ended the inning, the Nittany Lions had taken a 6-2 lead. They took a 9-2 lead into the eighth, when the Wolverines made things interesting. With the bases loaded, fresh- man right fielder Michael O'Neill's grounder to second was thrown away, allowing two Michigan run- ners to score. The Wolverines added three more runs off sopho- more center fielder Patrick Biondi's single and two ensuing fielder's choices. Freshman catcher Cole Martin - representing the go-ahead run with the score 9-7 - struck out, stranding two men on base. After the Nittany Lions"made it 11-7 in the top of the ninth, Michi- gan got a run back off an O'Neill single. Junior left fielder Coley Crank came up with two on and two outs, representing the tying run. But Crank struck out, ending Michigan's season. "It was an exciting game," Mich- igan coach Rich Maloney said. "I guess what I'm very pleased with is that, despite the difficult season we had, the guys never did quit ... It's that attitude to never quit that's a good trait for building a team." On Friday, the Wolverines took the early lead when O'Neill singled, later stole third and scored off a Crank single. Michigan gained back two runs in the fifth and car- ried the lead into the eighth, thanks to stifling pitching from redshirt sophomore Matt Broder. Redshirt sophomore pitcher Tyler Mills came in after fresh- man hurler Jake Engels loaded the bases, and gave up two runs on a walk and wild pitch to tie the game. Mills escaped major damage by inducing a bases-loaded groundout. In the eleventh, O'Neill singled, Biondi reached on a Penn State throwing error and Crank was walked to load the bases. Junior third baseman John Lorenz sent a 2-1 pitch into right to end the game, igniting a celebratory mob in the infield around Lorenz. "To come from behind and see the kids celebrate on the field - we've had so many of those throughout the years that I've been here and in the history of our pro- gram - but to have a moment like that in the difficult season, I was really happy for the guys," Maloney said. On Thursday, the Wolverines wasted a gem from junior pitcher Brandon Sinnery. The righty went eight innings, allowing just one run off four hits, while striking out seven, but earned the loss as Michi- gan's bats were muted all night. Ledby Kin first Regioi By STEPHEN J. NESBITT Daily Sports Editor Lion Kim had just one thing between him, a career day and a NCAA Championship berth. On the 17th hole of his final round at the Central Regional on Saturday - the 53rd hole of the weekend - Kim was in a sand trap for the first time all weekend. But Kim holed out from the bunker for an eagle, leading the Michigan golf team to its first-ever Regional title and propelling the Wolverines to set a single-round program regional record of 275 shots. Michigan edged out Illinois by two shots to claim the top spot in the 14-team field. Kim's eagle highlighted his final-round658- tyingacareerbest - and gave him a share of the top score of the weekend. Michigan's captain posted the second-best score (205) in Michigan history for a 54-hole tournament, becom- ing a co-medalist for the weekend alongside the Fighting Illini's Luke Guthrie. "It was so much fun," Kim said of his day-long battle with Guthrie. "He and I knew we were tied for the lead and we really went after each other with birdies and eagles here and there. "He knew he had to make the nArbor. THRIFT SHOP 734.996.9155 2280S. Industrial Hwy #6 AATA Bus Line Hours Mon - Fri: 9am - 7pm Sat: 9am - 6pm Sun: 11am - 5pm A2PTOThriftShop.org i,'M' wins nal crown putt on 18 to tie me and he made a 10-footer for birdie to tie me, but you have to give him a lot of props for his effort. It was so much fun, you sometimes almost want it to end the way it did." And while it ended just right for Kim, the tournament didn't start off nearly as well. Kim's ail- ing ankle nearly kept him off the course. "I did not want to hurt this team because of me pulling out or being injured," Kim said. "That was the last thing I wanted. I told myself to gut it out. It was painful. I limped all three front nines before it warmed up." Added Michigan coach Andrew Sapp: "Lion (Kim) leading the way -for us, hurt and everything, was just a truly amazing and coura- geous effort. (His ankle) was hurt- ing him worse today than it did yesterday, but I guess it loosened up and the adrenaline helped him make it through. For him to just make it through, and for that mat- ter even play, and then be the co- champion, just incredible." Entering the final day, Kim sat at sixth on the leaderboard and Michigan was sitting in third place behind Alabama and Illinois. But the Wolverines rode the hot swings of Kim, junior Matt Thompson and freshman Joey Garber - whose 209 tally was a career best - to a come-from- behind finish.' "Wejust tore up the back nine - it was awesome," Sapp said. "At one point, I was talking with the Illi- nois coach on No.12 and they were just tearing it up and I said to him, 'You are going to run away with it.' And then low and behold, they started backing up and we started making birdies and just kept going from there." The program's first regional title punched Michigan's ticket to the NCAA Championships for the second time in three years. The NCAA Championships will run May 31-June 6 in Stillwater, Okla. The Wolverines haven't posted a national title since back-to-back championships in 1934 and 1935. "All five guys really had a great, great event. When you have four guys finish in the top 20 and two guys in the top five, you know you are going to have a good chance to win."