6A — Thursday, February 26, 2015
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
JC transfer Cody Bruder
now thriving at Michigan
Junior off to
hot start for ‘M’
after two years in
junior college
By NATHANIEL CLARK
Daily Sports Writer
Being a newcomer is often
intimidating, as many college
students know.
Junior
left
fielder
Cody
Bruder is no exception. This
is his first season with the
Michigan baseball team — he
spent his first two years at
Orange Coast College.
“Being the new kid on the
block you always have some
hesitation,” Bruder said, “and
you kind of have to prove
yourself right away.”
Bruder’s
impact
on
the
Wolverines is already showing.
On Feb. 20 against Tennessee
Tech, he went 3-for-4 with
a game-tying RBI triple in
the
eighth
inning and a
go-ahead bunt
single in the
ninth
inning
of Michigan’s
5-4 victory.
“These guys
get hyped for
things
like
that,” Bruder
said
of
his
teammates’ reaction to his late-
inning heroics. “They made me
feel right at home like any great
family would.”
* * *
Bruder is no novice to the
game of baseball. He started
playing at the age of four, as he
looked up to his sister Kelsey
and his mother Raleen. His
mother
played
softball
for
Weber State from 1980 to 1982,
and Kelsey played softball for
Florida from 2008 to 2011 before
turning professional.
“(Kelsey)
is
the
hardest
worker I know, so I try to model
myself after her,” Bruder said.
“We got along way too well for
siblings, always rooting for each
other.”
Bruder had similar praise for
his mother.
“Definitely
one
of
the
hardest-working women I’ve
ever met,” Bruder said. “A single
mother starting out with no
job just raising Kelsey and me,
and we didn’t know we were
struggling at all, because she
was out grinding.”
He took the lessons he
learned from his mother and
sister to Santiago High School
in Corona, California, where
he graduated in 2012. He was
named Offensive Player of the
Year his senior season.
Yet in spite of the praise
Bruder received in high school
and the fact that he was named
one of ESPN’s top prospects in
2011, he remains modest about
his time at Santiago.
“To be completely honest,”
Bruder said, “I wasn’t that great
in high school at all.”
***
Bruder’s
next
step
was
attending Orange Coast College.
While attending a junior college
is not a path often taken by
someone who
compiled
a
4.1 GPA his
senior year of
high
school,
he credits the
coaching staff
there
with
revamping
his swing and
improving his
fielding.
“Going to a junior college
might have been the best thing
that ever happened to me,”
Bruder said. “Those coaches
were wizards and made me
the player I am today. Between
there and (Michigan), I have
had amazing coaches and I owe
my success to all of them.”
The lessons paid off. In 2013,
Bruder’s freshman year, he
netted a .336 batting average
with six doubles, three triples
and 28 RBI. The next year was
even more fruitful for Bruder, as
he batted .359 with 10 doubles,
eight triples, four home runs
and 31 RBI while leading Orange
Coast to a No. 1 ranking among
California junior colleges.
“(The 2014 team) was the
greatest team I’ve been on
before this year,” Bruder said.
“To get a collection of athletes
like that at a junior college in
California was pretty special.”
While the Wolverines aren’t
known for recruiting junior
college
players,
Michigan
coach Erik Bakich knew right
away that he found a winner in
Bruder.
“He’s had a lot of repetitions
being a California junior college
player,” Bakich said. “We knew
we wanted someone who would
have the opportunity to step in
and contribute right away. The
best is yet to come.”
* * *
On the academic side, Bruder
majored in zoology at Orange
Coast and is currently studying
evolutionary anthropology at
Michigan. He plans to go to
graduate school and devote
his life to saving endangered
species.
“AP Environmental Science
my junior year of high school
really
opened
my
eyes
to
environmental
issues
and
species endangerment around
the world,” Bruder said.
But it would be misleading
to say Bruder is all business.
He is a big fan of Nickelodeon’s
TV
show
“Spongebob
Squarepants,” an avid Yu-Gi-
Oh! card player and a Pokemon
enthusiast.
“I play (Yu-Gi-Oh!) with
my friends and go to local
tournaments,” Bruder said. “It’s
people’s livelihoods. There are
cards out there selling for $80
each.”
Yet his favorite way to relieve
tension is to play Call of Duty:
Modern Warfare 2.
“Sometimes you just have to
take out aggression,” Bruder
said. “What better way to do
that than Call of Duty?”
Bruder’s fun-loving attitude
seems to be shared among his
teammates, and Bakich is a
significant contributor to the
weirdness of the team.
“This is the weirdest bunch
I’ve been a part of,” Bruder said.
“You just got a collection of
different people in one unison
creating a cool, weird vibe.
We feed off of coach Bakich’s
intensity. He’s a colorful human
being.”
Cody
Bruder
may
be
a
newcomer to the Wolverines,
but with the impact he has had
on the team, it’s as if he was
always there.
BASEBALL
“To be completely
honest, I wasn’t
that great in high
school at all.”
JAMES COLLER/Daily
Sophomore third baseman Lindsay Montemarano has heated up after a slow start to the season.
Montemarano ignites lineup
By KEVIN SANTO
Daily Sports Writer
Sophomore infielder Lindsay
Montemarano
was
holding
herself to a high standard coming
into this season.
“Everyone worked really hard
in the summer to come back
strong,”
Montemarano
said.
“I felt like this summer I had
a mindset where I wanted to
come back (as a sophomore), and
I wanted to step up and show
everybody what I was capable
of.”
Yet nine games into the
Michigan softball team’s season,
Montemarano had not recorded a
single hit, starting 0-for-14.
She
explained
that
she
struggled early in the season
because she had such a strong
desire to play well. Montemarano
knew what she was capable of but
was struggling to execute on the
field. This led to a decline in her
confidence in the batter’s box and
lent itself to a mental issue in her
game.
But Montemarano didn’t just
feel sorry for herself. Rather, she
did something about it.
According to Michigan coach
Carol Hutchins, Montemarano
was putting in extra work before
the Easton Bama Bash this past
weekend.
Hutchins
explained
that
senior catcher Lauren Sweet
misses the majority of practice
on Tuesdays, so the two of them
typically run through hitting
drills afterward. But that week,
they had a welcome addition:
Montemarano.
If that wasn’t enough, the
sophomore infielder was back at
it Wednesday morning, perusing
film with coaches and searching
for technical flaws in her swing.
And
eventually,
they
found
something.
“My front foot,” Montemarano
said. “When I was putting it back
to start my swing, my front toe
was coming up and I was getting
onto my heels. So I had no power,
and I was completely spinning off
the ball. It was a pretty easy fix, it
wasn’t my whole swing.”
And
that
“easy
fix”
did
wonders.
Montemarano
went
6-for-14
on
the
weekend.
Fittingly, in the final game of the
weekend against James Madison,
Montemarano stepped up to the
plate in the second inning and
sent the ball flying over the left-
field fence.
“She was due,” Hutchins said.
“Mentally, her game improved
and therefore the rest of her
game improved.”
In their season-opening series,
the Wolverines scored 18 runs
and did not record a single run-
rule victory.
But heading into the Easton
Bama Bash, Montemarano was
the only blemish in a Michigan
lineup that was excelling at the
plate. At that point, Michigan had
scored 36 more runs and recorded
three run-rule victories.
After Montemarano’s breakout
performance against Lipscomb
this past weekend, Michigan
rolled onward to five victories,
posting 42 runs in the process.
At this point, the Wolverines’
lineup has eight players who have
hit at least one home run. In a
lineup with only one slap hitter,
there is plenty of power.
“Hitting
is
contagious
sometimes,” said junior shortstop
Sierra Romero. “So as soon as
someone starts going, all of a
sudden everyone starts going.
Our bats are on fire right now,
so we’re just hoping that that
continues into spring break.”
So when Montemarano finally
found her swing, Michigan’s
lineup became all the more
dangerous. In that nine-game
cold streak, she struggled with
consistency.
But
now,
she’s
just another one of the nine
Wolverines to be reckoned with.