8 — Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wolverines pound
Eastern Michigan
By BEN FIDELMAN
Daily Sports Writer
Coming
into
Tuesday’s
matchup at Ray Fisher Stadium,
the Michigan baseball team
had lost its
last
seven
games
against
nearby foe Eastern Michigan.
After slugging 13 extra-base hits
and accumulating a season-high
42 total bases, the Wolverines
broke that losing streak with an
18-4 victory.
“What
stood
out
to
me
today was that we didn’t hit 20
singles,” said Michigan coach
Erik Bakich. “We had a lot of
extra-base hits, and our guys
were really making hard contact
even on some of our outs. It was
great to see us not settle and
keep the score at 8-4, but be able
to put 11 runs up in the last three
innings.”
Though it was the end of the
game that contained the biggest
fireworks, the Wolverines (4-5
Big Ten, 19-13 overall) jumped
out to a quick start in the bottom
of the first inning when they
muscled three runs across the
plate.
The first two hitters in the
lineup reached base and moved
around on a run-scoring single
from
junior
third
baseman
Travis Maezes. That left two
men on base with two outs for
junior left fielder Cody Bruder,
who would smack his first of
four extra-base hits on the
evening.
“It was really important to get
out to a good start tonight,” said
Michigan first baseman Carmen
Benedetti. “Eastern has kind
of had their way with us, and it
was good to start off hot against
them, throw some punches and
knock them down.”
The
Eagles
(4-5,
12-19)
knocked in one run against
junior left-handed pitcher Evan
Hill, but Michigan responded
in the bottom of the frame
with three more scores. Seven
Wolverines went to the plate,
highlighted
by
back-to-back,
line-drive hits by Benedetti
and Bruder, falling for a double
and triple, respectively, to put
Michigan up 6-1 heading to the
third.
Earlier
in
the
week,
Bakich
said
that Hill, who
was
making
his
first
start
of
the
season
after
rehabbing
a
knee
injury
sustained
in
the fall, was
expected to throw just a few
innings in order to rebuild his
arm strength.
Hill gave two innings of work,
allowing just two hits and one
earned run while striking out a
pair of hitters.
Freshman
right-hander
Jayce Vancena came in for
the Wolverines after Hill had
completed his scheduled two
innings of work, putting together
four solid innings on the mound.
Vancena allowed three runs to
score, but there was little doubt
concerning the outcome of the
game. After Vancena entered
from the bullpen, the closest
the game became was 8-4 after
Eastern Michigan tacked on
two runs in the top of the fourth
inning.
From that point on, Michigan
would slug three home runs, two
triples and five doubles en route
to its final tally of 18 runs.
Two Wolverines stood out in
the run-producing department.
Bruder and sophomore right
fielder Johnny Slater combined
for 11 RBI on the night and
accounted for much of the high
level of the game’s slugging
statistics.
Two of Michigan’s three
home runs came from Slater,
who launched balls over the
right-field wall in both the
sixth and seventh innings, and
Bruder ended
up being only
a
home
run
shy of hitting
for the cycle.
No Wolverine
has hit for the
cycle
since
2007,
and
Slater was the
first Michigan
player to hit
two home runs in a game since
Jacob
Cronenworth
did
so
against Illinois on April 12, 2014.
“Something
we’ve
talked
about has been that we can
put up a crooked number and
then maybe not score for a
few innings or just hold the
lead after a three- or five-run
inning,” Bakich said. “So for us
to have five different innings
where we score multiple runs
was good to see our team do. It
was great to see some offensive
explosion and fireworks out
here.”
Michigan has won seven
of its last eight games and is
sailing toward easier parts of its
conference schedule. If it hopes
to get into the national rankings
again, the team will have to keep
dominating even the midweek
games.
BASEBALL
E. MICHIGAN
MICHIGAN
4
18
“It was really
important to get
out to a good
start tonight.”