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Thursday, May 21, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SPORTS
Season on the line as
baseball heads to the
Big T
en T
ournament
By ZACH SHAW
Managing Sports Editor
The Michigan baseball team is
playing some of its best baseball in
years.
The rest of the conference, how-
ever, has followed suit.
The 2015 Big Ten Baseball Tour-
nament is set to begin in Minneap-
olis Wednesday in what will be one
of the most competitive conference
tournaments in the country.
For the first time ever, the Big
Ten will send six teams inside the
nation’s top 50 rankings to the
eight-team event. The six Big Ten
teams is a number only bested
by the Southeastern and Atlantic
Coast Conferences, which each
boast eight such teams
Despite having their most wins
since 2010 and earning the No. 3
seed, the Wol-
verines — who
kick off the
tournament
against
Indi-
ana at 10 a.m.
eastern
time
Wednesday —
aren’t one of
those teams.
In
fact,
Michigan (14-
10
Big
Ten,
33-23 overall) finds itself dead-
last in Ratings Percentage Index,
which factors in win percentage
and strength of schedule. Despite
being on the outside looking in,
momentum has been building for
the Wolverines.
“It’s been an upward slope
ever since I got here,” said senior
infielder Eric Jacobson. “We’ve
gotten better and better every time
and the program is on the rise.
We’ve got a resilient bunch and a
confident bunch, and I think that
bodes well for the postseason.”
Michigan finished conference
play with a 7-2 record, and recently
showcased its postseason poten-
tial by toppling No. 13 Oklahoma
State on Sunday.
Among the stars of that game
was sophomore left-hander Brett
Adcock, who struck out seven in
three shutout innings. Guiding
the Wolverines in their last game
against the Hoosiers (12-10, 32-20)
— a 4-3 win in Bloomington April 5
— Adcock gets the nod for Wednes-
day and will lead the pitching staff
into battle.
The sophomore is 6-1 with a 2.00
earned-run average in his last seven
starts. But should he run into trouble,
Michigan coach Erik Bakich isn’t afraid
to tap into his resources to get outs.
“One positive about our staff —
whether it’s our starters or relievers
— is that everybody is battle-tested,”
Bakich said. “Everyone’s been in
some type of a nail-biter, some type
of a close game, some type of a big
situations where they had to make
big pitches.
“That’s only going to help us.”
What also helps is that the Wol-
verines can usually count on their
offense to provide some breathing
room. Leading the conference in hits,
on-base percentage,
and a bevy of other
statistics, Michigan
has no shortage of
production
at
the
plate.
Sure,
there
are
four
Wolverines
ranked inside the
conference’s top 11
in batting average,
but the bottom of the
order — which went
8-for-18 in Sunday’s win over the
Cowboys — makes Michigan a legiti-
mate threat against any team.
“One-through-nine,
anybody
can step up at anytime,” said senior
catcher Kendall Patrick. “(Opposing)
pitching coaches know that, and it
makes them pitch everybody straight-
up because they know there’s a dan-
gerous guy behind them.”
Ranking last in RPI, Michigan will
need to win the whole tournament
to earn its first postseason berth
since 2008. But with its best team
in Bakich’s tenure, the excitement
around the team is equally high.
“We’ve got to grind, and we know
that,” Bakich said. “We know that the
end of the year is always going to be a
grind, always going to be a battle, so
we’ve got to play pitch-to-pitch.
“We know we’re going to take
some blows, we know we’re going
to trade punches, and we look for-
ward to that challenge.”
Seniors end on high note,
beat No. 13 Oklahoma State
By ALEX KHALIFEH
Daily Sports Wrter
If there’s one way to win a
baseball game, it’s through dom-
inant pitching.
The Michigan baseball team
(14-10 Big Ten, 33-23 overall) con-
trolled its
regular-
season
finale
with pitching, en route to its 6-2
win against No. 13 Oklahoma
State on Saturday.
Whether it was sophomore left-
hander Brett Adcock’s dominance
— Adcock pitched 3.0 innings,
recording seven strikeouts and
one hit — or the relievers strong
showing, giving up just two earned
runs, the Wolverines’ pitching
fired on all cylinders to the tune
of 15 total strikeouts and just four
hits allowed on the afternoon.
“Adcock did a great job of set-
ting the tone,” said Michigan
coach Erik Bakich. “He attacked
the zone and mixed up all of his
pitches. I thought he did a terrific
job. … He was able to keep them
off-balance.
“I thought (senior right-hand-
ed pitcher) Donnie Eaton was
very good in his inning, striking
out the side. … Our guys weren’t
going to be denied today.”
Conversely, Oklahoma State
(34-17) faced trouble against
Michigan’s
offensive
lineup.
With a 0.89 earned-run aver-
age coming into his start, right-
hander Remey Reed seemed like
a tough matchup for any offense
to go up against.
But the Wolverines didn’t let
up, highlighted by senior out-
fielder Jackson Gline’s two-run
blast in the third — his second
home run in the series. Reed was
pulled after 3.1 innings, giving
up seven hits, three runs and
striking out zero.
The
Cowboys’
offense
attempted several comebacks,
with the most notable being a
three on, two out situation faced
by freshman left-hander Michael
Hendrickson in the fifth. Okla-
homa State’s shortstop Donnie
Walton came
through with
a
two-RBI
single,
but
further dam-
age was pre-
vented
after
senior
right
fielder Kevin
White nabbed
catcher Gage
Green on a throw to freshman
third baseman Jake Bivens, who
promptly tagged Green out.
Though the pitching didn’t
come without its share of stress-
ful innings, the defense record-
ed outs when balls went in play.
With a runner on, infielder
David Petrino hit a deep fly ball
to left field off of sophomore
left-hander Keith Lehmann. But
junior left fielder Cody Bruder
made the catch and saved what
would’ve been extra bases and
resulted in a tie game.
After the possible comeback
opportunities, Oklahoma State
fell apart in the bottom half
of the eighth, when Michigan
tacked on three insurance runs,
attributed in part by fifth-year
senior catcher Kendall Patrick’s
two-RBI double against right-
hander Carson LaRue.
For Michigan, it ends its regu-
lar season with its most wins
since 2010, and is hungry for suc-
cess in the Big Ten Tournament.
“A win like
this … brings
momentum,”
said
Bakich.
“It’s
a
good
feeling to have.
These
guys
work extreme-
ly
hard
and
deserve
suc-
cess. The way
we played today with the execu-
tion, the effort and the mentality.
The total feeling today of (us) not
going to be denied.
“If we bottle this up and keep
this going, we’re going to be a
tough team to beat.”
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
Sophomore left-hander Brett Adcock is 6-1 with a 2.00 earned-run average in his last seven starts and started Wednesday.
OKLAHOMA ST
MICHIGAN
2
6
“We’re going to
be a tough team
to beat.”
“We know we’re
going to take
some blows ...
trade punches.”