9

Thursday, May 28, 2015

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SPORTS

wrote their own page when no 

one expected them to, and that’s 
awesome.”

Before 
the 
celebration, 
it 

was about doing enough to win. 
Although he didn’t look like his 
usual overpowering self, Adcock 
(10-4) earned his third win in eight 
days, pitching 5.2 innings and 
allowing just two hits.

At the plate, Michigan — enter-

ing the game as the conference’s top 
offense — struggled to get things 
going, only accumulating six hits in 
the game. After falling behind, 1-0, 
in the third inning, however, the 
bats seized every 
opportunity from 
a Terrapin error 
to 
extend 
the 

inning.

Seeing-eye 

RBI singles by 
junior 
designat-

ed hitter Cody 
Bruder and senior outfielder Kevin 
White opened the scoring, and from 
there the Wolverines rolled, batting 
around in the inning and providing 
enough offense to win.

“We always go out there and try 

to make the pitcher throw as many 
pitches as we can and see a lot of 
pitches, and when he makes a mis-
take, that’s when we strike,” said 
senior outfielder Jackson Glines, 
who led the Tournament with 
nine hits. “We’re an opportunistic 
offense, (Bakich) doesn’t always 
like that, but we try to take what we 
can when we can.”

With the eight teams combining 

for a .238 batting average through-
out the tournament, hits were at a 
premium on both sides. In addition 
to Adcock, the Wolverines’ defense 
ensured that the four-run fourth 

inning was more than enough, rob-
bing base hits and killing rallies.

Sophomore first baseman Carmen 

Benedetti made the most notable of 
the plays, leaving his feet to snag a 
foul ball that had drifted into the sec-
ond row of the stands. With plenty of 
errors from high-seeded teams, the 
Wolverines’ ability to stay composed 
and avoid mistakes stood out.

“We didn’t necessarily avoid 

those mistakes in the season,” 
Bakich said. “We dug ourselves a 
hole, and we had moments early in 
the year — starting 2-5 or 0-3 in the 
Big Ten — where those were learn-
ing moments for us.”

“We’ve had our struggles, and 

those struggles have made us stron-
ger. That’s what you saw this week-

end.”

Tensions 

mounted 
in 

the top of the 
seventh, 
when 

Maryland grew 
upset with home 
plate 
umpire 

Jim 
Schaly’s 

strike zone. After multiple delays, 
Maryland coach John Szefc was 
ejected from the game.

The Terrapins responded by tal-

lying a second run in the eighth 
inning, but third baseman Jose 
Cuas was thrown out stretching a 
double into a triple, ending the rally 
with just one run. But Maryland 
wasn’t done yet.

***
Brandon Lowe lived for moments 

like this.

Maryland’s second baseman — 

seen as one of the best players in the 
conference — strolled to the plate 
with the bases loaded and two outs 
in the ninth inning. The Terrapins 
already scored one run to make it 
4-3 in the ninth inning, and were 
one swing of the bat away from a 
lead. They were a swing away from 

erasing the four-run Michigan 
fourth inning made possible by an 
error, a swing away from complet-
ing a three-run comeback effort and 
a swing away from punching their 
own NCAA Tournament ticket.

Lowe had gone 0-for-3 in the 

game, but his team-leading .342 bat-
ting average suggested he wouldn’t 
be hitless for long.

In the other dugout, Bakich took 

a walk.

Usually perched on the top step, 

the coach felt compelled to calm his 
team down. As he told everyone they 
were fine, then turned to give his 
fielders adjustments without blink-
ing, it became clear that the same 
coach who mentioned ‘Champion-
ship’ 19 times in his opening press 
conference three years ago wasn’t 
going to miss his first chance at one 
— not if he could help it.

Cronenworth, who would later 

be named the tournament’s Most 
Outstanding Player, tried every-
thing to stay loose. He clicked his 
heels to get the mud off, did a couple 
arm circles and took a deep breath. 
Turning himself into a high-profile 
prospect in his time in Ann Arbor, 
Cronenworth was one Lowe swing 
away from ending his career at 
Michigan.

But he wasn’t ready for that, not 

yet. Strike one.

The next pitch was even better 

than a strike. Lowe popped up, the 
dugout exploded, but restrained 
itself because in a rain-soaked game 
and a tournament that had seen even 
the nation’s best teams self destruct 
from errors, you just don’t know.

It was a high floater to left and 

senior outfielder Kevin White, who 
drove in the winning run with a 
seeing-eye single to left in the fourth 
inning, camped out under it. White 
captured the ball, and Michigan 
captured its 36th Big Ten Champi-
onship.

For the 22nd time, but just 

the first since 2008, the Michi-
gan baseball team is postseason-
bound.

In Monday’s NCAA Tournament 

selection show, it was announced 
that the Wolver-
ines (14-10 Big 
Ten, 37-23 over-
all) 
will 
travel 

to Louisville to 
play in a regional 
hosted by No. 3 
Louisville.

Michigan will 

be the third seed 
in 
the 
tourna-

ment. In addition 
to the Cardinals, 
No. 19 Bradley 
and 
Morehead 

State will partici-
pate as the second 
and fourth seeds, 
respectively.

The Wolverines will play Bradley 

on Friday at 2 p.m. at Jim Patter-
son Stadium. The Braves (9-11 Mis-
souri Valley, 35-19) hold a 3-6 record 
against ranked teams and beat their 
one Big Ten opponent, Iowa, 5-4 on 
April 14.

The tournament is double-elim-

ination format, so Michigan will 
need to win at least three games to 

advance to a Super Regional. It last 
did so in 2007, when it upset No. 1 
Vanderbilt in Nashville. Likely its 
largest obstacle will be the Car-
dinals (25-5 Atlantic Coast, 45-18 
overall).

Louisville is 10-5 against ranked 

teams, and went 1-2 in three 
games against Big Ten teams, 
beating Purdue but falling to Indi-
ana and Ohio State. The Cardinals 
are no stranger to regional action, 
hosting a regional for the third-
straight year and having made the 
College World Series each of the 
last two seasons.

To make it into the Tourna-

ment, Michigan got hot at the 
right time, winning the Big Ten 
Tournament to secure an auto-
matic bid. All five of its victories 
in the past week were over teams 
that made the Tournament — No. 
14 Oklahoma State, Indiana, No. 
19 Iowa, No. 4 Illinois and Mary-
land.

“It’s still settling in for some of 

the guys,” said junior right-hand-
er Jacob Cronenworth after the 
announcement. “It’s a whirlwind of 
emotions these past 24 hours. It’s 
been awesome. I don’t think a lot 
of people expected us to win it, and 
when we got that final out, it was 
awesome.”

CHAMPIONSHIP
From Page 1A

Bradley vs 
Michigan

Matchup: No. 
19 Bradley 
35-19; Michi-
gan 37-23

When: Fri-
day 2 P.M.

Where: Jim 
Patterson 
Stadium, 
Louisville

TV/Radio: 
ESPN3, 
WCBN-FM

Bradley awaits 
Regional game 

ALEXANDRIA BODFISH/Daily

Senior outfielder Kevin White looks to help carry Michigan’s success to Louisville.

“We’ve had our 

struggles.”

