Expires: Sunday, June 14, 2015
11
Thursday, June 4, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SPORTS
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
Sophomore infielder Carmen benedetti hit two home runs in the Wolverines’ two losses to No. 3 Louisville.
By ZACH SHAW
Summer Managing Sports Editor
LOUISVILLE — By the time
Carmen Benedetti finished round-
ing the bases, Michigan looked
like it had found one more dose of
postseason magic.
The sophomore first baseman
had just belted a two-run home
run in the top of the first inning,
and the Wolverines (39-25) were
on top of No. 3
Louisville (46-16)
just four minutes
into the game.
But by the time
Benedetti
came
up to the plate for
the second time in
the fourth inning,
the magic had run
out.
Without a true
starting
pitcher
available, Michigan instead got a
healthy dose of reality, as its Cin-
derella run came to an abrupt end.
The Cardinals scored early and
often, thumping the Wolverines in
a 13-4 defeat.
“We wanted to get out of the
gate quick, and that was a two-out,
two-run home run that was a huge
lift that pumped us up,” said Mich-
igan coach Erik Bakich. “Unfortu-
nately, we just couldn’t keep up.”
The loss ends Michigan’s sea-
son, which was miraculously con-
tinued with a 4-0 run in the Big
Ten Tournament and featured
the most wins by a Michigan team
since 2008.
After defeating Bradley, 4-3,
earlier in the day, Michigan had its
second chance against Louisville
with some momentum after sur-
viving the first elimination game.
It disappeared quickly, howev-
er, as Louisville tallied 14 hits and
scored in all but two innings. Five
Cardinals had multi-hit games in
the dominant affair.
“We
didn’t
lose
today
because
we
were
scared,
we
just
couldn’t
keep
up with them,”
Bakich
said.
“But that’s the
type of envi-
ronment we’ve
been in over
the past two
week, and want to be in in the
future.”
On offense, left-hander Josh
Rogers retired 10 straight Wol-
verine batters after the home run.
Michigan would piece together
two more runs and 10 hits overall,
but it paled in comparison to Lou-
isville’s outpour.
Even when the Wolverines did
rally, Louisville was able to force
three double plays with runners
in scoring position to end the
threat.
“The double play is a momen-
tum play, especially when it’s
an inning-ending double play,”
Bakich said. “You’re sprinting off
the field and that gets some ener-
gy in the dugout. They certainly
did a good job of getting ground
balls and ending the rallies for
us.”
“They have dominant pitch-
ing, that’s why they’re the No. 3
national seed.”
In addition to Louisville’s top
seed, two consecutive College
World Series appearances and
home-field advantage of rough-
ly 5,000 fans, Michigan’s odds
of winning were even further
diminished Sunday.
Freshman right-hander Ryan
Nutof — normally the team’s No. 2
starter — has been in the hospital
with the flu since Thursday. Using
its fourth starter, Evan Hill, in the
earlier game, Michigan relied on
spare bullpen parts in its biggest
game of the season.
“We
knew
we were going
to try to piece it
together a little
bit,” Bakich said.
“We were down
an arm, but we
were just hop-
ing to try to keep
them off balance and try some dif-
ferent looks at them. Unfortunate-
ly, it just didn’t work out that way.”
In the team’s worst loss since
April 10, the shorthanded pitch-
ing staff was coupled with a sud-
den drop-off in defense (the team
made three errors) and timely
hitting to ensure that, after the
first inning, the Wolverines were
nowhere near contending with
the Cardinals.
“All of those base hits and extra
90’s add up, and we just had too
many mistakes today that they
took advantage of and they were
able to score a
lot of runs.”
Though most
season-ending
games
result
in
glassy-eyed
press
confer-
ences
full
of
short statements
about the sting of defeat, Bakich
leaned back and smiled when talk-
ing about his overachieving team.
“They’ll forever be champions,
and that’s what they’ll be remem-
bered for.” Bakich said. “We’ve
been that way for a couple weeks
now where our backs are against
the wall and we’re fighting for our
lives and we’ve thrived in that sit-
uation. It’s been a lot of fun.”
AMANDA ALLEN/Daily
Junior right-hander and utility player Jacob Cronenworth is one of several team
leaders likely to leave for the MLB Draft. He led the team in saves and base hits.
“We knew we
were going to
try to piece it
together.”
“It’s been a lot
of fun.”
Baseball’s season ends with loss to No. 3 L’ville