2B — March 28, 2016
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Bruder hits game-winner

Wolverines win on 
walk-off to secure 
weekend sweep of 
Illinois-Chicago

By COLE ZINGAS 

Daily Sports Writer

Friday 
and 
Saturday, 
the 

Michigan baseball team scored 
25 
runs 

in 
three 

blowout 
victories 
against Illinois-Chicago (9-15), 
but Sunday’s contest wasn’t so 
easy.

Instead, it required a walk-

off. Facing a 1-1 count with 
runners on first and second, 
senior outfielder Cody Bruder 
nailed the ball up the middle, 
and junior Carmen Benedetti 
dove home to score the game-
winning run in the ninth inning.

“I was just trying to see the 

ball up, and the rest was a blur,” 
Bruder said.

Bruder couldn’t even recall 

what pitch he was thrown, but 
a hard swing brought Michigan 
(16-5) the victory, 5-4 at Ray 
Fisher Stadium.

The game started similarly to 

the previous contests against the 
Flames, as Michigan jumped on 
the board first.

A couple of quick innings for 

senior left-handed pitcher Evan 
Hill and a string of hits from 
the bottom of the lineup put 
Michigan on top, 2-0, after two 
innings. After seeing Michigan 
win the previous three games 
against the Flames (9-15) by 
a combined 19 runs, an early 
lead had the Michigan faithful 
confident about their team’s 
chances.

But in the top of the third, 

an offensive outburst by the 
Flames, including a triple by 
Derrick Patrick, tied the game, 
2-2. In the next frame, Hill still 
couldn’t settle down, and the 
Flames took the lead on an RBI 
double from No. 8 hitter Cody 
Mohanek. 
The 
Wolverines’ 

starters usually pitch deep into 

games, but UIC knocked Hill 
out after just 3.1 innings.

The bullpen, though, provided 

the relief that Michigan needed. 
Freshman 
left-hander 
Will 

Tribucher stepped in to face 
Patrick and forced a 6-4-3 
double-play to end the inning.

Down 3-2 in the following 

inning, 
freshman 
outfielder 

Jonathan Engelmann checked 
his swing and 
was 
punched 

out 
on 
an 

appeal to first 
base. Michigan 
coach 
Erik 

Bakich 
immediately 
came out onto 
the 
field 
to 

argue the call.

“C’mon, 

give 
me 

a 
warning,” 
Bakich 
yelled, 

taunting the umpire. 

The ump skipped the warning 

and tossed Bakich, but the 
Wolverines weren’t fazed by 
their coach’s abrupt exit.

“He got us all together and 

pretty much told us that we’re 
going to win the game, so it really 

got us fired up,” said sophomore 
first baseman Drew Lugbauer.

In the bottom of the fifth, 

the Wolverines knocked Flames 
starter Connor Ryan out of the 
game and loaded the bases. But 
unlike the Wolverines, the UIC 
relief wasn’t able to pitch out of 
the jam.

Lugbauer stepped up and 

delivered a single through the 

hole 
on 
the 

left 
side 
of 

the 
infield, 

scoring 
two 

to reclaim the 
lead, 4-3.

It 
seemed 

that was all the 
Wolverines 
would 
need, 

as junior left-
handed pitcher 
Carmen 

Benedetti came in for Tribucher 
and cruised through the next 
three innings. 

“(Our bullpen) is a great 

advantage … especially when 
you’re playing the 4th game in 
three days, and you think you 
could be a little thin,” Bakich said. 

Benedetti held UIC without 

a hit and handed the ball to 
sophomore right-hander Bryan 
Pall with a 4-3 lead in the 9th.

Pall faced the top of the 

Flames lineup and couldn’t finish 
the job. Two leaping catches by 
sophomore third baseman Jake 
Bivens held a runner at third, but 
UIC eventually scored on a two-
out RBI single.

But the Wolverines also had 

the meat of their lineup due up 
in the bottom of the ninth, and 
they delivered.

Benedetti and junior catcher 

Harrison 
Wenson 
continued 

impressive 
weekends 
and 

reached base, setting the stage 
for Bruder’s heroics.

Though 
Michigan 
didn’t 

beat the Flames as soundly as 
it did to start the series, to the 
Wolverines, this victory was 
equally impressive.

“That pitching staff that they 

put out today is one of the best 
we’ve seen all year,” Bruder 
said.

Ryan had only allowed one 

run in eight appearances thus 
far, and the Wolverines tagged 
him for four in just 4.1 innings 
of work.

EVAN AARON/Daily

Senior outfielder Cody Bruder hit a game-winning, walk-off RBI single to win the game Sunday against Illinois-Chicago.

“I was just 

trying to see the 
ball up, and the 
rest was a blur.”

UIC
MICHIGAN 

4
5

BASEBALL
Bottom of Michigan 
lineup comes up big

By SYLVANNA GROSS 

Daily Sports Writer

It was the bottom of the 

second in the first of two games 
for the Michigan baseball team 
Saturday. With the bottom of 
the lineup coming up against 
Illinois-Chicago, 
sophomore 

infielder 
Drew 
Lugbauer 

stood on third, junior infielder 
Michael Brdar was on second 
and freshman infielder Ako 
Thomas on first. 

Sophomore 
infielder 
Jake 

Bivens, 
the 
leadoff 
hitter, 

walked up to the plate and 
looked out at a beautiful bases-
loaded opportunity to drive in 
his teammates.

But before Bivens could get 

in a swing, a misplaced throw 
by the Flames’ pitcher and a 
fumble by the catcher sent the 
ball all the way to the backstop, 
allowing Lugbauer to score on 
the passed ball. The Wolverines 
led, 3-0. 

Brdar then strolled to third, 

Thomas advanced to second 
and Bivens made it safely to first 
with a base hit on the next play. 

“Our goal at the bottom is to 

get on base for the guys at the 
top to knock us in,” Brdar said. 
“When we get on base, it creates 
pressure for the defense and 
creates runs.”

The bottom of the lineup 

contributed significantly toward 
Michigan’s 
offense 
over 
the 

weekend. In the bottom of the 
fifth Sunday, Lugbauer stepped 
up to the plate with the bases 
loaded and hit a two-run single as 
both Bivens and Benedetti scored.

The lineup looked pretty 

much the same for the duration 
of the series with the exception 
of 
Lugbauer 
and 
freshman 

outfielder Jonathan Engelmann 
switching 
off 
between 
the 

sixth- and seventh-hitter slot. 
Brdar spent the weekend as 
a shortstop and the eighth in 
rotation. Thomas finished the 
series securely in the nine hole 
as the second baseman. 

“We have a good group of 

guys out there, and honestly, 
they’re just fun to play with,” 
Brdar said. “Me and (Thomas) 
in the 8-9 hole, we take pride in 
our job down there and getting 
on base with others knocking 
RBIs and helping us come in 
and help us win games. It really 
relieves the pressure from us.”

The lineup was exactly what 

a solid order should be. Keep 
the highest batting percentages 
at the top, the cleanup slugger 
junior catcher Harrison Wenson 
at number four, and the fastest 
in ninth. 

Thomas fits that speedy bill. 
Deceptively small, Thomas 

has one of the team’s top on-base 
percentages (.426), falling just 
short of left-handed pitcher 
Carmen Benedetti and Wenson 
at .500 and .465, respectively. 
Coming out of the weekend, 
Michigan coach Erik Bakich 
praised his OBP. 

But Thomas is new to the 

slot, having hit second for most 
of high school. But the routine 
is the same no matter where he 
bats. Thomas has to be fast and 
see the pitch.

“Whatever coach needs me 

to do, I’ll do it,” Thomas said. 
“When you got a good group of 
guys around you, it just makes it 
easier to play anywhere. I don’t 
think there’s any nerves. I just 
wanted to play the game like we 
usually play.”

Bakich has enough skill on his 

team to fill the sixth through ninth 
holes with reputable players, but 
Lugbauer, Englemann, Brdar and 
Thomas are confirming their 
claim to the rotation. 

After Sunday’s game-winning 

hit by senior centerfielder Cody 
Bruder, Lugbauer was waiting in 
the wings to take over, something 
that gives the top of the rotation 
conviction in its game.

“All these guys up and down 

can put the ball in the gap at 
any time and have hard at-bats,” 
Bruder said. “It gives you 
confidence, because hitting is 
contagious. I can’t speak enough 
about those guys, to be honest.”

SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN
Red Berenson should stay one more year
I

n 32 years at the helm of the 
Michigan hockey program, 
Red Berenson has had a lot 

of teams — 
some great 
ones, some 
good ones and 
some not-so-
good ones.

He spoke 

consistently 
throughout 
this season 
as if he knew 
he had a good 
team, right up 
until that team gave everything 
it had before losing to No. 1 seed 
North Dakota in the regional 
final in Cincinnati on Saturday.

But I’m guessing that for 

all Berenson knows about this 
year’s team, he knows next 
year’s could be even better.

And that’s why the 76-year-

old Michigan hockey coach 
should return for one more year 
— to lead that team. He loves to 
coach seniors, and he could have 
nine of them next year.

Berenson has been signing 

one-year contracts since 2009, 
and with three straight missed 
NCAA Tournaments, it hasn’t 
always been easy. This year, 
his team put it all together, and 
after that, it’s clear he’s still 
the right man for the job. For 
as difficult as their regional, 
dubbed the “Region of Death,” 
was this weekend, they almost 
escaped it.

Berenson proved, though, 

that he can still lead his team 
into the elite tier of college 
hockey. New Athletic Director 
Warde Manuel agrees, and he 
has supported Berenson since he 
was introduced Jan. 29

“I hope that this year is not 

his last year,” Manuel said 
that day. “I hope I get a chance 
to be here and to watch his 
team on ice again. But if he 
decides that this is his last year, 
then certainly he will have a 

significant role in the process.”

If Berenson decides to 

retire this year, Manuel 
will be scrambling to find a 
replacement. If he stays for 
one more, it gives Manuel time 
to decide on one of the many 
suitable successors Berenson 
has cultivated — Michigan Tech 
coach Mel Pearson (who was 
Berenson’s top assistant for 12 
years) and current associate 
head coach Billy Powers 
(who has been Berenson’s top 
assistant for the last five years) 
among them.

And, more importantly, if 

Berenson stays, he could coach 
the team he has always wanted 
to coach.

The beliefs Berenson holds 

as a coach go back a long time. 
Once, just before he was set 
to start his playing career at 
Michigan in the 1950s, the 
Montreal Canadiens attempted 
to lure him away to the NHL. 
The Canadiens tried every 
which way to get Berenson to 
fulfill his professional dream, 
a Canadian native playing on a 
Canadian team.

Berenson wouldn’t. Not yet.
“Montreal was waiting,” 

Berenson told the Daily in 2010. 
“They tried to bribe me, pay 
me, and I said, ‘No, I’m going to 
school.’ ”

Berenson told that story 

to one of his players, Louie 
Caporusso — though he has 
probably told it more than once 
— in an airport during a trip 
home years ago.

“He went against the grain, 

and I think that’s why he’s 
become such a special figure 
in hockey,” Caporusso told the 
Daily in 2010. “I love that about 
him because he knows exactly 
what he wants. For anyone else, 
it would’ve been a no-brainer. 
Ninety-nine-point-nine percent 
of people would have taken it, 
but he didn’t. That’s what’s so 
great about him.”

After returning their school 

to the NCAA Tournament at 
age 76, 99.9 percent of coaches 
would retire. He should be 
the 0.1 percent, just as he was 
almost six decades ago.

He came back to Ann Arbor 

from the NHL’s St. Louis Blues 
in 1984 because he had a soft 
spot for Michigan and wanted 
to return his alma mater to 
greatness. That he did.

Berenson has also been an 

enduring fixture in college 
hockey, a perfect representation 
of the ideals of the sport. He urges 
his players to stay in school for 
four years, earn their degree and 
play alongside their classmates.

Over the years, that ideal 

has become harder and harder 
to fulfill. NHL teams pressure 
players to turn pro early, 
depriving Berenson of the 
seniors he loves to coach. Every 
summer, Berenson takes his 
seniors on a canoe trip up north. 
He speaks highly of all of them 
and cherishes the teams filled 
with them.

Next year’s team could be one 

of those teams.

The Wolverines will almost 

certainly bring back at least 
seven seniors: forwards Max 
Shuart, Alex Kile and Evan 
Allen, defensemen Michael 
Downing, 
Nolan De Jong 
and Kevin 
Lohan and 
goaltender 
Zach 
Nagelvoort.

Then it gets 

tricky. The 
other two who 
could come 
back as seniors 
are forwards 
Tyler Motte and JT Compher, 
two cogs in the prolific CCM 
line and two NHL Draft picks 
with professional futures.

If those two stay, Berenson 

should, too. If his seniors stick 

around, he should stick with them.

Even if freshman forward 

Kyle Connor leaves, the 
Wolverines need only find a 
third member of their first line 
to keep it rolling. They will 
again have a senior in the net in 

Nagelvoort, 
and they’ll 
have a second-
year captain in 
Compher.

Most 

importantly, 
numbers-
wise, they’ll 
have nine 
seniors, which 
is almost 
unheard 

of. North Dakota and Boston 
College, the two teams that 
won Saturday to advance to the 
Frozen Four, have four each. 
With the extra experience, 
Michigan will have a better 

chance of making a deeper run 
into the NCAA Tournament.

“There should be a sense of 

urgency in your senior year, 
and that’s when most of our 
seniors have their best seasons,” 
Berenson said. “Even though 
they have been good players, 
we have rarely had a senior 
that didn’t have his best year 
as a senior, and that’s why I 
encourage seniors to stay. I 
think it is really important in 
your development and your 
growth and your maturity to 
fulfill that senior year. It always 
shows up on the ice.”

Now, Berenson prefers that 

his players stay four years, but he 
has said countless times that if a 
player has a ticket straight to the 
NHL (as opposed to the minors), 
“I’ll drive him to the airport.”

Connor has that ticket. So 

did Dylan Larkin, who left after 
one season last year and has 

now scored 43 points — tied for 
fourth among NHL rookies — 
for the Detroit Red Wings.

But it doesn’t always work 

out like that. More common 
these days are cases like 
Andrew Copp, a captain on 
last year’s team who forwent 
his senior season and signed 
with the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets, 
disappointing Berenson in the 
process.

“I just wish he would stay and 

do it right — graduate with your 
teammates and classmates,” 
Berenson said that day. “Take 
this team to another level. We 
lost to a senior-laden Minnesota 
team. Well, how about a senior-
laden Michigan team?”

Yes, how about it, Red? What 

do you say — one more year?

Lourim can be reached 

at jlourim@umich.edu and 

on Twitter @jakelourim.

JAMES COLLER/Daily

Red Berenson will now have to decide whether to return for a 33rd season at the helm of the Michigan hockey program.

JAKE
LOURIM

“He went against 
 

the grain ... he 
knows exactly 
what he wants.”

