The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
April 11, 2016 — 3B

ICE HOCKEY
Connor loses Hobey Baker 
voting to Harvard’s Vesey

Freshman misses 
out on hockey’s 
top award despite 
71-point season

By KEVIN SANTO 

Daily Sports Writer

Though the Michigan hockey 

team was eliminated from the 
NCAA Tournament 13 days ago, 
Kyle Connor still had a chance 
to take home a trophy from 
Tampa on Friday.

But that possibility didn’t 

come to fruition.

Instead, 
the 
freshman 

forward fell just short of the 
Hobey Baker Award — behind 
Harvard forward Jimmy Vesey.

“I thought it was a cool 

ceremony,” 
Connor 
said. 

“Obviously it was just two great 
players — I was with Thatcher 
and Jimmy. I don’t think (I was 
surprised). They’re both really 
deserving … congrats to Jimmy.”

Connor was unable to join the 

ranks of the Wolverines’ other 
two Hobey Baker winners — 

Brendan Morrison and Kevin 
Porter — but his performance 
this 
season 
was 
certainly 

worthy of consideration.

Despite having a slow start 

to the season, Connor’s game 
exploded in early December 
when he was switched to 
the first line with juniors JT 
Compher 
and 
Tyler 
Motte. 

Connor ended 
the 
regular 

season with 71 
points and 35 
goals, good for 
first nationally 
in 
both 

categories. 
And his line 
mates weren’t 
far behind, as 
Compher and 
Motte finished 
second and third in points, 
respectively.

Despite 
losing, 
Connor’s 

numbers were eerily similar 
to those of Jack Eichel — who 
won the Hobey Baker in 2015. 
Eichel notched 71 points in 
40 games and averaged 1.77 
points per game. Connor, on the 
other hand, boasted the same 

point total in two fewer games, 
averaging 1.87 points per game.

But Demko, the other finalist, 

and 
Vesey 
had 
impressive 

seasons in their on right.

Vesey finished sixth in the 

nation with 24 goals while also 
leading the Crimson in points 
with 46.

Demko posted a .935 save 

percentage 
and 
1.88 

goals against 
average, 
while leading 
his team to a 
Frozen 
Four 

appearance.

Now, only 

time will tell 
if 
Connor 

will 
get 
a 

second crack 

at the honor, as he has yet to 
announce if he will return for his 
sophomore season at Michigan.

“I’m still undecided,” Connor 

said. “I’m going to sit down with 
my family the next couple days 
here and work on the decision. 
(It’s about) what’s right for 
me and what’s best for my 
development.”

“I don’t think (I 
was surprised). 

They’re both 

really deserving.”

Michigan recovers 
to win road series

Wolverines shut out 
Friday, then battle 
back to take two of 
three at Nebraska

By ORION SANG 

Daily Sports Writer

With the score tied and the 

Michigan softball team in need 
of a big hit, senior center fielder 
Sierra Lawrence stepped up to 
the plate in the seventh inning 
of the rubber match between the 
Wolverines and Nebraska.

And 
Lawrence 
delivered, 

launching a two-run bomb over 
the left-field fence to break 
the stalemate and give No. 1 
Michigan (7-2 Big Ten, 29-4 
overall) an 8-6 lead.

“I 
just 
wanted 
to 
stay 

confident, have fun and hit 
the ball hard,” Lawrence said. 
“That’s what (I had) been doing 
all weekend, and it worked well.”

After Lawrence gave her team 

the lead, junior right-hander 
Megan 
Betsa 
retired 
three 

consecutive 
Cornhuskers 
in 

the bottom of the inning to give 
Michigan the win.

It 
was 
part 
of 
a 
gritty 

performance 
by 
Betsa, 
who 

began the day as the starting 
pitcher, but was lifted in the first 
inning for fifth-year senior right-
hander Sara Driesenga after a 
shaky start. Driesenga, though, 
was ineffective, and Betsa was 
called upon to re-enter the game 
in the third inning.

“When (Hutchins) took me 

out, she just told me to go to 
the bullpen and gather myself,” 
Betsa said. “I went back out (in 
the bullpen), worked on my spin 
and stopped trying too hard.”

Added Michigan coach Carol 

Hutchins: “I was so impressed. 
She did such a great job coming 
back. I didn’t know if that was 
going to work, but I thought it 
was our best option. Megan did a 
fantastic job.”

Sunday’s 
victory 
gave 

Michigan the series win over 
the Cornhuskers (6-5, 25-14) 
after three close contests — the 
first two games of the series 
were low-scoring battles with 
shutdown pitching, and the 
third was a back-and-forth, 
offensive affair that featured 
several lead changes.

“We won two really tight 

and really competitive games,” 
Hutchins said. 
“This weekend 
had the feel of a 
Super Regional 
to me — very 
competitive 
softball. 
The 

games were a 
lot of fun, and 
I thought we 
responded. 
We 
worked 

through 
the 

difficult times.”

The Wolverines dropped the 

series opener on Friday, 1-0, 
after 
an 
uncharacteristically 

quiet 
performance 
by 
the 

offense. Michigan’s bats were 
held in check by poor base 
running and Nebraska pitcher 
Cassie 
McClure’s 
shutout 

performance.

Hutchins thought her team 

was too focused on its lofty 
ranking.

“We got what we deserved,” 

Hutchins 
said. 
“It’s 
not 

acceptable to be caught up in 
a ranking that means nothing 
in April. Who cares if you’re 
ranked No. 1 in April? I’d like 
to be ranked first at the end of 
June. That’s the only ranking 

that matters.”

Michigan made sure to get out 

to a fast start in the second game 
of the series Saturday — a two-
run homer in the first inning by 
senior second baseman Sierra 
Romero gave the Wolverines an 
early lead.

But the bats went cold after 

Romero’s blast, and the offense 
failed to score any runs over the 
next five innings.

Driesenga 
pitched 
well 

through the first five frames, 
but was replaced by Betsa after 
getting in a jam in the sixth 
inning. Betsa got her team out of 
the inning relatively unscathed, 

limiting 
the 

Cornhuskers 
to 
only 
one 

run.

In 
the 

following 
inning, 
Lawrence 
hit 

a 
two-run 

homer to give 
her team some 
breathing 
room, 
and 

Michigan emerged with a hard-
fought, 4-1 victory after Betsa 
finished off Nebraska in the 
bottom of the inning.

While 
Michigan 
came 

away with two wins after the 
weekend, the victories might 
be overshadowed by the loss 
following the team’s ascent to 
the top of the rankings.

And 
Hutchins 
certainly 

doesn’t want the team to forget 
her lesson that the rankings 
mean little at this time.

“We need to learn that lesson, 

and we need to get better at 
internalizing 
that 
message,” 

Hutchins said. “I thought we did 
get better (Sunday). We weren’t 
all the way where we need to be, 
but we were better.”

SOFTBALL

“This weekend 
had the feel of a 
Super Regional 

to me.”

Minnesota freezes Michigan

By COLE ZINGAS 

Daily Sports Writer

After its hottest start since 

1987, the No. 25 Michigan baseball 
team had accomplished most of its 
early-season goals and hadn’t left 
many games to linger on.

Even in the moments following 

losses to No. 23 Oklahoma State 
and Notre Dame, the Wolverines 
felt they had been improving and 
moving forward, learning and 
growing with each game.

But suddenly, there is a blemish 

on Michigan’s résumé that is much 
harder to account for.

Minnesota (4-1 Big Ten, 18-10 

overall) came to chilly Ann Arbor 
this weekend and never allowed 
the Wolverines’ bats to heat up in 
either end of a Friday doubleheader. 
The Golden Gophers’ offense, 
meanwhile, seemed much more 
cozy in the 35-degree weather, 
rattling off 21 hits in two games to 
down Michigan, 8-1, in game one 
and 5-3 in game two.

Before 
facing 
the 
Golden 

Gophers 
this 
weekend, 
the 

Wolverines (3-2 Big Ten, 21-8 

overall) had been able to attribute 
much of their success to the 
consistency of the batting order.

Sophomore 
third 
baseman 

Jake 
Bivens, 

the 
leadoff 

hitter, 
has 

kick-started 
the lineup with 
a .385 batting 
average. 
And 

there isn’t much 
of 
a 
dropoff 

as the batting 
order progresses — freshman 
second baseman Ako Thomas, the 
No. 9 hitter, has solidified his spot 
with a .382 on-base percentage.

Yet, Friday, it was Minnesota’s 

lineup that bruised Michigan 
pitching from one through nine. 
In game one, the hitters No. 6 
through No. 9 each recorded 
an RBI. In game two, it was the 
top of the lineup that gave the 
Wolverines trouble, as the first 
four in the Golden Gophers’ order 
drove in one run apiece.

In the few games where the 

Michigan offense has struggled 
to get going, a dominant pitching 

staff, which has a combined 
earned-run average of 2.43, has 
picked up the slack.

Sophomore left-hander Oliver 

Jaskie 
led 

Michigan 
to 

a shutout win 
against 
No. 

11 
California 

early 
in 
the 

season. Senior 
Evan 
Hill 

allowed 
only 

one run in the 

Wolverines’ other victory against 
a ranked opponent, a 4-2 win over 
the Cowboys on March 20.

Friday, however, Minnesota 

once again flipped the script.

While the Golden Gophers 

bounced Jaskie in the fifth inning 
of game one and drew eight walks 
against lefty Brett Adcock in game 
two, Minnesota’s pitching shut 
down Michigan’s normally high-
powered offense.

The Golden Gophers’ Matt 

Fielder held off the Wolverines 
in game one, allowing only one 
run. 
Minnesota’s 
game 
two 

starter, Dalton Sawyer, didn’t 
allow a run and struck out 10 in 
six innings of work.

“You tip your cap to the 

opposition,” said Michigan coach 
Erik Bakich. “But there was a lot of 
breakdowns today, fundamentally, 
that unfortunately turned out in a 
disappointing couple of games for 
us.” 

The 
doubleheader 
Friday 

marked a departure from the 
solid, fundamental baseball the 
Wolverines 
have 
consistently 

played thus far this season. In 
addition to the struggling offense 
and pitching, three errors on the 
day did not help their case.

“When you play good teams, 

it’s pitching, defense and timely 
hitting,” Bakich said. “Those are 
the three things you need to play 
good teams, and we didn’t have a 
whole lot of that.”

Michigan never had a chance 

to 
return 
to 
form 
against 

Minnesota, as weather canceled 
the final game of the series.

The 
Wolverines 
will 
hope 

to shake the April ice off their 
bats quickly, as they travel to 
East Lansing on Tuesday to 
face Michigan State, which is 
undefeated in conference play.

MATT VAILLIENCOURT/Daily

Michigan struggled in all areas of the game after a hot start to Big Ten play.

“You tip your 

cap to the 
opposition.”

