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.”