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Thursday, June 2, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Selection Committee passes on 

Wolverines, ends season abruptly

By COLE ZINGAS

Daily Sports Writer

After a rocky finish to end its 

season, the Michigan baseball 
team was on the bubble entering 
Monday’s NCAA Tournament 
selection show. 

Baseball 
America 
listed 

Michigan as one of the “First 
Four Out” of the 64-team field 
before the selection show, leaving 
the Wolverines hoping that they 
could sneak into the field. Last 
year, Michigan did not have to 
sweat out the selection process, 
as a Big Ten Tournament Title 
gave it an automatic bid into the 
tourney.

But this year, the selection 

committee 
passed 
on 
the 

Wolverines, ending their season 
prematurely. From the Big Ten, 
Nebraska and Minnesota earned 
the at-large bids. No. 23 Ohio 
State earned their way into the 
field after winning the Big Ten 
Tournament.

Michigan entered the season 

ranked No. 15 in the country, and 

for a long while, they lived up 
to the high expectations. They 
blistered their way to a historic 
start to the year, holding a 34-12 
overall record through May 8. 

But the Wolverines hit a rough 

patch, and stumbled to the finish. 
Their final two weeks of the 
season featured losses against 
Central 
Michigan and 
Oakland, and 
they 
ended 

the 
regular 

season losing 
seven of eight 
heading 
into 

the Big Ten 
Tournament.

The 

Wolverines, 
however, still 
had fight left in them. After 
an opening round loss to Ohio 
State, they beat the No. 1 seed 
Minnesota, 3-2, to earn a rematch 
against the Buckeyes. However, 
Michigan was again unable to 
power past Ohio State, and fell, 
11-4. Though the Wolverines 
were unable to repeat as Big Ten 

Tournament Champions, a win 
against 
Minnesota 
certainly 

provided a boost to their NCAA 
résumé.

They held a No. 37 ranking in 

the ratings percentage index, the 
highest of any Big Ten school, 
but the Wolverines were hurt 
by their lack of marquee wins. 

They went 4-7 
against the Top 
50. Also, the 
only 
opponent 

on 
Michigan’s 

schedule 
that 

currently 
sits 

in the Baseball 
America 
Top 

25 
was 
the 

Buckeyes. The 
Wolverines 
did 

not win a game 

against Ohio State in five games 
played.

Still, dominant sweeps against 

Big Ten foes like Rutgers and 
Nebraska, 
along 
with 
out-

of-conference 
wins 
against 

Oklahoma State and California, 
set the stage for a possible 
selection into the postseason.

The Wolverines 

were hurt by 
their lack of 

marquee wins.

‘M’ Baseball: A 
season in review

By NATHANIEL CLARK

Daily Sports Writer

At the start of the 2016 season, 

the Michigan baseball team was 
ranked in multiple polls, including 
No. 
15 
by 
Baseball 
America. 

Coming off a Big Ten Tournament 
championship and a close NCAA 
Regional loss to Louisville last 
season, the Wolverines looked 
poised for another big year with 
several key contributors returning 
from the 2015 squad.

For 
most 
of 
this 
season, 

Michigan lived up to the hype. By 
May 10, the Wolverines were off 
to their best start since 1987 with 
a 34-12 record. Michigan (13-10 
Big Ten, 36-21 overall) was within 
striking distance of its first Big Ten 
regular-season title since 2008 
and looked to be a shoo-in for the 
NCAA Tournament. There was 
even talk of the Wolverines hosting 
a regional. All of these seemed well 
within reach, so what could’ve 
gone wrong? 

As 
it 
turned 
out, 
almost 

everything.

The 
Wolverines’ 
troubles 

began with a tough loss at Central 
Michigan on May 11, in which 
they trailed 8-0 and rallied in the 
late innings to make it 8-7, but 
fell just short of the comeback 
victory. While road losses are not 
uncommon even for the best teams 
in college baseball, the Chippewas 
finished the year just 24-37, making 
it especially painful for Michigan.

But the real catastrophe for 

the Wolverines was a three-game 
sweep by Ohio State on May 13-15. 
Michigan came up just short in the 
first contest, a 3-2 loss, before the 
Buckeyes topped the Wolverines 
7-3 and 8-2 in the following two 
contests.

To add insult to injury, the 

Wolverines lost senior left fielder 
Matt Ramsay and junior first 
baseman, outfielder and pitcher 
Carmen 
Benedetti 
to 
injuries 

during the Ohio State series. 
While Michigan still retained 
key contributors such as senior 
center fielder Cody Bruder and 
sophomore third baseman Jake 
Bivens, Ramsay’s and Benedetti’s 
absences proved to be severe blows.

After a nail-biting 6-5 home 

defeat at the hands of Oakland, 
Michigan coach Erik Bakich and 

the Wolverines appeared to regain 
momentum with a 1-0 road win 
at Illinois thanks to a masterful 
pitching 
performance 
from 

junior left-hander Brett Adcock. 
Michigan then found itself with a 
7-2 advantage in game two against 
the Illini.

Any traction the Wolverines 

gained was quickly lost, though, as 
Illinois stormed back to win game 
two, 11-8, before taking game three, 
6-1.

The Big Ten Tournament didn’t 

start any better for Michigan 
when Ohio State downed the 
Wolverines, 8-3. It looked like 
Michigan was going to exit the Big 
Ten Tournament with a whimper 
when it was down 2-1 against 
Minnesota in the eighth inning, but 
an RBI single by Bivens and several 
miscues by the Golden Gophers 
propelled the Wolverines to a 3-2 
victory, which gave them hope for 
another tournament run.

The Buckeyes — the eventual 

Big Ten Tournament champions 
— ended those dreams quickly, 
though, when they eliminated the 
Wolverines with an overwhelming 
11-4 victory.

In spite of the way the season 

ended, there were several moments 
from 2016 that the Wolverines will 
look back on fondly, including a 5-0 
win at then-No. 10 California on 
Feb. 29 and a three-game sweep of 
eventual NCAA-Tournament team 
Nebraska on April 17.

But the most exciting moment 

for Michigan may have been 
an 11-inning, 4-3 win against 
Michigan State at Ray Fisher 
Stadium on April 29. Freshman 
second baseman Ako Thomas 
secured the victory with a two-out, 
walk-off single.

Unfortunately 
for 
the 

Wolverines, that win was their only 
one against the Spartans in 2016. 
Michigan squandered a 5-0 edge 
April 30 in East Lansing en route 
to a 7-6 defeat, and fell 7-4 in Ann 
Arbor on May 1. In light of the way 
the season ended, those shortfalls 
against the Spartans sting the 
Wolverines even more now with 
their season at an end.

Michigan will lose some key 

contributors to graduation this 
year, including Ramsay, Bruder, 
designated hitter Dominic Jamett 
and left-hander Evan Hill.

SPORTS

