The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Thursday, February 9, 2017 — 7A

Newcomers look to fit into veteran squad

Leading up to the 2017 season, 
the Michigan baseball team has 
been stressing two recurring 
themes — culture and experience. 
The program has now won 30 or 
more games in each of the last 
three seasons under coach Erik 
Bakich, improving its winning 
percentage each year. With a 
veteran core of 12 juniors and 
seven seniors returning, that 
mark appears attainable again. 
Now in his fifth season at 
the helm, Bakich has overseen 
the development of an entire 
recruiting class. He has watched 
his players progress through 
the program, receive interest 
from MLB teams, and seen some 
eventually be drafted. To Bakich, 
the five players chosen in the MLB 
Draft last year — the most the 
Wolverines have had since 2010 
— is emblematic of the culture his 
teams create.
“That’s the nature of the beast 
in quality programs, (you) try to 
build the best program you can,” 

Bakich said. “One of the impacts 
of that is that the players are 
going to develop and get drafted 
to professional baseball.”
Three 
of 
Michigan’s 
2016 
draftees — pitchers Brett Adcock 
and Evan Hill and utility player 
Carmen Benedetti — signed pro 
contracts last summer, leaving 
glaring holes to fill. While the 
Wolverines 
already 
have 
an 
abundance of upperclassmen ready 
to fill these roles, Bakich believes 
the 12 newcomers to the team 
have an equal chance to duplicate 
the 
success 
and 
year-by-year 
progression that Adcock, Hill and 
Benedetti made in their careers.
Of the Wolverines’ incoming 
class, 
the 
biggest 
immediate 
impact will likely be made by 
those who have already played 
baseball at the collegiate level 
– the five junior college and 
Division I transfers.
Redshirt sophomore outfielder 
Miles Lewis is perhaps the most 
high-profile among them. He 
was the 2016 Western Athletic 
Conference Freshman of the Year 
and a Freshman All-American 

at North Dakota, batting .360 
and stealing 20 bases. When the 
Fighting Hawks dropped their 
baseball program after the season, 
Lewis 
had 
the 
opportunity 
to transfer anywhere and be 
immediately eligible to play. With 
only two returning outfielders 
on the roster, the Wolverines 
will likely rely heavily on Lewis’s 
speed and switch-hitting ability 
right out of the gate.
“He brings that impact ability 
to come in and solidify an outfield 
role and hit close to the top of the 
order,” Bakich said.
Another player that Bakich 
named as having an opportunity 
to contribute immediately is 
sophomore Nick Poirier, who hit 
.372 with four home runs and 
31 runs batted in last season at 
San Joaquin Delta Community 
College. Poirier brings a left-
handed presence with a chance 
to add much-needed outfield 
depth, and may also see time at 
designated hitter.
On the mound, Bakich said that 
junior Alec Rennard, a transfer 
from Santa Rosa Junior College, 

is one of the Wolverines’ four best 
pitchers. At Santa Rosa, Rennard 
was the Big 8 Conference Pitcher 
of the Year and a first-team Junior 
College All-American, going 14-1 
with a 1.40 ERA, while walking 
just 10 batters in 115.2 innings.
“He’s got a winner’s mentality,” 
Bakich said. “He’ll be in our 
rotation somewhere.”
Michigan’s recruiting class also 
includes seven freshmen, three of 
whom were highlighted by Bakich 
as players to watch. Outfielder 
Christian 
Bullock 
brings 
athleticism and solid hitting 
potential, while pitchers Tommy 
Henry and Karl Kauffman have 
the talent to eventually comprise 
the backbone of the pitching staff.
“This is obviously a very skilled 
freshman class, and we have some 
talented (junior college transfers) 
that have proven themselves,” 
said junior infielder Jake Bivens. 
“They’ve been great additions 
to this team and have fit right in 
with this culture, so we’re excited 
to see them actually get on the 
field and play against other guys.”
Even though the potential is 
clearly there for the freshmen, 
the excitement may have to wait 
a little bit. With the veteran 
makeup of the lineup, it may 
be difficult for any of them to 
earn consistent playing time 
immediately. However, Bakich 
stresses that they will still have 
opportunities to play key roles.
“They’re trying to get a feel 
for the academics and the speed 
of the game while still having a 
social life and making friends,” 
Bakich said. “It’s going to be very 
challenging for them to get on 
the field and have an impact-type 
role, but I think you’ll see them 
contribute in ways where they can 
help the team in certain spots.”
The junior college transfers 
have the experience and ability 
to step in right away and fill key 
holes vacated from last season, 
supplementing 
an 
already 
veteran team. In the meantime, 
a promising group of freshmen 
lies waiting for their opportunity. 
After 
years 
of 
consistent 
improvement, 
the 
Wolverines 
appear to have a solid foundation 
in place, both now and in the 
future.

Michigan edges Purdue

The No. 21 Michigan women’s 
basketball 
team 
traveled 
to 
Purdue on Wednesday night, 
looking to reach their 20th win 
in the shortest amount of time in 
program 
history. 
Despite a 
slow start 
to the contest, Michigan eked out a 
72-62 win over the Boilermakers. 
The Wolverines missed their 
first three shots in the first 
minute alone, and their struggles 
continued throughout the frame. 
Even though it led at 22-18 at the 
end of the first quarter, Michigan’s 
scoring 
difficulty 
was 
still 
apparent. The Wolverines missed 
more than half of their shots from 
the floor, and their leading scorer, 
junior guard Katelynn Flaherty, 
was 0-7 from the field.
Freshman 
guard 
Kysre 
Gondrezick 
though, 
was 
unfazed by the inaccuracy of her 
teammates. She put Michigan 
on the board with a 3-pointer 
and continued to carry the 
team 
offensively, 
ending 
the 
first quarter with seven points. 
Sophomore center Hallie Thome 
was right behind her with six 
points.
The 
second 
quarter 
went 
slightly 
smoother 
for 
the 
Wolverines. Flaherty tallied seven 
points while sophomore guard 
Nicole Munger — who scored 
the game-winning layup against 
Iowa — earned her first points 
of the game with a big 3-pointer, 
coming off the bench to rouse her 
sluggish teammates. By halftime, 
the game was anything but 
decided. Michigan led by eight 
points, but had committed 10 
costly turnovers that Purdue had 
capitalized on.
“I thought we got better with 
(turnovers) as the game went on,” 
said Michigan coach Kim Barnes 
Arico. “At halftime, we were really 
concerned. We had 10 of them and 
a lot of them were touchdowns, 
they were layups. And that was 
really scary.”
Despite their mistakes, the 
Wolverines found a way to stay 
ahead, never relinquishing their 

lead. Yet, Purdue was constantly 
at Michigan’s heels, narrowing 
the Wolverines’ lead to only one 
point late in the third quarter.
Even though the Wolverines 
were not comfortably ahead, 
Flaherty — who ended the 
game with 13 points on 5-for-19 
shooting — took just four shots 
in the second half. Instead, she 
increased her passing, ending 
the matchup with five assists — 
surpassing even senior guard 
Siera Thompson, who is ranked 
third in the conference in assists.
“(Flaherty) led our team in 
assists tonight, which was was 
great to see,” Barnes Arico said. 
“Sometimes 
you’re 
going 
to 
have an off night. … If you’re not 
making shots, somebody on our 
team probably is.”
Gondrezick was that player. 
The rookie – who earned her fifth 
Big Ten Freshman of the Week 
award Monday — scored 14 points 
in the fourth quarter for a total of 
25, setting her career-high.
“She took over the game,” 
Barnes Arico said. “We got 
stagnant a little bit. We couldn’t 
figure out a way to score. And 
Kysre figured that out for us.
“She’s been the player that 
continues to improve in each and 
every contest.”
While Gondrezick led the team 
in scoring, Thome did her part 
as well, tallying 15 points, eight 
rebounds and four assists.
Junior forward Jillian Dunston 
held steady on defense, tying her 
career high for rebounds with 15. 
The Boilermakers had almost the 
exact same field-goal percentage 
as Michigan — 42.2 and 42.3, 
respectively. Without her crucial 
defense, the Wolverines’ lead 
could have easily been surpassed.
Thompson also played a large 
role on defense, never stepping off 
the court in 40 minutes of play.
“What she does for our team 
doesn’t always show up in the 
box score,” Barnes Arico said. 
“The goal that she had for today 
was to hold (senior guard Ashley 
Morissette) under 10 (points). 
She’s an awesome defender.”
Against Purdue on Wednesday, 
Michigan — ranked for the first 
time since 2013 — proved that it 
wants to stay. 

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

As recruiting accelerates, Michigan’s tactics shift

The conversation may have 
taken place nearly three years 
ago, but Jack LaFontaine still 
remembers it vividly. 
During his sophomore year of 
high school, the now-freshman 
goaltender 
for 
the 
Michigan 
hockey team was in Ann Arbor to 
watch the Wolverines take on Penn 
State. LaFontaine, still a relatively 
unheralded prospect in search of 
an offer, met with the coaching 
staff for the first time after the 
game.
LaFontaine 
smiled 
while 
recalling that talk with Michigan 
coach Red Berenson. Clearly, it still 
holds weight with him — a marker 
of his past and the path he took.
“I finally introduced myself to 
coach 
(Berenson),” 
LaFontaine 
said. “I remember him saying, ‘Go 
develop, do your thing and come 
talk to me in a couple years.’ ”
Sure enough, two years later, 
LaFontaine found himself back in 
Ann Arbor, albeit under different 
circumstances. This time, he was 
a highly-coveted prospect in the 
midst of a stint with the United 
States Hockey League’s Janesville 
Jets, projected to be taken in 
the NHL Draft later that spring. 
And this time, when he met with 
Berenson, the coach offered him a 
scholarship.
After the visit, LaFontaine went 
home to Canada, discussed it with 
his family and then called both 
Berenson and assistant coach Brian 
Wiseman to let them know he was 
committing to Michigan. He didn’t 
officially commit until nearly a 
week after his visit, but LaFontaine 
had laid in bed the previous Friday 
— the night he arrived in Ann 
Arbor — with an inkling that he 
wanted to be a Wolverine.
While the natural progression 
from unofficial visit to official visit 
to commitment may have once 
been common practice, the pace 
of recruiting in college hockey has 
quickened so much that stories like 
LaFontaine’s are now unique.

***
That phenomenon has taken 
place in most collegiate sports. It 
was once standard for athletes to 
commit to a school during their 
senior year, but now top recruits 
are committing to schools earlier 
and earlier. Freshman forward 
Will Lockwood committed in the 
spring of 2014 as a sophomore 
in high school. Jacob Truscott, 
a 14-year-old defenseman in the 
2020-21 class, committed this past 
Saturday.
As Berenson says, it’s an “ever-
changing process,” and it has 
caused a shift to the types of visits 
that players take.
LaFontaine’s 
interest 
in 
Michigan was initially piqued by 
his first trip to Ann Arbor — dubbed 
an “unofficial visit” by the NCAA.
Recruits can take unofficial 
visits to schools whenever they 
want. The only caveat is that the 
athlete and his family must pay 
their own way. The school, as 
bound by NCAA rules, cannot 
pay for their travel or lodging, 
among other expenses. Most of the 
work Michigan has to do involves 
contacting the ticket office to 
let them know which games the 
recruit will be visiting for, or the 
coaches setting aside time to meet 
with the player and his family.
Schools, however, can pay for a 
recruit’s official visit, but recruits 
must wait until at least their senior 
year to take one.
This is where the acceleration 
of the recruiting process comes 
into play: with players choosing 
to commit earlier in the process, 
schools can no longer afford to 
bring them in only on official visits. 
In Michigan’s case, the assistant 
coaches — and Berenson, to a lesser 
extent — are constantly involved 
with setting up unofficial visits, 
either during the season or the 
offseason.
“The official visit is important,” 
Berenson said. “But the unofficial 
visit might be the most important, 
where they come early and realize, 
‘Oh, this is where I want to go.’ 
They might get blown away the 

first time they come here.”
Luckily for the Wolverines, 
they 
already 
have 
a 
built-in 
advantage compared to teams like 
Arizona State or Penn State: their 
geography.
Michigan is typically a hotbed 

for hockey, and the United States 
National 
Team 
Development 
Program practices just 30 minutes 
away from Ann Arbor. The city 
is also within driving distance 
of much of Canada. The more 
manageable 
the 
distance, 
the 
easier it is for recruits to take 
unofficial visits to Michigan early 
in the process, before they leave 
their hometowns to finish their 
prep careers in junior leagues like 
the USHL.
While the Wolverines have 
extended their reach nationally 
as the sport has grown in the 
past few decades, the team is still 
mostly comprised of players from 
the surrounding region. Of the 28 
players on the roster, 13 are from 
Michigan and six are from the 
Midwest or Canada.
Despite the growing importance 
of unofficial visits, official visits 
still serve a valuable purpose. 
They can solidify the status 
of a recruit wavering on his 
verbal commitment, grow the 
relationship between a player and 
his future coaches and teammates, 
or allow players to compare 
different schools.
And perhaps most importantly 
for 
Michigan, 
a 
school 
that 
deals with early or unexpected 
departures nearly every offseason, 
official visits allow the coaching 
staff to showcase the school late in 
the recruiting process to recruits 
who haven’t committed yet at 
all, like LaFontaine, or who are 
reconsidering their initial decision. 
The script for an official visit to 
Ann Arbor is usually the same 
for most recruits, according to 
Berenson. The recruits will arrive 
in the evening, eat dinner with a 
current team member assigned as 
their host and spend time with the 
host and the rest of the team. The 
recruit will also tour the campus 

and meet with academic officials 
before visiting the hockey facilities 
and spending time with the 
coaches. In most cases, the recruit 
will also attend practice and a 
game, before the trip concludes 
with a meeting in Berenson’s office.
Yet, while most official visit 
itineraries 
are 
similar, 
what 
resonates the most with each 
individual recruit is often different. 
For Slaker, it was how the coaching 
staff watched film with him.
“They videotape every practice 
and they’ll break it down and look 
at what guys need to work on,” 
Slaker said. “There’s always extra 
ice in the morning for guys to work 
on depending on classes. They 
were showing me videos of guys 
working on stuff in the mornings 
and incorporating it into games. 
After talking to the coaching staff 
and seeing everything that they do 
and how professional it is, I thought 
it was the best opportunity to give 
me a shot to play pro hockey.”
His visit to Michigan only 
confirmed what he had already 
been feeling, and he didn’t take 
much time in making his second 
commitment — telling Berenson he 
wanted to be a Wolverine.
While 
Slaker 
enjoyed 
the 
technical breakdown of his future 
at Michigan, LaFontaine was most 
enamored with the family feel he 
got from Michigan.
***
By 
now, 
Berenson 
has 
delegated most of the recruiting 
responsibilities 
to 
other 
staff 
members like associate head coach 
Billy Powers and Wiseman. It 
was Wiseman who served as the 
primary contact for both Slaker 
and LaFontaine before each took 
their official visit to Michigan.
Perhaps that is by design. 
Berenson 
has 
a 
legendary 
reputation within the sport, and 
at this point, he has been a coach 
for long before any recruit was 
born. So when a recruit steps into 
Berenson’s office, having had little 
prior contact and not knowing what 
to expect, something as simple as 
a short face-to-face conversation 

can still have the most meaningful 
impact.
“It was surreal,” Slaker said. 
“His history speaks for itself. It was 
kinda shocking just to get to shake 
his hand. I felt really honored to 
have an opportunity to play here. 
It was really cool meeting him 
and getting to talk to him a bit and 
see where he saw me in the lineup 
and where he thought I could be 
as a player. It got me really excited 
about coming here.”
Added 
LaFontaine: 
“... 
I 
remember sitting down at practice, 
and coach (Berenson) just telling 
me all these great stories. Not even 
Michigan-related, just about his 
time as a professional hockey player 
and his time as a coach. It was by far 
the most unique visit I’ve had.”
It’s in those final meetings 
where Berenson gets to state his 
final case on unofficial or official 
visits, and he has secured many a 
commitment doing so.
“We had one kid — his name was 
Luke Moffatt,” Berenson said. “I 
told him, ‘We’re not going to rush 

you. You take your time and decide 
and let us know what you want to 
do.’ And right away, he ripped off 
his overshirt and he had a Michigan 
hockey shirt underneath, and he 
said, ‘That’s my answer.’ That was 
one of the more memorable ones.”
At this point, there isn’t much 
complexity to Berenson’s pitch. As 
a visit comes to an end, the recruit 
and school have become familiar 
with each other. By the time they 
met with Berenson, Slaker and 
LaFontaine knew what type of 
opportunities a Michigan offer 
presented, and so he didn’t have to 
sell the program very hard.
“We’re 
very 
transparent,” 
Berenson said. “They can ask any 
questions. We lay it all out, and this 
is Michigan. It’s pretty hard not to 
like it. If you’re looking for a good 
school and a good program, that’s 
what we offer. I would say that goes 
for all our sports here. You get the 
best of both worlds.”

Read the full story at 

michigandaily.com

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Michigan coach Red Berenson has adjusted his recruiting methods over time.

MAGGIE KOLCON
Daily Sports Writer

MICHIGAN
PURDUE 
72
62

FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan coach Erik Bakich sees plenty of opportunities for his new players to take on key roles this season.

JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer

ORION SANG
Daily Sports Editor