The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Thursday, March 30, 2017 — 7A
BASEBALL
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Wolverines’ bats overpower Central Michigan
For
a
moment,
the
air
evaporated from Ray Fisher
Stadium.
Fans
stared
at
sophomore left-handed pitcher
William Tribucher laying on the
mound covering his face with
his glove. A hard-hit line drive
appeared to have ricocheted off
his head.
Fortunately, prior to hitting
Tribucher in the chin, the ball
was deflected by his shoulder
and he was able to get up and
finish off the last batter of the
inning.
“He’s tough,” said Michigan
coach Erik Bakich. “I didn’t
know what I was going to see
when I went out to the mound.
I was expecting to see at least a
little blood, but I saw no blood.
He took it off the chin, got back
up and said ‘I’m fine.’ ”
In two innings of relief,
Tribucher allowed one unearned
run on three hits.
Besides this scary instance,
there was nothing but smiles for
the No. 22 Michigan baseball
team (1-2 Big Ten, 19-6 overall)
in
its
13-4
victory
against
Central Michigan (0-0 MAC,
10-14 overall). The Wolverines’
offense accumulated 15 hits
and scored 13 runs – the team’s
second-highest
run
total
of
the
season.
Additionally,
every starter reached base for
Michigan.
“It’s just been (the team’s)
approach,”
said
junior
first
baseman Jake Bivens on the
team’s recent offensive surge.
“Sticking to the plan and getting
quality at-bats and that carries
over to the next guy and the
next guy. Everybody doing their
job and trying to play in their
comfort zone.”
The
Wolverines
had
a
complete
team
performance
in which they put runs on the
board early and often.
After producing a run in the
first inning off a bloop single to
center by junior third baseman
Drew
Lugbauer,
Michigan’s
offense exploded with four runs
in the second.
The
Wolverines
quickly
loaded the bases after senior
catcher Harrison Wenson was
hit by a pitch,
an infield single
legged
out
by
sophomore right
fielder Jonathan
Engelmann
and sophomore
second baseman
Ako
Thomas
singled to right.
In
the
following at-bat,
with
senior
centerfielder
Johnny Slater up
to the plate, Central Michigan
catcher Blake Cleveland gave up
a passed ball – allowing Wenson
to score. In the same at-bat,
Slater blasted an RBI triple to
right that narrowly stayed in the
ballpark – he leads the team with
four triples on the season. After
an error from Chippewa first
baseman Evan Kratt allowed
another run to score, Michigan
led 5-0.
Upon adding an additional run
in the fifth off an
error by Central
Michigan
shortstop
Alex
Borglin,
the
Wolverines’
offense
again
erupted in the
seventh.
An
inning
that
featured
seven runs was
highlighted
by
a monster two-
run
homerun
by Lugbauer. The ball sailed
over the right fielder’s head,
out of the stadium and over the
neighboring indoor track and
field facility.
Bakich credits his team’s
recent offensive firepower to
“quality at-bats” in which guys
are fighting off pitches and
working the count.
While Michigan’s offense was
on a tear, the team’s pitching
was also impressive – allowing
only one earned run.
Despite a successful outing
from the game’s starter Alec
Rennard – in which he allowed
no walks, no runs and three
hits on just 47 pitches – Bakich
pulled the junior right-hander
after just four innings. The
decision was made in order to
make Rennard available either
Saturday or Sunday against
Penn State.
Heading into their first Big
Ten home series of the season,
the Wolverines are coming off
three straight wins, in which
they
have
outscored
their
opponents by 25 runs. This
type of run differential should
give Michigan the confidence
it needed as it goes into its
upcoming weekend series.
CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily
Junior right-hander Alec Rennard pitched four scoreless innings against Central Michigan in the Wolverines’ victory.
Versatility proves
X factor in ‘M’ win
Senior centerfielder Johnny
Slater stepped up to the plate in the
second inning with two runners
on base. Slater had been moved
to the ‘2’ spot in the batting order
and in his second at-bat of the
game, he launched a ball deep into
the outfield for a triple, sending
leadoff hitter and sophomore
second baseman Ako Thomas and
sophomore right fielder Jonathan
Engelmann home.
The No. 22 Michigan baseball
team routed Central Michigan,
13-4. The win comes a day after
the Wolverines shut out another
MAC team, Toledo, 12-0.
The offensive surge for the
team is a new development as
over the course of the 24-game
season so far, it has recorded 223
hits and 152 runs.
The success of the team over
the past weeks raises some
questions: What could be the X
factor? How is Michigan going
into its long home stretch on such
a hot streak?
One of the answers is its
versatility. In the game against
the Chippewas on Wednesday,
the Wolverines switched up
their batting order to gain a
competitive edge over their foe.
Among the notable changes
were Slater moving up to hit
second and junior third baseman
Jake Bivens moving to hit sixth in
the order.
And clearly, it worked.
“(I) just wanted to get Slater
up, (more at-bats),” said Michigan
coach Erik Bakich. “He’s got a lot
of confidence and hitting a lot of
balls hard.”
Slater produced a multi-RBI
triple, and Bivens dropped two
singles and picked up a run.
“I try not to change my
approach too much, honestly,”
Bivens said of moving to sixth. “I
know I have good guys in front
of me and they’re going to get on
base, so I just try to drive them in
and do my job.”
One
thing
that
Bakich
emphasized throughout the season
has been committing to quality
at-bats, no matter the outcome.
“We had 30 quality at-bats
yesterday and 31 quality at-bats
today,” Bakich said. “… Obviously,
everyone looks at batting average
and
slugging
and
on-base,
but we look at quality at-bat
percentages.”
This versatility was evident in
the latter innings of Wednesday’s
game as Bakich made several
substitutions. Sophomore first
baseman Jimmy Kerr entered
the game for Bivens and redshirt
freshman
designated
hitter
George Hewitt entered the game,
both producing hits.
“If you go in our indoor cages
you’ll see a weekly winner for
highest quality at-bat percentage
guy,” Bakich said. “We just
want to look at who has the
most
productive
team
plate
appearances, who’s hitting the
ball hard, who’s having the most
competitive ABs.”
This
top-down
approach
to creating a culture in which
quality at-bats are king is one of
the reasons why the team can
switch around the lineup so
easily and explains the recent
success.
The outlook from the game
against Central Michigan is that
the Wolverines are a versatile
team that have a multitude of
players who can hit anywhere in
the lineup.
As quality at-bats are the
hot commodity in the locker
room and on the field, the game
against the Chippewas put that
on display. Michigan takes an
approach to the game that quality
at-bat
percentage
should
be
another column on the stat sheet.
Struggles at the plate continue for ‘M’
Players were crossing the plate
like pedestrians at a turnstile in a
New York subway station.
Eleven different players had
hits and eight had tallied RBIs —
including the first career hit for
freshman catcher Abby Skvarce
and first RBIs for freshman
shortstop Madison Uden.
After five innings Sunday, the
game against Penn State came to
a merciful ending, with a crooked
number on the scoreboard (17)
and a ubiquitous sense of relief
permeating the team.
But Michigan coach Carol
Hutchins still kept her guard up.
She wasn’t ready to declare the
“tightness” that she believed to
have been plaguing the offense all
year a thing of the past.
“We’ll see,” Hutchins said.
“Certainly in a game like that,
when you jump on them and
you’re up by five, you’re not tight.
And when you’re not tight, you do
play better… you’re going to face a
lot of good pitchers. Good pitching
in softball means you have to
persevere until you get some
timely hits.”
The offensive renaissance was
much-needed for a team that has
struggled mightily at times this
season, but the blowout and sweep
against a team it has traditionally
dominated — with this being the
28th straight victory over the
Nittany Lions — didn’t mar the
inconsistencies that have plagued
the Michigan offense.
The win didn’t change one
troubling fact: the Wolverines’
offense has struggled against the
top-quality pitching it has faced
this season.
Michigan
has
faced
eight
starting pitchers this season with
an earned-run average below
2.00. In those games, the team has
averaged just 1.625 runs, including
three
shutouts.
The
problem
is made more apparent by the
Wolverines’ current 2-6-1 record
against ranked opponents.
On
Tuesday
against
an
overmatched Central Michigan
team, Chippewa pitcher Rachael
Knapp — who has a 1.66 ERA —
held Michigan’s offense down.
Knapp surrendered just two runs
on the day, keeping the game
competitive.
Hutchins thinks the offensive
disparity stems from more than
just physical difficulties.
“We’ve got a lot of kids who can
really swing bats, we have some
kids that can swing well, and when
we’re on we’re all on — we’re very
contagious,” Hutchins said.
“And when we’re off we’re all
off. So in my mind (the struggles)
are from the neck up. We need to
get a little bit tougher, we need to
get feisty and fight. We’re going
to have to fight for what we want,
and to be a good offense they’re
going to have to fight to be a good
offense.”
To some extent, these struggles
are to be expected; good pitchers
are harder to score against. But
they also shed some light on the
room for improvement that still
exists. For a team that will need
to beat good pitching in the Big
Ten and NCAA Tournaments if it
hopes to accomplish its goals, its
success will largely be predicated
on improvement in that area.
No.
6
Minnesota
—
the
Wolverines’ prime competition
in
the
uncharacteristically
competitive Big Ten — carries
one of the best pitchers in the
country in right-hander Sara
Groenewegen. The senior boasts
a 0.57 ERA in her 85 innings this
season.
No. 22 Wisconsin will also be
a potential foe in the Big Ten this
season. They have a duo of starters
with ERAs below 1.50.
No. 2 Florida — the team that
has served as the primary thorn in
Michigan’s post-season side — has
a tandem of dominant pitchers,
including Kelly Barnhill, who
already shut the Wolverine lineup
down in a 2-1 defeat earlier this
season.
The list could, and will, go on.
The Michigan softball team
has its anchor atop the rotation —
senior Megan Betsa will always
be the backbone of this team. But
if it continues to struggle against
quality pitching, Michigan will
have troubles when it matters
most.
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Sophomore second baseman Faith Canfield has thrived at the plate for Michigan, but the rest of the Wolverines need to learn to succeed against superior pitching.
Rebounding guides
Michigan past Nova
Normally, if the Michigan
women’s basketball team shot
just 26 percent from behind the
arc, the Wolverines would be in
trouble.
Wednesday night was not the
case of normal circumstances,
as Michigan still topped the
Wildcats, 65-61, and advanced to
its first ever WNIT championship
game. The Wolverines can thank
their performance on the glass
for their victory, as they out-
rebounded Villanova, 40-33.
“(Rebounding) was something
we spent a lot
of time talking
about,”
said
Michigan
coach
Kim
Barnes
Arico.
“We needed to
give
ourselves
second-chance
points.
We
thought we could
have
an
edge
on the offensive
glass, and we really tried to have
our team crash. Given our team’s
second-chance opportunities, we
didn’t have to defend through the
entire shot clock.”
The
rebounding
disparity
between the two teams was most
notable on offense, as Michigan
nabbed
10
offensive
boards
to the Wildcats’ three. The
Wolverines outscored Villanova
in the paint, 34-14, and scored 10
second-chance points while not
surrendering a single such point
to the Wildcats.
In the last three minutes of the
third quarter, Michigan nabbed
three offensive boards — two by
sophomore center Hallie Thome
and one by sophomore guard
Nicole Munger. Thome scored
six
second-chance
points
in
that stretch, including a buzzer-
beating layup that gave the
Wolverines a 52-38 edge.
“I know that my teammates
are going to put me in the right
position to score,” Thome said.
“If they’re not passing me the
ball that means they’re packing
the paint. We have a good enough
team where other people can step
up.”
It was defensive rebounding,
though, that proved critical in the
waning moments of the contest.
With
32
seconds
remaining,
Villanova had cut what was a
52-36 Michigan lead into just a
five-point deficit. The Wildcats
had made seven of their last nine
shots and looked poised to make it
a one possession game.
But Villanova guard Adriana
Hahn missed a 2-point jumper,
and
junior
forward
Jillian
Dunston
pulled
down a rebound.
Dunston
then
found
senior
guard
Siera
Thompson, who
quickly drew a
foul and made
one free throw,
stalling
the
Wildcats’
late
momentum.
“We work on
rebounding every day,” Dunston
said. “I think we knew that they
were a bigger team than us, so
rebounding was a big thing for
us.”
The Wolverines’ next opponent
— Georgia Tech — knows a thing
or two about winning with boards.
Despite shooting just 18 percent
from long range, the Yellow
Jackets
defeated
Washington
State, 69-61, in large part because
they out-rebounded the Cougars,
50-35.
And indeed, winning the battle
on the glass was key to Michigan’s
92-52 win over Georgia Tech
on Dec. 1. The Wolverines out-
rebounded the Yellow Jackets,
44-38 and nabbed 29 defensive
boards to Georgia Tech’s 15. If
Michigan can repeat that success
against the Yellow Jackets, the
Wolverines will have an excellent
chance to win their first ever
WNIT championship and raise a
banner in Crisler Center for the
first time.
ROBERT HEFTER
Daily Sports Writer
HUNTER SHARF
Daily Sports Writer
“He took it off
the chin, got
back up and
said ‘I’m fine.’ ”
MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Writer
NATHANIEL CLARK
Daily Sports Writer
“We needed
to give ourself
second-chance
points.”