8 — Friday, March 31, 2017
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

A new family for Miles Lewis

Little did Miles Lewis know 

that one text would change his 
life – that a lone message was the 
first step towards him becoming 
a Michigan Wolverine. 

That message came last April, 

while Lewis was still a member 
of the North Dakota baseball 
team and his then-coach Jeff 
Dodson urgently demanded a 
team meeting.

“I got a text from my coach 

that said ‘If you have class 
right now, you have to miss it,’ ” 
Lewis recalls. “And the athletic 
director came in and told us 
the news that the program 
was getting cut (at the end of 
the season) and said good luck 
basically.”

After 115 years, the Fighting 

Hawks baseball program was 
dropped as part of budget 
restructuring that also saw 
the golf program evaporated. 
The cuts were estimated to 
save the university $720,000 in 
operating budgets and salaries 
according to KVRR.com, the 
school’s local news station. 
The announcement came mid-
season and was unexpected, 
even for the coaches.

Losing the team marked the 

end of a baseball career for most 
players on the roster. Lewis 
wasn’t most players.

He redshirted his first year at 

North Dakota while recovering 
from a double labrum injury 
suffered while playing high 
school football. In his first season 
of play, Lewis led the Fighting 
Hawks in home runs, hits, 
slugging percentage, total bases, 
stolen bases and batting average 
(at .360). His impressive stat 
sheet earned him a Louisville 
Slugger Freshman All-American 

nod 

and 
2016 

Western 
Athletic 

Conference 
Freshman 

of 
the 
Year 
honors. 
Most 

importantly, it turns out, his 
high level of play drew attention 
from many programs throughout 
the country.

For the team’s most talented 

players, such as Lewis, the cut 
merely meant they would be 
moving on.

“As soon as the word got 

out that they were dropping 
their program, I think every 
competitive recruiter went right 
to the stat page,” said Michigan 
coach 
Erik 
Bakich. 
“(They) 

looked at their top pitcher, a kid 
named Zach Muckenhirn and 
their top hitter, Miles Lewis.”

Bakich 
was 
right. 
Miles 

not only drew attention from 
Michigan, 
but 
other 
major 

programs 
including 
Iowa, 

Oregon and Creighton. This sort 
of notoriety was new for Lewis. 
His shoulder injuries forced 
Lewis to miss the high school 
baseball season his senior year, 
which deterred many college 
recruiters.

“Getting recruited by big 

schools was kind of a new 
experience 
for 
me,” 
Lewis 

recalls. 
“That 
really 
didn’t 

happen for me in high school.”

***

Lewis attended Hudson High 

School in Hudson, Wis., where 
he was an All-State selection 
in baseball as well as Academic 
All-State in baseball, football 
and basketball. For a while, 
he considered playing college 
football instead of baseball. 
However, inspired by his older 
brother Mitch – who is 27 and 
played baseball at University of 
Wisconsin - La Crosse – Miles 
stuck to baseball.

“(Baseball) was something 

that my brother always loved 
growing up,” Lewis said. “And 

he was my biggest role model 
and I just wanted to follow in his 
footsteps.”

Following 
in 
Mitch’s 

footsteps turned into a mutual 
bond in which the two challenge 
and motivate each other. While 
Miles feels that his older brother 
is a role model for him, Mitch 
finds this ironic.

“It’s good to hear (that I 

motivate him) but I feel like 
he motivates me to be better,” 
Mitch said. “It’s amazing to see 
him work so hard in not only 
baseball, but also his academics. 
To balance those two and play 
at such a high level, it really 
motivates me to take on more 
challenges and better myself.”

The brothers’ competitiveness 

also drives the duo to succeed. 
Their brotherly rivalry extends 
from 
the 
baseball 
diamond, 

where Mitch claims that he is the 
“smarter ballplayer while Miles 
is the more athletically talented 
player,” to the living room, where 
playing Mario Kart and Mario 
Party Three have become some 
of their favorite pastimes.

Laughing, Mitch contests that, 

“Miles is a very good baseball 
player, but he is a very average 
Mario Kart player.” Miles, on 
the other hand, is quick to refute 
this statement, asserting that he 
is one of the best players in the 
state of Wisconsin.

However, 
the 
one 
thing 

they can agree on is that they 
owe thanks to their father for 
introducing them to baseball 
and inspiring the two to play. 
Their father taught them the 
game, coaching them in some 
capacity from tee-ball all the 
way through high school.

Now, Miles eagerly anticipates 

his father and the rest of his 
family attending a game at Ray 

Fisher Stadium and watching 
him play in a Wolverine uniform 
for the first time.

***

When 
the 
North 
Dakota 

program was cut, Lewis wasn’t 
concerned that it would mark 
the end of his baseball career. 
That didn’t make saying goodbye 
to the friends he had made any 
easier. It was difficult to leave 
behind the life that he had 
become accustomed to and the 
teammates he considered family.

“It was a very emotional 

time,” Lewis explained. “Having 
to leave your best friends that 
you’ve known for years and 
some great coaches. It was really 
tough, but it all works out.”

Fortunately for Lewis, it seems 

as one door closed, another 
one opened. Shortly after the 
program cut was announced, 
coach Bakich took a trip to 
North Dakota to see Lewis play. 
The two went out to dinner and 
Lewis visited the team in Ann 
Arbor a few weeks later.

“The one thing that stuck 

out to me was the coaches here 
and how much energy they 
have,” Lewis recalls. “And how 
much they can help from a 
developmental standpoint and 
the fact that they love winning 
here.”

And for Bakich and Michigan, 

Lewis was the ideal person to 
replace the now-graduated left 
fielder Matt Ramsay.

“It just lined up,” Bakich said. 

“Not only the baseball program 
and our development and how 
we do things, but the school 
academically. He was a 4.0 
student at North Dakota, never 
got one B in any class. It seemed 
like all the pieces fell into place 
and he was a perfect fit.”

Another thing that stood 

out to Bakich – or anyone in 
Lewis’ presence – is his athletic 
build and sheer size. Listed at 
6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, Bakich 
describes Miles physique as a 
“football body” and as someone 
who “could play tailback for 
coach Harbaugh.”

“He’s 
just 
absolutely 

shredded, ripped, very strong,” 
Bakich awed. “It’s like he’s out of 
a muscle and fitness magazine.”

Fortunately, 
his 
abilities 

as a ballplayer were equally 
impressive. 
Lewis 
is 
what 

Bakich describes as a multi-tool 
player – a switch hitter who can 
get on base, drive in runs, steal 
bases and make web-gem plays 
in the field.

Now a redshirt sophomore 

left fielder, Lewis has lived up 
to the expectations and has 
showed off his various tools. 
Primarily 
batting 
fourth 

or fifth in the lineup – 
spots typically designated 
for a team’s best hitters 
– Lewis is currently 
boasting a .302 batting 
average with 14 runs 
batted in, 15 runs scored 
and eight stolen bases. 
Additionally, Lewis has 
committed no errors 
on the season.

While 
the 
left 

fielder feels that he 
has progressed in all 
facets of his game 
in his short time as 
a Wolverine, his 
defense is what he 
has seen improve 
most – something 
on full display 
Tuesday, 
when 

he 
robbed 

Toledo of an 
extra base hit 
on 
a 
diving 

catch.

This 
sort 
of 
effort 
and 

intensity has become the norm 
from Lewis in games and during 
training.

“He stands out in all of our 

training sessions and all of our 
practices,” Bakich said. “He’s 
always 
diving, 
he’s 
always 

hustling 
(and) 
he’s 
always 

going full speed. He has no off 
switch. You’re never going to 
need to prompt him, he’s a self-
starter. He’s on go all the time... 
He could have a bad game and 
bounce right back and have a 
great game.”

Lewis 
isn’t 
all 
business, 

though. His roommate – junior 
catcher Brock Keener – was 
quick to point out that he is “fun 
to be around and real goofy.”

That much was clear this 

past 
Wednesday, 
as 
Lewis 

was juggling baseballs with 
teammates in the dugout after 
turning in a 2-for-4 effort in the 
Wolverines’ routing of Central 
Michigan.

That comradery was almost 

instantaneous, 
as 
Lewis 

credited the group for making 
him one of their own from the 
second he stepped on campus.

“The moment I got here it 

was like a new family,” Lewis 
explains. “All the guys are really 
great.”

That’s not to say his North 

Dakota family is gone, though. 
Lewis still texts his former 
teammates. He still visits them 
when he’s back in Wisconsin. 
The North Dakota program 
is 
gone, 
and 
it’s 
certainly 

unfortunate.

But with his new career 

unfolding in Ann Arbor, Lewis 
explains, “I don’t really like to 
live in the past too much. You 
just have to play the game and 
not think too much about it.”

CLAIRE MEINGAST/Daily

Redshirt sophomore left fielder Miles Lewis transferred from North Dakota after its program was cut, and is now enjoying early success with the Wolverines.

Taking a punch

O

n the surface, it 
would appear that the 
memory of Michigan’s 

painful collapse down the 
stretch last season has faded 
away. The Wolverines (19-6 
overall, 1-2 Big Ten) sit 
comfortably in the national 
rankings, have scored the 
second-most runs in the Big 
Ten and have the best earned-
run average of any team in the 
conference. 

Essentially, the 2017 

Michigan baseball team looks 
a lot like the 2016 team did for 
most of its season.

Throughout his career, 

Michigan coach Erik Bakich 
has held a reputation for his 
dynamic and energetic nature. 
His vigor has been a key 
driving force in the program’s 
resurgence – from taking the 
Wolverines from 22-34 the 
year before his arrival, to a 
39-25 record and Big Ten title 
in his third season, and to a 

34-12 start in 2016.

For Bakich, last year’s 

finish – a 2-9 slump at the end 
of the season which left the 
Wolverines outside the NCAA 
Tournament – presented an 
opportunity to return to the 
foundation for what made 
Michigan’s 
turnaround 
over the last 
few seasons 
possible in the 
first place. 
While the 2016 
Wolverines 
rode the 
momentum of a 
surprise run to 
the postseason 
the year 
before, this 
year’s team has perhaps a more 
powerful force fueling them.

“The way we did not finish 

the season strong last year 
was the impetus to get back 
to those roots of mental 
toughness training to prepare 
us for any adversity that 
strikes,” Bakich said.

It’s no surprise that Bakich 

loves describing his team 

in fighting terms, with an 
emphasis on taking and 
throwing punches. One of 
the Wolverines’ traditions 
after each game is to hand 
out an award – an object 
representative of the team’s 
mentality and spirit – to the 

player who 
made the biggest 
impact that game. 
Last season, the 
award was a hard 
hat. This year, it’s 
a pair of boxing 
gloves.

“We’ve been 

down, we’ve 
taken punches, 
we’ve given up 
big innings and 
had to fight 

back,” Bakich said. “That was 
something that was a large 
target that we wanted to hit 
head on to be a tougher team.”

Resiliency – whether 

shown in late-inning surges 
and comebacks, scoring 
immediately after giving up 
runs, or simply fighting to keep 
at-bats alive – is the central 
message. Already, Michigan 

has won four games in the 
ninth inning or later, after 
winning just two such games 
a season ago. The Wolverines 
have outscored their opponent 
in 67 innings, while being 
outscored in just 38. They’ve 
scored in 36 percent of their 
innings, but that 
number goes up 
to 41 percent 
when they’ve 
surrendered a 
run the inning 
before.

At the plate, 

Michigan 
has displayed 
patience and 
grit by drawing 
walks in 14 
percent of 
its at-bats, as opposed to 11 
percent last season, and has 
shown a newfound aggression 
on the basepaths, having stolen 
57 bases already – or three less 
than it did all of last season. 

Many of the key contributors 

of last year’s team – junior 
left-hander Oliver Jaskie, 
third baseman Drew Lugbauer, 
first baseman Jake Bivens 

and senior catcher Harrison 
Wenson – are back for another 
season, so this steely resolve 
isn’t one that just appeared 
out of nowhere. Instead, this 
mental toughness training was 
the focus of the Wolverines’ 
offseason; a conscious effort 

to gear them 
for the ups and 
downs of a long 
season.

“Whether 

it’s military or 
other sports 
teams or other 
competitive 
sports that do 
similar training 
to strengthen 
that competitive 
mindset, it’s 

absolutely a skill that can 
be developed,” Bakich said. 
“Toughness, confidence, 
leadership – everybody comes 
into this world with a certain 
level, but those are all skills 
that can be developed, and 
those are three things that we 
invest a lot of time on in this 
program.”

Added Bivens: “Some of 

it’s inherent, but I think this 
team has trained harder than 
anyone in the country. (Bakich 
has) built that toughness into 
us, and we are a group of 
fighters.”

With pitchers like Jaskie, 

who possesses a 3.44 ERA and 
42 strikeouts in 34 innings, 
and a batting order that’s 
dangerous top to bottom, 
there’s never been any doubt 
about Michigan’s ability to 
throw a punch. But that was 
true last season.

Currently, the Wolverines 

are knocking on the doorstep 
of national prominence. But 
with quality opponents such 
as Michigan State, Indiana 
and Oklahoma awaiting 
this month, the question of 
whether they can take a punch 
needs a definitive answer in 
order for Michigan to break 
through.

And so far this season, the 

answer to that question has 
been a resounding ‘yes’.

Shames can be reached at 

jacosham@umich.edu or on 

Twitter @Jacob_Shames

JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer 

On Baseball

“This team has 
trained harder 
than anyone in 
the country.”

“Those are 
three things 

that we invest a 
lot of time on.”

HUNTER SHARF
Daily Sports Writer