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Thursday,May 11, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS
Wolverines fall to
Central Michigan
By PAIGE VOEFFRAY
Daily Sports Writer
With two gone in the top of the
ninth, Miles Lewis stepped up the
to the plate. The redshirt sophomore
left fielder knocked a single down
the middle, but his base running was
what gave Michigan the edge. He
stole second base and the catcher’s
throw was overthrown, allowing
Lewis to advance to third. So when
sophomore designated hitter Nick
Poirier ripped a two-out double
down the right field line, Lewis
scored easily to put the Wolverines
up by one.
But the late heroics weren’t quite
enough for the No. 16 Michigan base-
ball team (11-7 Big Ten, 36-11 overall),
as Central Michigan had an explo-
sive ninth inning and took the game,
4-3, with a walk-off double.
The Chippewas (13-5 Mid-Amer-
ican, 25-22 overall) were the first
on the board. After second base-
man Jason Sullivan singled through
the first and second base gap on a
ball that hit a bump and sailed over
a diving Jake Bivens at first base, it
brought up right fielder Daniel Rob-
inson at the plate. Michigan fresh-
man right fielder Christian Bullock
barely moved as he realized Robin-
son’s hit would easily clear the right
field wall for a two-run home run.
At the beginning of the game,
Michigan struggled to have quality
at bats, let alone get a hit. Tuesday
against Central Michigan, Michigan
coach Erik Bakich worried that his
team was being too defensive when
on offense, and they continued that
trend Wednesday.
“We have an approach where we
want to only swing at balls we can
drive with less than two strikes and
I thought we got ourselves out a little
bit,” Bakich said. “I thought offen-
sively we could have taken better
swings early in the count than some
of the weak contact that was made
early in the count.”
But the Wolverines broke out of
their slump in the top of the fourth
inning. Junior third baseman Drew
Lugbauer recorded the first hit for
Michigan with a single into shal-
low left field. With senior shortstop
Michael Brdar taking a walk prior to
Lugbauer’s at bat, that left two men
on with only one out. A wild pitch
advanced both runners and allowed
Lewis to pick up an RBI with a sacri-
fice fly to centerfield.
From then on, the contest became
a pitcher’s dual. Junior right-hander
Jayce Vancena continued his normal
style of groundout pitching, but did
give up three walks — prior to this
outing, he hadn’t walked a batter all
season.
“Sometimes you get liberal zones
and tight zones. There were some
borderline pitches.” Bakich said.
“He had a decent outing and cer-
tainly gave us a chance, pitching into
the sixth inning and holding them
to only three hits and two runs. I
thought he settled down nicely.”
Right-hander Cam Newton came
in for the Chippewas in the fourth
inning and had held Michigan to
only one hit until Lugbauer struck
again when he doubled past a diving
Central Michigan first baseman and
into right field.
Lewis followed Lugbauer with
a walk, and Poirier bunted to try to
advance Lugbauer and Lewis. Cen-
tral Michigan decided to throw Lug-
bauer out at third base, eliminating
the leadoff runner. Fortunately for
Michigan, a double steal by Lewis
and Poirier made the Wolverines
a threat once again. Sophomore
second baseman Jimmy Kerr then
squeeze bunted to score Lewis and
level the game.
The Chippewas threatened to
retake the lead in the bottom of the
eighth inning. Halfway through the
inning, Michigan brought in senior
right-hander Keith Lehmann with
two men on base. Fortunately for the
Wolverines, Central Michigan tried
to double steal and the leadoff man
was thrown out at third base.
Lehmann did manage to load the
bases, though, with only one out. But
the righty came up big with a strike-
out and pop up to end the inning.
Both teams appeared anxious to
end the game. But in the end, it was
Central Michigan who finished it.
Two men were on base, no outs
and an 0-2 count awaited junior left-
hander Austin Batka when he took
over the mound. Things appeared to
be going well for Michigan as Batka
struck out a batter with a single pitch.
But shortstop Alex Borglin crushed a
deep ball to right field that landed on
the warning track, and it was enough
to bring two men home and end the
game.
Montemarano hitting stride
BASEBALL
By MARK CALCAGNO
Daily Sports Writer
February has never been kind to
Lindsay Montemarano.
Last season, the senior third
baseman started the year 0-for-16
at the plate, recording her first hit
on the last day of the month. 2015
had been only marginally better, as
Montemarano recorded a .212 bat-
ting average.
March — and the following
months — usually brought an
uptick in offensive production for
the New York native. Montemara-
no was a vital part of the Michigan
softball team’s run to the Women’s
College World Series last year, hit-
ting .388 over the final 45 games of
the season. In the Super Regional,
she launched key home runs in con-
secutive games to boost the Wol-
verines to Oklahoma City. 2015 was
a similar story, as Montemarano
provided a spark out of the seven-
hole with a .277 batting average
after February.
But this year, the calendar page
turned, and Montemarano’s bat
stayed cold.
She struggled from the plate
throughout February and March,
hitting just .265 with only one home
run midway through the year. Mon-
temarano frequently finished games
hitless as she clung to the eighth and
ninth spots in the order, a far cry
from the usual lift she had provided
in previous seasons from the sixth
or seventh spot.
And when Michigan coach Carol
Hutchins decided to challenge her
Wolverines by benching many of
her upperclassmen April 22 at Wis-
consin, Montemarano saw the third
base spot she’d occupied for four
years taken over by sophomore Alex
Sobczak — a backup catcher.
Hutchins’ move paid off for
both Michigan’s previously anemic
offense and Montemarano. In the
last six contests, she’s leading the
Wolverines with an astounding .466
batting average as Michigan has
won its last nine games by a com-
bined 84 runs.
“In the beginning of the season,
I had to fight through a couple of
personal things that were going on,”
Montemarano said. “I wasn’t able
to put in the reps that I really want-
ed to put in, and I had to change a
couple things around. But lately,
I’ve been feeling really good, and
I’ve been able to put in a lot of extra
work.”
That extra work has focused
around
Montemarano’s
lower
half at the plate — something that
allowed her to provide surprising
power in years’ past despite being
just 5-foot-3.
“I’ve been working on getting
some whip in, using my legs a lot
more than I had been in the begin-
ning of the season,” Montemarano
said. “I was using way too much
upper body, and I formed a couple
of bad habits. But I (now) feel really
loose and really strong in my lower
half.”
Added Hutchins: “She’s coming
in early, and she’s accepting con-
structive criticism, and she’s accept-
ing ideas.”
In Tuesday’s game against West-
ern Michigan, Montemarano’s extra
work was on full display. In the bot-
tom of the third inning, she took her
familiar swing — only her legs were
especially behind it this time — and
sent a shot over the left-field wall for
a two-run homer.
As she trotted from third base to
the plate, the sense of relief the blast
brought Montemarano was evident.
Touching home, she took a deep
breath, made a causal dance move
with her arms and looked up to her
teammates for congratulatory high-
fives and helmet-slaps — all while
smiling ear-to-ear.
“It was really awesome,” Mon-
temarano said. “I haven’t hit a ton
of home runs this year, and the fact
that the ball went over shows that
hard work does pay off. One of the
best feelings is touching home plate
when your team is so excited for
you, and everyone was so excited
for me.”
It lasted longer than just Febru-
ary this year, but through that extra
practice, it appears that Montema-
rano has finally emerged from her
slump.
ARNOLD ZHOU/Daily
Senior third baseman Lindsay Montemarano has rebounded from a two-month long slump to spark Michigan’s offense.