10
Thursday, June 8, 2017
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS
Michigan drops tournament opener
With the score tied, 5-5, with
two runners on and two outs in the
sixth inning, Michigan senior right-
hander Mac Lozer took the mound
to face Florida Gulf Coast first
baseman Nick Rivera.
In this potential game-changing
moment, it was strength vs. strength
— Lozer with his miniscule 0.70
earned-run
average
and
.134
opponent batting average, against
Rivera, who had hit his 18th home
run of the season in the previous
inning.
But Rivera showed why he was
named the ASUN Player of the Year,
launching Lozer’s third pitch off the
scoreboard in left field for a three-
run home run.
Rivera’s blast gave the Eagles (43-
18 overall, 1-0 postseason) a lead they
would not relinquish on their way to
a 10-6 win over the Wolverines (42-
16, 0-1) in the first game of the NCAA
Tournament’s Chapel Hill Regional.
After its disappointing run in
the Big Ten Tournament last week,
Michigan got off to a nearly perfect
start. On a hot, muggy afternoon,
Florida Gulf Coast right-hander
Kutter Crawford was forced to throw
38 pitches just to get out of the first
inning, due in large part to crucial
defensive errors. The Wolverines
collected only one hit in the frame —
an RBI single by redshirt sophomore
left-fielder Miles Lewis — but two
walks, a catcher’s interference and a
botched rundown play allowed them
to take an early 2-0 lead.
Michigan
left-hander
Oliver
Jaskie’s first inning was the polar
opposite of Crawford’s, however —
He threw just 12 pitches and struck
out two to send the Eagles back to
the field.
The Wolverines scored in a more
conventional
manner
the
next
inning. With two outs, senior center-
fielder Johnny Slater sat on a 3-1 pitch
and drilled it to deep centerfield, his
fifth home run of the season putting
Michigan up by three.
Florida Gulf Coast responded
quickly to begin to chip away at
the early deficit, however. Second
baseman Jake Smith poked a two-
out RBI single into left field, and in
the fourth inning, three consecutive
two-out
singles
brought
home
another run.
The game became a back-and-
forth contest starting with the
Eagles’ half of the fourth inning.
Michigan chased Crawford from the
game with an RBI single from third
baseman Drew Lugbauer, but Rivera
crushed a home run on a full count
to keep the margin at one run.
After senior shortstop Michael
Brdar pushed Michigan’s lead back
to two runs with a double to right
field, Florida Gulf Coast fought back
against Jaskie. After two straight
groundouts, Smith laced a triple
down the right-field line, and scored
when Lugbauer was unable to corral
catcher Spencer Levine’s hard-hit
grounder.
Shortstop Julio Gonzalez then
scratched out an infield base hit,
and centerfielder Gage Morey tied
the game with a bouncing ball into
centerfield. This last base hit ended
Jaskie’s outing, and set the table for
Rivera — who proceeded to do what
he does best with his deep drive to
left.
The Wolverines bounced back in
the seventh inning. Three straight
two-out singles by the bottom of the
order made it a two-run contest. But
Eagles closer Kenton Hering entered
the game to induce a groundout and
end the threat.
Junior Alec Rennard took the
mound in the eighth inning with
Michigan still very much in striking
distance. But again with two
outs, Florida Gulf Coast wouldn’t
go away. With two runners on,
Rennard decided not to give Rivera
an opportunity to put the game out
of reach. But the intentional walk to
the Eagle slugger came back to cost
the Wolverines as third baseman
Richie Garcia singled to right field to
drive in two more runs.
Hering would go the distance for
Florida Gulf Coast. Despite putting
two runners aboard in the ninth,
he retired Thomas for the second
time on a game-ending groundout to
third base.
The contest was marked by two-
out RBIs — in fact, both teams’
scoring plays in the fifth inning were
the only runs scored with less than
two outs in the entire game. The
Wolverines were 8-for-17 with five
RBIs when batting with two outs.
However, the Eagles were even
better — hitting 11-18 and driving
in nine runs in such situations. And
they would use this to blow the game
open in the sixth inning.
JACOB SHAMES
Summer Managing Sports Editor
Florida Gulf Coast uses five-run sixth inning to pull away
CEREN BURCAK DAG/Daily
Senior centerfielder Johnny Slater homered in the third inning to put Michigan up three, but the early lead was not enough.
Wolverines compete at
NCAA Championships
At
the
NCAA
Preliminary
Rounds in Lexington, Ky. from
May 25-27, the Michigan track
and field teams qualified five men
and three women to represent the
Wolverines at this week’s NCAA
Championships.
The
men’s
championships
began Wednesday and are set
to continue Friday, while the
women’s events are scheduled for
Thursday and Saturday.
The men’s team has been
powered all season long by its
deep group of throwers, and
this continued at the NCAA
Championships.
Sophomore
Joe Ellis finished 17th in the
hammer throw in his national
championship debut last season,
and won the Big Ten Outdoor
Championship with a Michigan
program-record throw of 70.98
meters. Wednesday, he improved
upon that finish with a throw of
70.33 meters to place eighth.
Junior
shot-putters
Grant
Cartwright, a First-Team All-
American
during
the
indoor
season, and freshman Andrew
Liskowitz,
who
finished
third at the conference meet,
both qualified for the NCAA
Championships
for
the
first
time at the preliminary meet.
Cartwright and Liskowitz earned
Honorable Mention All-American
honors with their 22nd and 23rd
place finishes, respectively.
Senior Steven Bastien, the Big Ten
Champion in the decathlon, currently
sits in fourth place in the decathlon
standings after Wednesday’s first five
events, with the competition set to
conclude Thursday.
The
Wolverines
are
also
represented by sophomore Taylor
McLaughlin, who competed in the
400-meter hurdles. However, his
season-best time of 50.18 seconds
was not enough to advance past
the semifinals.
The
women’s
team
is
represented by a strong distance
contingent consisting of senior
Gina Sereno and juniors Jaimie
Phelan and Claire Borchers.
Phelan used a scorching final
lap to win the Big Ten title in the
1,500 meter run on May 14. She will
take the track first for Michigan
Thursday in the semifinal heat of
that event, and attempt to qualify
for the final Saturday.
Borchers
barely
missed
qualifying
for
the
national
championships last season in the
3,000-meter steeplechase, finishing
13th in the preliminary round. This
year, she won her heat in Lexington
to advance to the national meet,
following up her second-place finish
at the conference championships.
At the Big Ten Championships
last month, Sereno became just
the third woman in history to win
both the 5,000 meters and 10,000
meters in consecutive seasons.
Unbeaten this outdoor season, she
will compete Saturday night in the
5,000, her only event.
EMMA RICHTER/Daily
Sophomore Joe Ellis was eighth in the hammer throw at the NCAA Championships.
JACOB SHAMES
Summer Managing Sports Editor