8 — Thursday, April 12, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan infielders settling into their roles after tough start to season
When the Michigan baseball
team took the field eight weeks
ago in Port St. Lucie, Florida,
for its opening day matchup
against Army, junior shortstop
Ako Thomas was the only
remaining starter from the
star-studded infield that led
the Wolverines to an NCAA
tournament berth a year ago.
At the time, the team and
its coaching staff expected to
experience growing pains. But
the extent of those pains was
not clear until a few weeks
into this season, when the
Wolverines opened their home
season with an 8-3 loss to
Lawrence Tech.
“We’d like to think that
coming
into
this
season
that we’ve put
ourselves
into
a
position
to
reload
and
not
rebuild,”
said
Michigan
coach
Erik
Bakich after an
earlier loss to
Lipscomb. “But
clearly
we’re
rebuilding right now. We’ll see
how we progress from here, but
so far this has been nothing but
disappointment.”
Now, the Wolverines are
riding a 15-game win streak
into
this
weekend’s
series
against
Maryland.
While
Thomas remains entrenched
atop the lineup, the rest of the
infield consists of players who
were not in Ann Arbor a year
ago.
Even
Thomas,
the
unit’s
mainstay, had to work through
early-season
defensive
struggles to establish himself
as the leader he was expected
to be. He has just one error over
his last 13 games, while hitting
.310 with 12 stolen bases during
the win streak.
To his left, freshman Jack
Blomgren has started all but
one game at shortstop. But the
defensive-minded
Blomgren
started the season as a black
hole in the lineup, batting just
.154 with no extra-base hits
in Michigan’s 4-11 start. Since
then, he has hit .341 with four
doubles and his first collegiate
home run, while providing
excellent defense.
“You just want him to be able
to be consistent,” Bakich said
“… He’s a consistent worker,
he’s got a great attitude, he’s
a tough kid. He brings all the
intangibles to the table.”
In the corners, Bakich has
inserted two newcomers in
recent weeks after losing Jake
Bivens and Drew Lugbauer to
last year’s MLB Draft.
Despite
a
rocky
start,
freshman first baseman Jesse
Franklin has emerged as the
starter out of an early-season
platoon, hitting .354 with a
team-leading
four home runs
since
winning
the
full-time
starting job.
“Besides
having
really
good
upperclassmen
role
models,
I
think
the
biggest
thing
is just that all
of the coaches really believe
in us,” Franklin said after a
3-for-5
performance
against
Central Michigan. “Even if we
do poorly in the field, they still
encourage us, and I think deep
down they really think we can
do it. You can really see and feel
that when you talk to them.”
Perhaps the most striking
example of that faith has come
across the diamond in junior
third baseman Blake Nelson.
The college transfer had one
at-bat
in
13
games
before
starting the finale at Lipscomb.
Since then, he has started every
game and been moved into the
clean-up spot.
“He’s a tough gritty kid. He’s
a (Junior College) bandit. He’s
a high baseball IQ guy,” Bakich
said. “I think he’s gonna be a
great coach some day.
“He’s not your prototypical
four-hole
hitter,
because
we’re not asking him to hit
(extra-base hits), but he moves
runners along and gets on base
and knocks runs in when the
opportunity presents itself. …
He’s a tough out, he can hit and
run, he can bunt, he can steal,
he can handle the bat.”
Nelson’s
greatest
contribution, though, has been
completing
the
Wolverines’
infield. After seemingly playing
a different combination every
game early in the season,
Bakich has run out the same
infield in 11 of Michigan’s last
12 games — all wins.
“Guys are starting to settle
into their roles so that breeds
confidence, and they can start
to express themselves more
freely and play more loosely,”
Bakich said. “We were bouncing
Ako between short and second
and rotating third basemen,
first basemen, second basemen.
We had a lot of moving parts,
and I think that (caused) the
inconsistency.”
THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer
CARTER FOX/Daily
Junior third baseman Blake Nelson has started in every game since having just one at-bat in Michigan’s first 13 games.
“Guys are
starting to
settle into their
roles.”
Michigan beats Spartans, 1-0, thanks to defense
Outstretched
and
tumbling,
Thais Gonzalez dove to tap home
just as the Michigan State catcher
reeled in the ball and flew toward
her in a desperate attempt to get
her out.
By the slimmest of margins,
Gonzalez was safe.
The No. 17 Michigan softball
team was then tasked with
protecting the lead in an otherwise
offensively-lacking day. Where the
offense failed, the defense thrived,
as the Wolverines won, 1-0.
“We’re not swinging real well
right now,” said Michigan coach
Carol Hutchins. “I can’t tell you
why, but yesterday, I didn’t think
we swung well, and we didn’t
swing well tonight. And I think we
allowed the opposing pitcher to
get in our heads a little bit.
“So as a coach, your job is to find
another way to get it done, and
that’s what we did today. And I
knew it was going to be a defensive
game, and I was not at all surprised
that it was a close game and a low-
scoring game.”
The Wolverines put on a clinic
defensively, making plays when
they needed to be made. Junior
catcher
Katie
Alexander
and
freshman
left-hander
Meghan
Beaubien understood this and
played their roles to perfection.
With one out and a runner
on first in the top of the second,
Beaubien baited the Michigan
State batter into swinging with
two consecutive rising fast balls,
striking her out on a full count.
Without a second of hesitation,
Alexander rose after catching
the final strike and threw a bullet
to freshman shortstop Natalia
Rodriguez to catch the runner
attempting to steal second. With no
margin for error, Rodriguez tagged
the Spartan to end the inning.
Later, with two outs in the top of
the sixth inning, Rodriguez threw
a rapid, aimless ball to senior first
baseman Tera Blanco in hopes
of preventing a base hit. It flew
nowhere near Blanco and looked
due to give extra bases.
However,
Alexander,
in
a
fundamentally sound play, trailed
the baserunner and stayed close
to the dugout so that she would be
ready for a play like that.
“Every single time there’s a play
in the infield, the catchers follow,”
Alexander said. “It’s just a routine
play. Not all, we don’t throw the
ball away a lot, but to be ready for
it to actually happen, it just shows
that we practice it, so just to be
ready for it was cool.”
Not only did Alexander assist
the defense with plays in the field,
but she helped Beaubien on the
mound as well mentally. Right
after her extra-base-saving play,
Alexander met with Hutchins
and Beaubien on the mound. They
needed to calm the freshman’s
nerves.
“Tonight, she told me, ‘You
were born to do this.’ ” Beaubien
said. “And I thought that was
really cool, because like, I’ve
wanted to be here for so long, and
she was just like, ‘Hey, you love
this. You want to do this.’ And
then you kinda remember, like, ‘Oh
yeah, I do,’ and it kinda gets you
back in the right mindset. So she’s
awesome at knowing what to say at
the right time.”
Despite
the
inconsistency,
Beaubien still performed at an
elite level, recording a shutout. Up
until being met at the mound for a
conference, she had only allowed
two hits and proceeded to close out
the game, throwing a groundout
and a line out in the final inning
before striking out the last batter.
While she loaded the counts on
more at-bats than usual, she found
ways to strike out the batter in
many situations — finishing the
game with seven strikeouts.
On the offensive end, nothing
Michigan tried was effective.
Until it was.
After three scoreless innings
— one of which had an error
the Wolverines couldn’t exploit
— Michigan found its first run
in a hustle play by Gonzalez.
Alexander found first on a fielder’s
choice, and Gonzalez got the nod
from Hutchins to do her role:
pinch running.
When her time came, the
sophomore
went
without
hesitation. Freshman designated
plater Lou Allan reached first, soon
followed by a bunt by sophomore
third baseman Madison Uden
to advance the bases. Gonzalez
was then pushed into the role
of designated pinch runner for
Allan. On a ground ball up the
middle that resulted in a fielder’s-
choice out at first, Gonzalez kept
running around third toward
home. Recollecting themselves,
the Spartans threw the ball home.
But it was too late.
With a wrap-around touch of
home base, Gonzalez scored the
only run of the game.
The remaining innings turned
into fruitless attempts to add to the
lead, however.
Stranding six runners on base
and recording just six hits all
game, the Wolverines failed to find
an offensive rhythm for a second
game in a row.
But it didn’t matter. With a slim
lead and an impenetrable defense,
Michigan did what it needed, even
if it took a low-percentage play to
do so.
Baserunning leads to
win for the Wolverines
Thais Gonzalez isn’t your
stereotypical hero.
The sophomore has all of 28
at-bats this season, just three
of which resulted in hits. She’s
started 10 games, has four runs
batted in and has an on-base
percentage of .219.
On
Wednesday
against
Michigan State, Gonzalez didn’t
have a hit. She didn’t have an
RBI, and she didn’t get on base.
But with her legs, she made all
the difference for the No. 17
Michigan softball team, scoring
the only run of the game.
For
both
teams,
offense
was hard to come by. But the
Wolverines demonstrated that if
they couldn’t create separation
on offense, they’d do it on the
basepaths.
And
ultimately,
what separated Michigan from
the Spartans in a 1-0 win was
its ability to make the most of
its few opportunities.
In the bottom of the fourth,
senior
first
baseman
Tera
Blanco sent a ground ball
through the third baseman’s
legs for a single. She was
pulled
for
a
pinch-runner,
senior outfielder Nikki Wald,
but there, things didn’t go
according
to
plan.
Instead
of stealing second or taking
the extra base on a hit, Wald
was tagged out on a fielder’s
choice off the bat of freshman
designated player Lou Allan.
But the Wolverines got a
second chance.
Sophomore third baseman
Madison
Uden
laid
down
what looked like a sacrifice
bunt, but she sped down to
first base and beat the throw.
Gonzalez pinch-ran for Allan,
and suddenly it was first and
second,
one
out.
Gonzalez
knew what she had to do.
“When she put me in at
second, I knew she just wanted
me to score on anything on the
ground,” Gonzalez said. “So
just trusting her instincts and
finding home plate somehow.”
Junior
catcher
Katie
Alexander came to the plate
and slapped a ground ball
hard behind second base. For
a fleeting moment, it seemed it
would get through for a single,
but it was instead collected by
the shortstop, who threw to
first for the easy out.
Except
Michigan
State
paused, and Gonzalez never
stopped running until she had
slid in under the tag at home.
Michigan had its first — and
ultimately, only — run of the
game.
“It wasn’t much decision-
making (to send her),” said
Michigan
coach
Carol
Hutchins. “I saw the ball going
up the middle, and I did not see
the kid field it. I was sending
her — I thought the ball was
getting through and midstream
I realized she actually had it
and I thought, ‘We’re gonna
keep going,’ and we snuck it in
on them.”
The two teams combined
for three baserunners the rest
of the game. Freshman left-
hander Meghan Beaubien took
control from there, and the
Wolverines had their victory.
That
was
all
it
took.
Michigan hustled while the
Spartans
hesitated.
And
with their baserunning, the
Wolverines manufactured the
run — and the win.
“It’s
just
a
matter
of
taking
advantage
of
your
opportunities,”
Gonzalez
said. “We hadn’t really gotten
a lot of runners into scoring
position, so … you just really
wanted to make sure you were
taking good jumps off the bag
and taking advantage of every
opportunity you got.”
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Junior catcher Katie Alexander left her impact on Tuesday’s game with strong defense and mental fortitude.
SOFTBALL
TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer