The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
Monday, April 16, 2018 — 3B

‘M’ overcomes the elements to win 17th straight

It took a postponement, four 

hour, 18 minute rain delay and eight 
innings of battling freezing rain but 
the Michigan baseball team (21-
11 overall, 8-0 Big Ten) has finally 
extended its win streak to 17.

The outcome of Sunday night’s 6-3 

win over Maryland (16-19, 3-5) came 
down to the eighth inning — the final 
inning before the Terrapins had to 
catch their flight home. Slugger Kevin 
Biondic came to the plate down four, 
representing the tying run with one 
out and the bases loaded.

He fought off an inside pitch 

to place a bloop into the outfield, 
where it looked destined to cut the 
Wolverines’ lead to two. Junior 
second baseman Ako Thomas came 
sprinting into the outfield, took a 
look over his left shoulder and laid 
out onto the block M in center field. 
When he stood up, the ball was in his 

glove and the win all but secured. As 
he fired the ball back to the infield, 
Thomas’ hat flew off his head like 
Willie Mays making ‘the catch.’

“That should be on Sports Center 

tonight,” said Michigan coach Erik 
Bakich. “I don’t know if there are 
nine better plays in sports today 
than that one.

“It saved the game because that 

was two runs that would have 
scored and flip the momentum. 
Instead the momentum stayed 
with us. … That was a huge play in a 
huge spot and only Ako Thomas can 
make that play.”

Earlier in the game, Michigan 

took its first lead with four runs in 
the second after going down 1-0 in 
the top of the frame.

“Six quality at-bats in a row 

including three free passes,” Bakich 
said. “So drawing the three walks 
was a big part of it.”

Junior center fielder Jonathan 

Engelmann provided the fireworks, 

knocking home two with an 
opposite-field double after a bases-
loaded walk and RBI groundout to 
put the Wolverines in the lead.

“I didn’t think they were going to 

pitch to him with a base open and 
runners on second and third and 
one out,” Bakich said. “I thought 
they would pitch around him and go 
after (junior third baseman Blake) 
Nelson, but Engelmann did a good 
job, taking advantage of a 3-1 fastball 
to hit and drilled it down the line 
and got those two runs in.”

From 
there, 
freshman 
left-

hander Ben Dragani took over. He 
gave up two runs — more than his 
previous four starts combined — on 
two home runs but fought off the 
rain to make it through six innings.

He got into a jam in the fourth, 

with runners on second and third 
with one out before freezing Zach 
Jancarski with a fastball on the 
inside corner to get the strikeout. 
Dragani got the next batter to lazily 

fly out to right to get out of the inning 
unscathed.

“He seems very calm and 

collected out there,” Bakich said. 
“That, combined with his good 
stuff — he’s got a good fastball, good 
breaking ball, good changeup and 
the ability to command all of his 
pitches — creates an opportunity to 
escape a jam and that’s what he did.”

Added Dragani: “I was just trying 

to stay focused, and make the next 
pitch and make it as best I could, 
whether it was inside fastball or 
slider, just try to put it where coach 
calls for it.”

Freshman first baseman Jesse 

Franklin gave Dragani some room 
to breathe. He roped an RBI double 
off the right-field line in the fifth 
before blasting a solo home run two 
innings later.

Despite its eighth inning scare, 

that would be all Michigan needed 
to win its 17th in a row — the longest 
streak it has seen in three decades.

Despite wind, storms 
Michigan finishes third

The Michigan men’s track and 

field team’s runners struggled to 
make an impact. With lightning 
and high winds slowing down 
the track events at the Longhorn 
Invitational in Austin, TX., the 
Wolverines needed a boost. And 
with two personal bests and a 
broken school record, Michigan 
threw hammers like Thor and 
closed out the two-day event in 
third place overall.

Though the weather delayed 

the hammer throw by four hours, 
seniors 
Grant 

Cartwright 
and 
Joe 
Ellis 

proved 
their 

performances 
were 
worth 

the 
wait. 

After 
fouling 

three 
of 
his 

five 
attempts, 

Cartwright 
threw 
a 

personal-best 
65.47 meters — good for fourth 
place. Lightning struck twice 
for Ellis — after breaking the 
school record in hammer throw 
at the same invitational last year, 
he threw an outstanding 71.00 
meters, breaking his own record 
and winning first place.

Cartwright 
continued 
to 

score points on throws with a 
shot put of 18.19 meters, placing 
fifth. Junior Andrew Liskowitz 
scored the most points on shot 
put, throwing 19.13 meters and 
earning a third place finish.

As hammer throw and shot put 

carried the team with a stellar 
performance, Michigan coach 
Jerry Clayton remained collected 
when reflecting on his throwers.

“(Ellis) is coming into form,” 

Clayton said. “He’s ahead of 
where he was this time last year, 
and that’s what we want and 
expect. He threw a personal 

best, (Cartwright) had a personal 
best in the hammer. Very good 
opening throws for (Cartwright) 
and (Liskowitz) at the shot put. 
At this point, the big thing is to 
make sure we get (qualifying) 
marks.”

The strong performance on 

field 
events 
continued 
with 

senior Kevin Haughn jumping 
5.00 meters in the pole vault, 
landing fourth overall. At triple 
jump, senior Kevin Stephens Jr. 
hopped, skipped and jumped to 
third place overall with 14.96 
meters.

Unfortunately 
for 
the 

Wolverines, wind 
speeds 
gusting 

up to 21 miles 
per hour proved 
detrimental 
to 

their track events. 
Despite a strong 
effort from Noah 
Caudy, 
placing 

seventh 
and 

ninth at the 400-
meter 
hurdles 

and 
100-meter 

hurdles, respectively, they failed 
to score any points on foot.

Michigan’s distance runners 

were uncharacteristically absent, 
but to Clayton, this was the plan 
coming in.

“We didn’t take any distance 

runners,” Clayton said, “because 
they’ll be going this weekend 
to a very prestigious meet, the 
(Cardinal Classic).”

Although 
the 
Wolverines 

struggled in the track events, the 
team was overall satisfied with 
its performance.

“We went into the meet with 

a partial team, because (the 
Longhorn Invitational) is really 
good for the field events and 
sprints and hurdles,” Clayton 
said. “We divided the team up. 
Texas is not the place for 800-
meter events and up. Taking a 
partial squad, I thought we did 
quite well.”

MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD

VAQAAS ASLAM

For the Daily

“Taking a 

partial squad, I 
thought we did 

quite well.”

RUCHITA IYER/Daily

Freshman left-hander Ben Dragani gave up two solo home runs but made it through six innings in Michigan’s victory over Maryland on Sunday night.

THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer

