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