It’s a play the Michigan 
baseball team (15-8 Big 
Ten, 33-19 overall) is all too 
familiar with.
The 
Wolverines 
were 
batting in the bottom of 
the frame in extra innings 
with bases loaded and the 
game on the line. A player 
stepped up and delivered a 
sacrifice fly to deep right 
field allowing the runner 
at third to score the win-
ning run. Michigan then 
mobbed the hitter who 
smacked the walk-off fly 
out.
It’s how the Wolverines 
downed Illinois, and it’s 
how they overcame Iowa 
(13-9, 33-19) in the first 
game of the Big Ten Tour-
nament.
The inning began with 
some pitching trouble for 
the Hawkeyes. Iowa reliev-
er Zach Daniels walked 
two 
consecutive 
batters 
on eight straight pitches 
prompting Iowa to make 
a much needed call to the 
bullpen. 
Right-hander 
Nick Nelsen entered the 
game and relented a quick 
infield single to junior cen-
ter fielder Jonathan Engel-
mann.
Then early on a Wednes-
day 
morning, 
freshman 
slugger 
Jesse 
Franklin 

stepped to the plate with 
bases loaded and delivered 
the sacrifice fly, giving 
Michigan a hard-fought 2-1 
win.
While the wild finish 
injected a healthy dose of 
drama into the contest, the 
game was a defensive bat-
tle, through and through.
Making 
diving 
catch 
after diving catch and web 
gem play after web gem 
play, the Wolverines were 
flashing the leather early 
and often to extinguish any 
life out of the Hawkeyes’ 
lineup.
“For us it felt like Michi-
gan had 15 fielders out 
there,” said Iowa coach 
Rick Heller. “You hit three 
balls off the pitcher and 
you don’t get a hit, and 
they’re making diving plays 
left and right, and it’s the 
same thing in the outfield. 
We made a nice play, and it 
went right at ‘em.”
And the tight defense 
began on the mound.
Both 
sides 
benefited 
from terrific outings on the 
mound with the Hawkeyes 
riding left-hander Nick All-
geyer through seven lights 
out innings. However, the 
Wolverines kicked things 
off with a fright from the 
bump.
After 
only 
pitching 
through one inning, sopho-
more left-hander Tommy 

Henry was nailed by a line 
drive. The ball rocketed 
off the bat of right field-
er Robert Neustrom and 
punched Henry straight in 
his throwing arm. Ever the 
warrior, Henry collected 
the ball and got the force-
out at first.
The injury put Michigan 
coach Erik Bakich in a dif-
ficult position. Try to keep 
Henry in or make a quick 
call to the bullpen and hope 
everything works out. See-
ing a happy medium, Baich 
kept the lefty in the game 
while senior right-hander 
Alec Rennard frantically 
warmed up in the bullpen. 
After Henry walked the 
next batter on five pitches, 
Bakich made the switch.
“I think it was easier 
coming in in the second 
than it would be coming 
in in the fourth or fifth 
because I was actually still 
warm from playing catch 
pre-game as bad as that 
sounds,” Rennard said. “So 
I went down to the bullpen 
and tossed as many fast-
balls as I could.”
Luckily 
for 
Rennard, 
he was allotted extra time 
to warm up due to the 
unpredictable 
nature 
of 
the event. Just as luck-
ily for Michigan, Rennard 
brought his A-game.
The righty would go 
on to pitch 5.2 innings of 

‘M’ walks off in a defensive 

battle against the Hawkeyes 

DARBY STIPE / DAILY
Freshman slugger Jesse Franklin saves the day with a walk off hit in a game that let few hits through

THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer

scoreless relief while giv-
ing up only one hit — a 
bloop to right field that 
snuck just inside the foul 
line.
“Today was just getting 
back to that, ‘One pitch at 
a time,’ approach,” Ren-
nard said. “Sometimes the 
focus tries to broaden out 
and narrow focus on one 
pitch at a time, take care of 
this pitch and having short 
memory really helps.”
While 
both 
squads 
donned 
impressive 
defense 
and 
pitching 
throughout 
the 
game, 
offense was nowhere to be 
found. Attribute it to the 
size and scope of the park, 
the lights out pitching or 
big game nerves, neither 
team could buy a hit in the 
low-scoring affair.
The one shining light of 
offensive productivity and 
the 
Wolverines’ 
saving 
grace was Franklin. Aside 
from his heroic walk-off, 
the first-year crushed his 
10th home run of the year 
to right-center field in the 
fourth inning and also 
secured a double to deep 
left field in the sixth.
However, Franklin will 
be the first to celebrate the 
role of his teammates and 
give credit where credit is 
due. After committing an 
error earlier in the con-
test, Franklin was picked 
up by his teammates and 
sought to make amends for 
his misstep.
“There were like a mil-
lion other plays today 
that helped us win the 
game,” Franklin said. “A 
lot of guys picking each 
other up. Like, I made a 
poor error, and then the 
first thing that Alec Ren-
nard said was, ‘It doesn’t 
matter. Flush it.’ And that 
means a lot. He could’ve 
just yelled at me for mess-
ing up the beginning of his 
outing, but he didn’t.”
It’s great to see team 
cohesion on any level, 
but if Michigan has any 
chance of winning the Big 
Ten Tournament, it must 
be out in full force and 
guide the Wolverines to 
solid pitching, defense and 
timely hitting.
And a walk-off every 
now and then doesn’t hurt 
either.

Rennard performs 

with relief pitching

Just four batters into the 
Big Ten tournament, Michi-
gan encountered coach Erik 
Bakich’s 
worst 
nightmare. 
Iowa rightfielder Robert Neus-
trom ripped a line drive up the 
middle where it struck sopho-
more 
left-hander 
Tommy 
Henry in his pitching arm.
Henry fielded the ball to get 
the out, but after a long mound 
meeting and a five-pitch walk, 
it became apparent that he 
would be unable to continue.
As Henry tested his injured 
arm, senior right-hander Alec 
Rennard sprinted to the left 
field bullpen where he deliv-
ered a series of rapid-fire fast-
balls to freshman catcher Joe 
Donovan.
“Leading into the week, 
coach said, ‘All the rules go out 
the window,’ and, ‘Be prepared 
for anything, anytime,’ ” Ren-
nard said.
“I think it was easier com-
ing in in the second than it 
would be coming in in the 
fourth or fifth because I was 
actually still warm from play-
ing catch pre-game.”
That may have been the 
most stressful part of Ren-
nard’s outing. He gave up a 
quick bloop single, and a Jesse 
Franklin error allowed an 
inherited run to score.
After the error, Rennard 
faced the minimum over the 
next thirteen batters, allow-
ing just one base-runner and 
no hits.
“Alec 
Rennard 
stepping 
in and giving us 5 2/3 inning 
of scoreless relief was huge,” 
Bakich said.
Added Iowa coach Rick 
Heller: “When Henry went 
out, Rennard comes in and just 
does a really nice job — it’s just 
a really tough situation to be in, 
and he handled it extremely 
well and really was key to the 
game.”
Rennard was in a free fall 
heading into the tournament. 
The senior relented five earned 
runs in less than an inning two 
weeks ago against Illinois.
Three days earlier at Michi-

gan State, he gave up seven hits 
and two earned runs in just 
two and two-thirds innings.
All of that came after a har-
rowing season that he began 
as the Wolverines’ Friday 
starter. After missing seven 
weeks with an arm strain, the 
Michigan rotation’s dominant 
performances meant Rennard 
was resigned to bullpen duties.
“Today was just getting 
back to that, ‘One pitch at a 
time,’ approach,” Rennard said. 
“Sometimes the focus tries to 
broaden out and narrow focus 
on, ‘One pitch at a time, take 
care of this pitch’ and having 
short memory really helps.”
Before running into troubles 
down the stretch, Rennard ini-
tially handled his bullpen role 
admirably, giving up one run 
in his first 11 2/3 innings back 
from injury. Amid that stretch 
was a dominant performance 
against the Hawkeyes in which 
he pitched three and a third 
scoreless innings.
“When it’s game day, even 
if it’s not the specific situation 
that everyone expected, that 
I know I can give my team a 
chance to win.”
While the Wolverines lost 
that day in Iowa City, Ren-
nard’s performance Wednes-
day morning provided just the 
boost they needed to start the 
Big Ten Tournament in the 
win column.
For weeks, freshman right-
hander Jeff Criswell and junior 
left-hander William Tribucher 
have anchored the Michigan 
relief staff with inconsistent 
support from the rest of the 
bullpen.
Wednesday, those concerns 
were avoided as Rennard’s out-
ing meant Bakich could bypass 
— and rest — his middle reliev-
ers and turn the ball over to 
Criswell in the eighth.
Two innings later, fresh-
man 
first 
baseman 
Jesse 
Franklin 
walked 
off 
the 
Hawkeyes with a sacrifice fly 
to right field. While the ensu-
ing celebrations paint Franklin 
as the Wolverines’ hero, Ren-
nard’s lights out pitching was 
just as vital.

JACOB KOPNICK

Summer Managing Sports Editor

BASEBALL
11

Thursday, May 24, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SPORTS

