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March 13, 2019 - Image 7

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, March 13, 2019 — 7A

First tough competition brings
mixed results for Wolverines

When the No. 23 Michigan
baseball team (9-4) hopped off
their plane at LAX on Feb. 27, there
were a lot of questions to answer.
The Wolverines were undefeated.
Their bats were hot. Their pitchers
were dominant. But the only
competition the Wolverines had
faced were virtual pushovers in
Binghamton and the Citadel.
Michigan’s eight-game, ten-day
California swing, in which it faced
face California State-Northridge,
California
State-Long
Beach,
No. 25 University of California-
Irvine, No. 3 UCLA, Southern
California, and No. 19 Oklahoma
State, presented its first tough
competition of the season.
The California trip now behind
them, there are just as many
question marks swirling around
the Wolverines. They defeated
Northridge handily in the first
three games of the series, but
dropped the fourth, suffering
their first loss of the season.
Michigan defeated UCLA, which
Bakich called “maybe one of the
best teams in the country,” but
ended the trip on a two-game
losing streak, falling to Southern
California and Oklahoma State.
“We showed a little bit of
everything on this trip, but as
a position player group we had
opportunities
to
execute
on
this trip that we didn’t get done,
whether it was getting bunts
down or moving runners over,”
said Michigan coach Erik Bakich.
“Those are the things that just
need repetition. Those are the
things that we haven’t been able
to do in training, and the areas we
need to work on the most.”
Going forward, the key to the
Wolverines’ consistency will be
their pitching. The pitching staff
has showed flashes of brilliance
this season, from a complete game
one-hitter by junior left-hander
Tommy Henry to a 10-strikeout

gem from junior right-hander Karl
Kauffman against Binghamton.
When its pitchers are firing,
Michigan has proven difficult to
beat.
But when its pitchers struggle,
as they did in California, so does
Michigan. Long Beach scored
six runs in the bottom of the
third inning off sophomore right-
hander Blake Beers. In the game
against Oklahoma State, freshman
right-hander Willie Weiss, who
has stepped into a closing role this
season, loaded the bases on a walk
and two singles before walking in
the winning run.
“A couple of hits, not getting a
couple calls, and ending up with
a couple of walks – sometimes
that happens,” Bakich said. “It
was magnified because it was the
10th inning, but the numbers don’t
tell the whole story here. (Weiss)
made some gutsy pitches in some
huge spots.”
The Wolverines’ bats were hot
for most of the trip, continuing
the tear they went on in their first
two series of the season. They beat
up Long Beach for seven runs and
scored four runs off UCLA starter
Zach Pettway – one of college
baseball’s top pitchers – in the top
of the first inning alone, going on
to win the game 7-5. Senior third
baseman Jimmy Kerr had two
homeruns over the course of the

trip, one of which was a two-run
homer to move the Wolverines
within one run of Long Beach in
a late-game rally that eventually
fell short, leaving the tying and
go-ahead runs on base.
The offense struggled to find
consistency over the trip, however.
Michigan’s offense was only able
to put two runs on the board
in its first loss of the season at
Northridge. In the Long Beach
game, the Wolverines’ ninth-
inning comeback rally fell just
short. They only put up one run
against USC and fell a run short
once more against Oklahoma State
in extra innings.
“All the games were close
because of our pitching and our
defense,” Bakich said. “We’re not
even close to firing all cylinders
offensively. That’s our biggest area
for improvement right now. But I
am 100 percent confident that our
offense is going to start surging
very soon.”
Michigan’s upcoming home
opener, a four-game series against
Manhattan, will be something
of a return to easier matchups,
but with contests against No. 3
Texas Tech and in-state rivals
Michigan State not too far down
the road, the Wolverines will need
to find consistency – especially
offensively

to
remain
in
contention this season.

‘M’ looking forward to home crowd

When
sophomore
infielder
Natalia
Rodriguez
played
at
Alumni Field for the first time last
season, she didn’t expect how many
fans would show up. They packed
the stands. They brought volume.
And they gave the recently snowed-
over stadium energy.
Alumni Field brings excitement,
and starting its home season
Thursday, the Michigan softball
team needs to adjust to that
energy to succeed. Though the
environment the first weekend
in Ann Arbor can carry some like
Rodriguez, playing at home can
also present new challenges — ones
that the Wolverines plan to shed in
favor of home-field traditions and
hype.
One
such
tradition,
senior
catcher
Katie
Alexander
mentioned, is writing in the sand
before games, along with a ‘no
phones’ rule in the locker room for
team bonding.
“Especially since we get to be
in our own locker room, there’s
definitely some pregame rituals
and then the whole momentum,”
Rodriguez said. “We also have

our playlist, our walk-ups and that
home feeling.”
Despite those team traditions,
nerves accompanied Rodriguez’s
first game at Alumni Field, but
letting loose and playing the game
she knew allowed her to overcome
those pre-game jitters. Rodriguez
expects the team’s six freshmen,
following her lead, to also enjoy
playing at home and focus on their
game with the new environment
and colder weather.
“Nerves are natural, but I think
the way I took it differently is that
I’m still playing the same game
and having fun with it,” Rodriguez
said. “I know we’ll play in the colder
weather, but it’s natural. We’re used
to it by now and you get thick skin
pretty quick.”
Coming off a mixed start to the
season on the road, with two sub-
.500 weekends, the Wolverines
(12-10) have had success recently
in tournaments in the Judi Garman
Classic and ASU Invitational.
Particularly,
Michigan’s
wins
against No. 2 UCLA and No. 5
Washington kickstarted the team’s
momentum. The Wolverines hope
returning home will bolster that
momentum even further.
Regardless of players’ excitement

and familiarity with the field,
where they’ve practiced since this
fall, coach Carol Hutchins noted
the issues players may face coming
home.
Distraction
from
fans,
working on their own schedules
and dealing with schoolwork are
some struggles that could affect
Michigan this weekend.
“We’ve been playing on the road
for 22 games and we don’t know
how to play at home,” Hutchins
said. “Being at home is a new
distraction. They’re going to come
straight from class. … They’re
going to sleep in their own beds
and they’re going to be away from
all of the boundaries and rules and
regulations that we give them.”
Despite those worries, playing
at home still holds tremendous
importance to the Wolverines, and
they hope to carry that feeling from
the locker room to the field this
weekend in their first homestand.
“Whether it’s your first time or
your 500th time, we’re playing on
our home field in front of our home
fans, in the place that we love and
are so proud of,” Hutchins said.
“After being on the road for five
weeks, I’m going to tell you… if
they’re not excited as hell to be out
on the field I’d be shocked.”

T

he NCAA Tournament is
just around the corner,
and on Monday night
the Michigan
women’s bas-
ketball team
(21-11 overall,
11-7 Big Ten)
will find out if
it will receive
a second con-
secutive bid.
Last sea-
son, the
Wolverines
got what they
wanted, reaching the tourna-
ment for the first time since
2012-13. The season before,
they expected to earn a spot
but ultimately did not. Still, the
Wolverines went on to win the
WNIT.
Heading into the previous
selection shows, those Michi-
gan teams each had 22 wins
under their belts. This year’s
group has 21, yet it’s in a better
position to get a bid — and to
actually do something with it
— than past groups.
Why? Because this team is
trending up.
“I definitely think this team
is going in a positive direc-
tion,” said senior guard Nicole
Munger, before Tuesday’s
practice.
And there is evidence to
prove it. Michi-
gan has now
won nine of its
last 11 games,
dating back
to the start of
February. In the
final 11 games
of the past two
years, the Wol-
verines had
secured just six
and seven wins,
respectively.
“Not to dwell on past years
too much,” Munger said, “but
there was a different feel
around them.”

That different feel is in part
due to fewer losses in this
final stretch. But the losses
also appear to be more quality
defeats. This team’s two recent
losses came against Michigan
State, over two weeks ago, and
against No. 8 Maryland, Satur-
day night in the Big Ten Tour-
nament semifinals.
In East Lansing, the Wolver-
ines fell 74-64 in a game they
could have easily won, if they
hadn’t committed 25 turnovers
and given up 27 free throw
attempts. That said, some
credit should be given to the
Spartans, who were a quality
team that had spent consider-
able time in the top 25.
The defeat against the Ter-
rapins, too, had some positives.
Michigan entered that game as
the clear underdog, but came
within arm’s reach of reaching
the program’s first ever confer-
ence tournament final, eventu-
ally falling 73-72.
“(The Maryland game) is
something to be proud of,”
Munger said. “We were down
ten going into the fourth
quarter. I think what’s most
important is the team fought.
We didn’t roll over and die,
and we could have done that a
couple times throughout the
game. And they made their
runs but we fought right back.
I think that just
goes to show
that we know
we can play with
anybody, and
I think we’re
really excited
for that.”
Saying this
year’s team
trends up more
than past groups
isn’t an aside to
those teams. The differerent
iterations of the Wolverines
found success at different
moments in the season, too. It’s
difficult to make sure everyone

is healthy and
harmoniously at
the peak of their
game heading
into tournament
time. However,
timing can pay
dividends and
Munger takes
note.
“I think tim-
ing is every-
thing,” Munger
said. “ … And this team, like
I said, it’s just very confident
moving forward and I think
that’s what makes a team very
dangerous to play. When a

team is feel-
ing really good,
playing with
nothing to lose,
that’s really
tough to beat.
So, it’s excit-
ing going into
the final few
weeks.”
Assum-
ing Michigan
does make the
tournament, it has just over a
week before it starts. Munger
mentioned taking care of
the basketball and defensive
transition as two areas the

team hopes to sharpen during
the break. It’s
important for
the Wolverines
to maintain the
momentum dur-
ing the down
time. If they
do, they could
ride the upward
trend when it
matters most.
“I think we’re
lucky that we
have this week,”
Munger said. “ … We’re focus-
ing solely on what we can do
and what we can do better, and

that’s pretty exciting going
into the ‘final
season,’ as we
call it, of the
full season. It’s
gonna be an
exciting time
and I’m excited
to see what
improvements
we can make
moving for-
ward.”

Kumar can be
reached via email at kumar-
rp@umich.edu.

ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer

LILY FRIEDMAN
Daily Sports Writer

Unlike in past years, the Michigan women’s basketball team ended the regular season comfortably in the Tournament
Trending up

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Senior guard Nicole Munger said this year’s Michigan women’s basketball has a different feel from the previous three she has been on during her career.

And this team,
like I said,
it’s just very
confident.

We’re focusing
solely on...
what we can do
better.

ROHAN
KUMAR

I think we’re
lucky that
we have this
week...

FILE PHOTO/Daily
Senior infielder Jimmy Kerr hit two homeruns during the Spring Break trip.

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Sophomore infielder Natalia Rodriguez expects the Alumni Field crowd to provide an important boost to the team.

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