The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, March 20, 2019 — 7A
For ‘M,’ second bid means progress
The year was 2006.
In the midst of her fourth
season as head coach of the St.
John’s women’s basketball team,
Kim Barnes Arico reached her
first NCAA Tournament. She was
thrilled just to be there.
The team headed to State
College, Pa., for the first weekend
of the tournament. Connecticut
and its coach, Geno Auriemma,
were there, too. At that point,
Auriemma
already
had
five
championships under his belt. He
would be named to the Basketball
Hall of Fame later that year.
Though the two teams never
faced each other that postseason,
the coaches still crossed paths
while in the city.
“I said to him, ‘You know, I’m so
happy to be here,’ ” Barnes Arico
told Inside Michigan Basketball
Radio Show. “And he goes, ‘The
easiest part is getting there. The
hard part is staying there.’ ”
Back then, Barnes Arico didn’t
fixate too much on Auriemma’s
comments — she simply enjoyed
the weekend and appreciated the
work it took to get there. After
all, Barnes Arico’s achievement
marked a successful turnaround.
The team hadn’t been to the
tournament since 1988, and the
season prior to her arrival, the Red
Storm finished with an abysmal
3-24 record, losing all of their
conference games.
But now in her seventh season
at the helm of the Michigan
women’s basketball team (21-11
overall, 11-7 Big Ten), Barnes Arico
can contextualize Auriemma’s
sentiment.
On
Monday,
the
Wolverines got a tournament bid
for the second straight year — but
it hasn’t always been that way.
“Here I am 10, 12 years later,
15 years later, saying, ‘Oh my
goodness. To stay there is really,
really incredible,’ ” Barnes Arico
said. “For our kids to be able to
do what they’ve done the last
few years is just a credit to them
and what they’ve meant to our
program and what they’ve brought
to our program.”
This
realization
comes
by
looking at the program’s history.
The team still holds a below
.500 record of 605-698, and this
season marks just the eighth time
the Wolverines have made the
tournament. They have yet to
make it out of the second round.
Barnes
Arico
knows
the
difficulty in taking a team to the
tournament year after year. She
brought Michigan to the big stage
in her first season as head coach,
then missed out the following four
times. That fourth season, the
Wolverines finished third in the
Big Ten and had 22 wins going into
the Selection Show, but still didn’t
make it.
Thus, receiving a bid for the
second straight season is quite
significant for the program as a
whole. There’s still a ways left to
go, but it shows valuable progress.
And
Barnes
Arico
makes
sure her team doesn’t take it for
granted — that they recognize the
team’s roots.
“Yeah, they’re kind of getting
spoiled,”
Barnes
Arico
said
jokingly. “But we talk to them a
lot about the past. It’s important
to realize where our program was
and where our program is now
and where our program wants
to be. And I think as coaches, we
emphasize that a lot and we talk
about that a lot.
“ … The players and the coaches
that came before, they know really
what it took to get to where we
are now. And step-by-step, brick-
by-brick to build this, and to build
really a program and not a team.”
Wolverines defeat Western, 12-6
In
the
Michigan
baseball
team’s second midweek game of
the season on Tuesday, it hoped
to avoid the same pitching follies
against Western Michigan that it
had in the first.
Initially, it wasn’t obvious if it
could.
Sophomore right-hander Blake
Beers had his second start of the
season — in his first, he cruised
through until the third inning
before he began to struggle. A
feeling of déjà vu spread through
the stadium as he did so again.
After making a great play to
snag a ground ball for the first out,
Beers proceeded to walk a batter,
allow a double and an RBI single
before he hit Bronco Blake Dunn
in the head to load the bases in his
last act.
Freshman left-hander Walker
Cleveland
came
in,
limiting
Western Michigan to just two
more runs after a single and a walk.
Despite the follies of the third
inning, Michigan (14-4) trumped
Western Michigan (6-13) 12-5,
behind an explosive offense.
The
Wolverines’
offensive
onslaught began in the bottom of
the first inning. Three walks by
Broncos pitcher Jack Szott loaded
the bases, bringing an early visit
to the mound by manager Billy
Gernon to instill confidence in the
pitcher.
Szott got his control back for
senior infielder Blake Nelson,
working his way back to a 2-2
count before inducing a ground
ball to third base, only to watch the
ball bounce over his third baseman
Jimmy Roche’s glove. Two runs
scored on the error and Michigan
had an early lead.
The lead was snuffed out when
Beers let in three runs in the third.
The Wolverines, though, would
not stay down. In the bottom of
the third, they recaptured the lead
with a well-timed hit-and-run
that put both runners in a perfect
position to go up 4-3 on Nelson’s
single to left field.
From there on out, it was all
Michigan.
Cleveland
clamped
down
on
Western
Michigan,
ending the day with his first
collegiate win and only one hit
allowed.
“He’s only thrown a third of an
inning all year and he came in and
settled the game down for us,” said
Michigan coach Erik Bakich. “The
game was very much in question
and I thought he did a great job of
coming in and putting up zeros to
let our offense separate and put the
game in the bag for us.”
Added Cleveland: “The team
played really well today. They had
my back the whole way, the batters
put in a ton of quality bats together
and swing to put us out ahead.”
Despite his humility, Cleveland
was all smiles. As soon as the
interview was over, he quickly
shuffled back into the locker room
to text his parents the good news.
The offense had a field day — in
the fourth inning, junior infielder
Jordan Brewer launched a two-
run home run over the tall brick
wall in left field to extend the lead
to 6-3.
A 45-minute bottom of the sixth
inning put the game firmly out of
hand after the Wolverines scored
five runs and go up 12-3, allowing
Bakich to start putting in reserves.
“Playing time is one of those
things that’s you’re fair but not
equal,” Bakich said. “It’s great
when you can get a wide margin
in a game like that where everyone
can get an opportunity or everyone
can get an opportunity to get some
reps. And those are precious, those
are valuable, because not every
game is like that.”
With a dominant offensive
display and competent pitching,
the last game of the five-game
home stand ended up being no
different than the games that
preceded it.
Meghan Beaubien stymies Broncos in 3-0 win
For the second time in the last
week, Faith Canfield used her
leadoff at-bat to jump on a pitch
over the heart of the plate. And
for the second time in the last
week, the senior second baseman
clubbed the ball over the Alumni
Field fence.
The home run was all the No.
25 Michigan softball team needed
to defeat in-state foe Western
Michigan (7-12), 3-0.
Just two days removed from
recording a pair of wins and a
save in last weekend’s sweep
of Kent State, sophomore left-
hander Meghan Beaubien picked
up right where she left off. The
reigning Big Ten Pitcher of the
Year was locked in from the start,
retiring the first two Broncos
with emphatic punchouts and
surrendering only one hit in the
first four innings.
When the Wolverines (16-10)
tacked on a pair of fifth-inning
insurance runs, Beaubien didn’t
even need them. She kept the
Broncos off the scoreboard all
afternoon, tallying a season-
high 13 strikeouts along the way.
Beaubien finished with a four-hit
shutout in her ninth complete
game
of
the
season.
“(Beaubien)
is
throwing with a
clear mind,” said
Michigan
coach
Carol
Hutchins.
“She’s
throwing
with
conviction.
Her speed is up,
her changeup is
on. It’s tough to
be
clear-minded
when you’re a young kid, so part
of it is a learning curve.”
When
junior
right
fielder
Haley Hoogenraad stepped up to
the plate with the bases loaded
and two outs, she had the chance
to give Michigan a sizable early
cushion. Hoogenraad dug into
the batter’s box, let her bat rest on
her shoulder and crouched into a
formidable batting stance.
Unlike Canfield, who worked
a full count before unleashing a
big cut, Hoogenraad took a swing
at the first offering she saw from
Broncos’ starting pitcher Reily
Galloway. The barrel of her bat
wound up in front of the offspeed
pitch, resulting in a soft ground
ball down the third base line.
Despite putting four runners
on base in their first crack at
Galloway, the Wolverines only
mustered one run from the threat.
For returning players, the team’s
failure to pull away brought back
memories
of
last
season’s
shortcomings
against Western
Michigan.
Last
May,
the
Broncos
played
spoiler
when they made
a
late-season
trip
to
Ann
Arbor.
Despite
having 15 fewer
victories than the Wolverines,
Western
Michigan
amassed
13 hits en route to an 8-2 win
— its first against Michigan
since 2012. The loss put a dent
in the Wolverines’ postseason
momentum.
This season, sophomore left-
hander Meghan Beaubien made
sure it wouldn’t happen again.
Since her ERA reached a
career-high 3.95 in a Feb. 22 loss
to Stanford, Beaubien’s mark has
gradually
trended
downward
towards her 1.16 clip from a season
ago. After Tuesday’s dominant
showing, Beaubien will enter this
weekend’s
conference-opening
slate with an ERA of 1.99.
“I think from the start of the
year to now, my mental process
has gotten a lot better,” Beaubien
said. “Lately, I feel like it’s
been really good, like this past
weekend and today. For the most
part, I have to forget last year
and
understand
that
it
doesn’t
matter and this is
a completely new
year. I just need
to work hard and
do my best and be
what I can be this
year to the best of
my ability.”
After
Canfield’s home
run,
Michigan’s
offense remained dormant until
the bottom of the fifth inning,
when junior catcher Abby Skvarce
made a pinch-hit appearance.
With
sophomore
shortstop
Natalia Rodriguez perched on
second base after swiping her
seventh bag of the season, Skvarce
laced a ground ball under the glove
of Western Michigan shortstop
Brooke Wyman that trickled deep
enough into left field for Hutchins
to wave Rodriguez home.
The
successful
small-ball
strategy allowed Michigan to pull
away.
“It
manufactured
a
run,”
Hutchins
said.
“We
weren’t
swinging very well today, we
were definitely not very offensive,
so you have to find a way to
manufacture runs. One of those
is to steal their bases to put us in
position. We get a pinch-hit single
and it was a difference maker.”
Just one batter later, freshman
left fielder Lexie
Blair
—
who
earned Big Ten
Player
of
the
Week
honors
last week after
posting an .875
batting
average
and eight RBI —
poked a ground
ball
through
the gap on the
Broncos’
right
side of the infield. As the ball
made its way onto the right-field
grass, senior center fielder Natalie
Peters rounded third. The relay
throw came in from Broncos’
outfielder Machenzie Swinehart,
but not before Peters’ right hand
grazed the edge of home plate
on her slide under the catcher’s
glove.
Though Peters’ slide put the
game out of reach once and for all,
it was Beaubien who kept Western
Michigan at bay all along.
Defensive lapses costly
With a minute left in the
first half, the Michigan men’s
lacrosse team had spent twice as
long down a man as No. 11 Notre
Dame, trailed in shots taken by
six, leaned on fifth-year senior
Tommy Heidt’s five saves and
won only two of the contest’s 13
faceoffs.
It
didn’t
matter.
The
Wolverines trailed the Fighting
Irish by only a goal. Halftime,
and the chance to regroup
before the deciding 30 minutes,
beckoned Michigan like a desert
oasis.
But it proved to be a mirage.
Notre Dame’s lead grew twice
and left the Wolverines with
a halftime task three times as
big as they expected less than a
minute before.
The Fighting Irish’s two goals
came from Thomas McNamara
and John Hallenbeck, making
the score 7-4 and continuing a
concerning trend. Late-period,
momentum-shifting goals have
plagued the Wolverines so far
this season, and they’re not
going without notice.
“It’s something that we’re
really
focusing
on,”
said
Michigan coach Kevin Conry. “In
that last minute of the quarter,
those are really, really important
times where fundamentals are
the most important thing. And
we weren’t very fundamental
on that pick, and gave the guy
just a little extra room. But we’re
learning.”
Michigan’s
two
primary
faceoff
men,
sophomore
Connor Cronin and junior Matt
Dellacroce, have been out with
injuries, causing a faceoff-by-
committee approach. Between
junior defenseman Finn Goonan,
freshman midfielder Andrew
Russell and senior defenseman
Nick DeCaprio, the Wolverines
went 4-for-24 from the X against
the Irish. The lack of competency
at the X has made maintaining
possession more difficult and
contributed to the Wolverines’
poorly-timed lapses on defense.
It took most of the third
quarter for Michigan to come
roaring back to tie it. Senior
midfielder
Justin
Gibbons’
goal with 55 seconds left in
third quarter seemed to have
compensated for the Wolverines’
defensive gaffes, and the building
momentum was a promising sign
headed into the game’s final 15
minutes.
But yet again, the final minute
betrayed
Michigan.
Notre
Dame’s Griffin Westlin sprinted
through a fatigued Wolverine
defense to reclaim the lead with
1.4 seconds to play.
After
leaning
on
offense
and
goaltending
for
three
resilient
quarters,
Michigan
fell asleep in its own end at
the most inopportune times.
A combination of fresh but
inexperienced legs on the field
and tired, experienced ones
made errors on defense and took
ill-advised penalties. The fourth
quarter proved to be the most
lopsided, as Notre Dame scored
three unanswered goals — two
within the first five minutes — to
seal the victory.
“It’s hard when they go on a
run and you’re deficient in the
faceoff X,” Conry said. “That’s
been one of the things that’s
been plaguing us as this little
stretch here continues. … I
thought Notre Dame had a smart
adjustment where they started to
suck the life a little bit out of the
ball and use the whole shot clock
and that got our guys tired.”
The Wolverines have the
offensive skill and ability to
beat highly ranked opponents,
but
won’t
until
they
play
good enough defense to go
on prolonged scoring runs of
their own. No matter how big
of an impact it had, injuries to
Michigan’s faceoff men aren’t
entirely to blame. And Conry
knows it.
“When we could ride and
create that tempo, it doesn’t
really matter about our faceoff
deficiencies,”
Conry
said.
“Health is something we need
to keep working on. We need to
get some guys back, that’s for
sure. But overall, our attention to
detail and our fundamentals are
something we will consistently
focus on.”
DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Writer
KELSEY PEASE/Daily
Sophomore left-hander Meghan Beaubien struck out 13 Broncos on Tuesday as Michigan beat Western Michigan 3-0.
(Beaubien) is
throwing with
a clear mind. ...
Her speed is up.
My mental
process has
gotten a lot
better.
ROHAN KUMAR
Daily Sports Writer
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
The Michigan women’s basketball team will play in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season.
KENT SCHWARTZ
Daily Sports Writer
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Senior infielder Blake Nelson drove in two runs to help Michigan to a 12-6 win over Western Michigan on Tuesday.
MEN’S LACROSSE
OWEN SWANSON
Daily Sports Writer