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Sports
Tuesday, April 9, 2019 — 7

Wolverines growing in mistakes

At the halfway point of its
season, the No. 24 Michigan
baseball team (22-8) is heating
up at exactly the right time.
It’s returned to the rankings.
It took four of its first five Big
Ten games and eight of its
last 10 contests, a stretch that
included a 1-0 pitchers’ duel
victory against San Jose State,
a 16-2 rout of Michigan State
and a gritty come-from-behind
series win over Minnesota last
weekend.
After
a
tough
California
swing where they saw their first
four losses of the season and an
even tougher trip to Texas —
where they were swept by No.
11 Texas Tech — the Wolverines
are learning from their past
mistakes.
Against the Red Raiders on
March 21, it was the defense
that had issues. Michigan gave
up six hits and committed two
errors, leading to six unearned
Texas Tech runs in the fifth
inning alone. The Red Raiders
added another run in the bottom
of the seventh on an error from

sophomore catcher Joe Donovan
and tacked on three more in the
bottom of the eighth inning to
take the game, 11-2.
But
since
that
trip,
Michigan’s defense has been
one of its strongest assets. The
Wolverines’
average
fielding
percentage is .971, and their
aggressive-mistakes
mindset
has resulted in some impressive
plays, including several bare-
handers
from
sophomore
shortstop Jack Blomgren and
senior second baseman Ako
Thomas. They turned three
inning-ending
double
plays
in Sunday’s 8-0 trouncing of
Minnesota alone.
“To be able to minimize
(Minnesota’s) opportunities was
a huge storyline this weekend,”
said
Michigan
coach
Erik
Bakich. “It’s really just playing
good defense. That’s something
that helps us have a good day.”
In the Dodgertown Classic, it
was the offense that could not
produce. After a triumphant 7-5
win over then-No. 2 UCLA on
March 8, the lineup could not
find a rhythm for the Wolverines
as USC’s pitchers stifled their
bats and Oklahoma State got

clutch
hits
when
Michigan
could not.
Now, though, the Wolverines’
clutch hitting has helped them
to more than a few victories.
In their Big Ten opener against
the Spartans, they scored the
winning runs off two fifth-
inning doubles to break the game
open. And in Saturday’s game
against Minnesota, Michigan
clinched the win on a two-out,
two-run double from Thomas in
the bottom of the seventh.
Overall,
heading
into
a
midweek series against a strong
Indiana State team and an away
weekend series against archrival
Ohio State, Michigan seems to
be peaking just when it needs to
be. The ghosts of baseball games
past have yet to return to haunt
the Wolverines, and if Michigan
can continue to grow from past
mistakes, the team is looking
increasingly tough to beat.
“The challenge is just to get
better, to play our best baseball,”
Bakich said. “I have total faith in
our players. If we just come with
that mentality of competing
and effort and energy, and if we
bring that from the first pitch, I
think we’ll be in great shape.”

Schalet shows poise in comebacks

Coming into Sunday, Myles
Schalet had not lost a doubles
match since the end of February.
Playing with freshman Andrew
Fenty, the team leader in both
singles and doubles wins, the
duo was expected to set the
stage for the Wolverines with a
win over No. 15 Illinois.
Instead, Schalet and Fenty
were the first to lose their match,
giving up an early
3-2 lead to lose,
6-4.
It
wasn’t
their best tennis,
and the rest of
the team followed
suit, with poor
doubles play by
No. 20 Michigan
(13-6 overall, 4-3
Big Ten) giving
the
Fighting
Illini (13-6, 7-0)
an early lead from which the
Wolverines were never able to
come back.
This made winning singles
matches all the more important.

But Schalet still looked sluggish
at the beginning of his match
and quickly fell behind, 2-5, in
the first set. While some would
have let a doubles loss and an
early deficit get to their head and
hurt their play for the rest of the
match, Schalet is no stranger to
these situations. Friday against
Northwestern, he lost the first
set and faced a match point
down 3-5 in the second set and
came back to win.
Sunday’s match ended in a
similar fashion
for
Schalet.
He went on to
win
the
last
five games of
the
first
set
and won the
second set in
a tiebreak to
give Michigan
its second and
final
singles
point.
“I trust myself, and I always
keep fighting and competing,”
Schalet said. “I’m just trying to
take care of my service game
and get early leads when they

are serving so I can get myself
an opportunity to break.”
Schalet used the support of
his teammates to get back into
his match — and eventually
win it. When he was down and
noticeably upset with his play,
his teammates continued to
encourage him. Once Schalet
turned it around and took
the lead, the rest of the team
rallied around him, and he did
the same for them. While the
Wolverines ended up losing,
seeing their captain come back
motivated
them.
Freshman
Patrick Maloney, who was the
only other player to win a match,
played with a similar intensity.
“One of the ways I’m always
able to get back is because of the
way we play as a team,” Schalet
said.
“My
teammates
are
always there, and we’re playing
together. I’m not playing by
myself out there, so that helps
a lot.”
But while Schalet was able to
bail himself out by improving
his play as the match went on, he
said he wanted to start matches
playing his strongest tennis.

“I have to get better at
starting
matches
better,”
Schalet said. “I can’t rely on me
coming back every time because
a better player is just going to
get on me.”
Added Michigan coach Adam
Steinberg: “I think he needs to
focus a little better through the
match, but when he gets down
he gives everything”
While Schalet was not playing
at his best early on in matches
this weekend, his ability to fight
and his drive helped him put
losses behind him and lead the
team by doing what he does best
— winning points.

‘M’ men’s tennis splits weekend

The doubles point proved to
be the make-or-break factor for
the No. 20 Michigan men’s tennis
team in its weekend split.
On Friday, winning the doubles
point set the tone early for a 5-2
win over Northwestern.
But on Saturday, a doubles loss
foreshadowed a 4-2 defeat to No.
15 Illinois.
“The doubles point is so big
and we need to play better,” said
Michigan coach Adam Steinberg.
“For us, we should take much more
pride in our doubles. Our record in
doubles should be better than it is.”
On Friday, the team clinched
two out of the three doubles
matches
after
impressive
performances from the duos of
freshman Andrew Fenty and
senior Myles Schalet, and junior
Connor Johnston and freshman
Patrick Maloney.
With the crucial doubles point
under its belt, Michigan proceeded
to win four of six matches in
the singles round. Sophomore
Mattias Siimar impressed with a
6-2, 6-3 straight-set outing over
Northwestern’s Antonioni Fasano
to propel the Wolverines to a win
on Friday.
The second half of the home
series against Illinois on Sunday
was a different story.
The team of Fenty and Schalet,
along with the team of sophomore
Harrison
Brown
and
Siimar
dropped the first two matches,
leaving
the
third
unfinished
and handing Illinois the doubles
victory.
Steinberg felt that his squad
did not execute well on first serve,
an important aspect of doubles
because it enables a team to hold
serve most of the time during a
match.
Though the team trailed from
the start, the competition was
still close late. Michigan trailed by
one point with a chance to tie and
potentially win with Fenty and
Johnston left to play.
Johnston would ultimately fall
to Illinois’ Keenan Mayo in a close
third set, clinching a 4-2 victory
for the Illini. Illinois players
stormed the court in joy, while

the Wolverines looked on with
noticeable disappointment.
“We just had leads everywhere.
We threw them away up a set and
a break at six, up a set and break at
two,” Steinberg said. “We have to
finish those.”
Siimar, Johnston and senior
Gabe Tishman all held leads
during their matches, but all
eventually lost in three sets. It was
a pattern that Steinberg felt derived
from a mid-match mentality — a
misguided one.
“I think they think about
winning and that they don’t focus
on the plan ahead, the task,”
Steinberg said. “They get so results-
oriented when they’re ahead. It’s
just the wrong thinking.”
Despite
a
disappointing
afternoon, Michigan had strong
showings
from
Schalet
and
Maloney, the team’s only two
players to win in the singles round.
Schalet’s day was particularly
impressive, as he led a valiant
comeback from down three games
to win the first set and eventually
the match in straight sets 7-5, 7-6
(5). Steinberg said that he believed
it was one of his better wins of

the season, considering the deficit
Schalet overcame.
Maloney also had a short, yet
impressive, outing, beating his
opponent 6-3, 6-2.
“He’s
doing
unbelievable,”
Steinberg said. “You know, when
you lose a doubles point you don’t
want to go down 2-0, you want to
get it one all, and he got us on the
board so that was great for him.”
Still, Steinberg demonstrated
some frustration with how his
team started and finished the
match.
“We do a great job when we’re
down, but we don’t do a great job
when we’re up,” Steinberg said.
“It’s just glaring, it happens a lot
to us. So we need to find a way to
finish more.”
Schalet agreed with his coach
and mentioned that changing the
trajectory of their season starts
with how the Wolverines train.
“When we play sets in practice
and really make it like a match, not
just going through the motions, it
takes a lot of focus,” Schalet said.
“When you are playing a good
team like Illinois, they’re going to
really fight when they’re down.”

CHRIS SULLIVAN
For The Daily

JACK KINGSLEY
Daily Sports Writer

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Senior Myles Schalet clinched victories against both Northwestern and Illinois over the weekend as the Michigan men’s tennis team split matches.

Rowing sweeps weekend regatta

Over
the
weekend,
the
Michigan rowing team was
dominant.
Michigan was so dominant,
in fact, that none of its boats
lost a race. The sixth-ranked
Wolverines
swept
three
ACC opponents — including
two
ranked
teams
—
on
Lake Monticello in Virginia.
Michigan dispatched No. 10
Virginia during morning races
and defeated No. 17 Syracuse
along with Duke during the
afternoon session of racing. The
wins provided a promising start
to the spring season.
“Any time you can win races
against really good programs
like we raced today, that’s a
good thing,” said Michigan
coach Mark Rothstein. “We
were pleased to be able to come
away with some really good
victories, and we’re excited to
get faster, grow and improve.”
Both
varsity
eight
boats

contributed to the weekend’s
highlights. The first varsity
eight
beat
Virginia
by
7.3
seconds with a time of 6:30.5,
then came back and topped
Syracuse by 4.3 seconds and
Duke in the afternoon, timing
6:26.5.
The second varsity eight boat
also won both its
races,
although
they were much
closer than the
first
eight’s.
After
quickly
beating
the
Cavaliers
in
6:36.0
by
4.7
seconds,
the
Wolverines
inched ahead of
the Blue Devils
in the afternoon race in 6:35.3,
by a mere eight-tenths of a
second.
Additionally, the first varsity
four continued undefeated as it
won by more than 10 seconds
in the morning (7:18.6) and
more than seven seconds in the

afternoon (7:24.2).
The second varsity four also
won both its races, with a close
finish in 7:23.6 by 4.2 seconds
and a comfortable win in 7:33.4
by 11.8 seconds. The third varsity
four won by relaxed margins
as well, including the biggest
win of the day — a 19.0-second
victory against
Virginia
in
7:29.2.
“Top
to
bottom all the
boats really had
bright
spots,”
Rothstein
said. “They all
showed
some
things
that
needed
to
be
improved.
“We’re in a good spot, but the
biggest thing that we are seeing
right now is these athletes are
excited to get back to practice.
Regardless of times, regardless
of race results, they want to get
back to work and keep getting
faster. That’s exciting to see.”

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
The Michigan rowing team took down three ACC opponents in this past weekend’s regatta on Lake Monticello, Va.

MEGAN CHAPELLE
Daily Sports Writer

Top to bottom,
all the boats
really had
bright spots.

ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer

ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Sophomore shortstop Jack Blomgren made several impressive plays in the field during Michigan’s weekend series.

I trust myself
and I always
keep fighting
and competing.

I can’t rely on
me coming
back every
time.