8 — Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan’s star recruiting class
from 2018 continues to deliver
Some referred to them as the
best recruiting class in program
history.
The Michigan baseball team’s
2018 incoming class received
plaudits nationwide for its talent
and balance. It was ranked No.
10 in the country — the highest
ranking a Big Ten recruiting class
has ever received — and tallied
seven
freshman
All-American
awards. Almost two years in,
they’ve lived up to expectations.
“It’s a really good class,” said
Michigan coach Erik Bakich.
“When we put it together, we felt
like it was a balanced, dynamic
class with star potential – guys
that had a chance to play for a long
time and be high draft picks in
three years.”
As sophomores this season —
now a year older and more mature
— they have continued to make an
impression.
Players up and down the lineup,
as well as on the mound, have
begun to take on a more active
role. Right-hander Jeff Criswell
transitioned from the bullpen into
a starting role this year with fellow
sophomore Ben Dragani’s season-
ending injury. In his Sunday-
starter role, he has helped carry
the Wolverines to dominant wins
against
conference
opponents
Ohio State and Minnesota, holding
them to few hits while pitching
more innings per game than he
ever has before.
“He’s hopped into the Sunday
role and I feel like he’s really
starting
to
come
on,”
said
Michigan assistant coach Nick
Schnabel. “That’s a guy with
electric stuff.”
Left-hander
Angelo
Smith,
meanwhile, has brought to the
table both strength as a starter as
well as poise and reliability as a
reliever, pitching the team out of
jams consistently.
Last year, outfielder Jordan
Nwogu
was
a
solid
if
not
unremarkable presence on the
team. This year, he’s leading off
Michigan’s lineup while being
key in scoring runs throughout
the season, leading the team
with a .366 batting average. His
performance this year represents
a significant improvement and
has been a pleasant surprise to the
coaching staff.
“When these guys came in, we
had no idea Jordan Nwogu would
become Jordan Nwogu,” Bakich
said. “And that’s been a great
surprise — the way he’s inserted
himself into the team since the
middle of last year has been just
huge.”
Jack Blomgren, Joe Donovan
and Jesse Franklin have likewise
been clutch components of this
season’s offense with 16 home
runs between the three of them
thus far.
The man primarily responsible
for assembling this transformative
group of players is Schnabel, who
made countless phone calls, hosted
plenty of prospects and took trips
around the country to assemble
the 2018 team. He is loath to take
too much credit, however.
“Well, it came together with a
lot of work from our entire staff,”
Schnabel said. “It was totally a
team effort.”
Bakich, who played alongside
Schnabel during their shared time
at East Carolina, was unsurprised
by his modesty — “as a team we
try to emphasize the ‘our, us, we’
mentality instead of ‘my, I, me’ ” —
but emphasized the importance of
his role.
“Recruiting is one of those
things that’s 365 and 24/7,” Bakich
said. “Coach Schnabel has no
off switch. It’s the first thing he
thinks about every morning, the
last thing he things about before
he goes to bed.
“He’s the best at what he does
and a big reason why we have so
many good players to coach.”
With
senior
heavyweights
Jimmy Kerr, Blake Nelson, Miles
Lewis and Ako Thomas on their
way out, the sophomores will
likely need to fill an even bigger
role come next year. But the team
seems eminently confident in that.
“I absolutely think they can
take the mantle,” Schnabel said.
“Obviously in terms of their ability
they can, but also in what kind of
kids they are.
“They’re serious about the
game and about their growth and
maturation personally and most
importantly, they’re a team that
wants to win.”
AIDAN WOUTAS
Daily Sports Writer
With postseason looming, ‘M’
showing grit at the perfect time
Facing the Big Ten’s best
offense
this
weekend,
the
Michigan softball team showed it
could win ugly.
On Friday, the Wolverines
jumped out to a
quick 1-0 lead in
the first inning but
found itself tied
heading into the
seventh.
Rather
than being fazed
by
the
surging
crowd
on
the
road,
Michigan
was able to string
together a couple
of hits and drive
in the deciding run.
Saturday’s scene was quite the
opposite.
Michigan was scrambling for
any sort of momentum, both at the
plate and in the field, as it faced an
8-5 deficit after six innings.
“I don’t exactly know what the
biggest struggle was,” said senior
second baseman Faith Canfield.
“You just have those days where
things don’t click, when things
aren’t gonna go perfect. … Those
days are gonna happen but take it
for what they are, just work to get
better at them.”
The Wolverines were in a
similar position just two weeks
ago. Trailing Indiana by two runs
heading into the final inning, the
seniors led a comeback that was
catalyzed by an offensive showing
Hutchins has been seeking from
the team all season.
On
Saturday,
Michigan
showed that the scoring it had
discovered against Indiana hadn’t
disappeared after one showing.
One seventh inning later, the
scoreboard flashed 9-8 in favor of
the Wolverines — another narrow
one-run win on the weekend.
“There’s nothing sweeter than
coming from behind to win a
game,” Hutchins said. “Those
are great moments that hopefully
give us a continued confidence
and belief in ourselves when we
get behind. We’ve played well
from behind. I’m really pleased
with that.”
Putting on such offensive
clinics during the crunch time of
conference games is more than
just correct mechanics, though.
This team has something far more
important than hot bats and well-
timed swings. It
has grit.
The
same
team
that
struggled
to
secure
close
games
and
mount
comebacks
against
the
likes of South
Dakota
and
North Carolina
has won 21 of its last 22 games.
And though the Wolverines may
not be ranked as highly as other
Michigan teams of this past
decade, this team is showing just
as much heart, if not more, late in
games.
“I think (the grit) came from
the start of the season,” said
freshman outfielder Lexie Blair.
“We took those losses at the
start of the season to make us
tougher and just provide a bigger,
stronger mentality toward our
next games… We’ve faced so
much adversity from the start,
and that’s what we use to just get
us through the season.”
With just seven games left
before
the
postseason,
the
Wolverines are showing they can
win on days when pitches aren’t
finding the strike zone and bats
are connecting with the ball.
They’ve shown that they can
win with their backs against the
wall. And they’re playing with
a toughness that few teams
around the nation can rival.
After Sunday’s win, Canfield
summed up this mentality best:
“If they’re gonna throw a
punch, we gotta throw a punch
back.”
AKUL VIJAYVARGIYA
Daily Sports Writer
Lexie Blair has the potential to be
the future of Michigan softball
Lexie Blair confidently stepped
up to the plate for a fifth time
on Sunday, needing a triple to
complete the cycle.
Facing a 3-2 count, the freshman
outfielder watched a yellow blur
pass her rather than swinging for a
chance at that elusive triple. It was
a ball, allowing her to keep a 4-for-
4 hitting performance intact for a
team-high 20th multi-hit outing on
the year.
It’s this type of plate discipline
and acumen in the batter’s box
she’s displayed all season.
With seven games remaining in
the regular season, Blair is hitting
at a .418 clip, leading the next-best
batter on the team by .040. She
also leads the team in doubles (17)
and RBIs (40) — both numbers
better
than
second
baseman
Faith Canfield’s entire 2018 All-
American campaign. The last time
a Michigan freshman was able
to put together an All-American
caliber season? Sierra Romero in
2013 — she would later become
the first four-time All-American in
program history.
Different years require different
All-American
standards,
and
Blair plays a very
different position
than Canfield and
Romero. But what
these stat lines do
show is that Blair
has the potential
to be the future of
Michigan softball.
After
Sierra
Romero’s
graduation
in
2016,
Canfield
burst into the scene in style as
a third team All-American and
became someone Blair looked up
to before she arrived in Ann Arbor
“Before I even came her, I
grew up watching her over her
years in Michigan,” Blair said on
Mar. 9. “Finally seeing her as a
senior, seeing her doing her thing,
being consistent as she is, the past
couple weekends have been really
amazing.”
Now, Canfield is in the home
stretch of her tenured career
at
Michigan.
With just a few
more
games
guaranteed, she,
along with the
other four seniors,
will have to pass
off a team driven
by leadership and
experience.
The
other
returning
starters for 2020
besides Blair will
be junior third baseman Madison
Uden, sophomore shortstop Natalia
Rodriguez and junior outfielder
Haley Hoogenraad. They have
done their job to support the top
of the batting order, but none of
them have produced significant
numbers throughout this season
like Blair.
Blair doesn’t just get the job
done as the third batter in the
lineup. She has one of the biggest
personalities on the team — her
walkup song is “Lose Control” by
Missy Elliott. She has a handshake
with Uden where she poses for
Uden’s hand-camera. This energy
and excitement Blair has brought
to the Wolverines inspires Canfield
just as much as Canfield has
inspired her.
“(Blair’s) a stud,” Canfield said.
“She just has so much confidence.
The way she carries herself is just
never too high, never too low. She
just goes out there and works hard
and gets the job done, which is
awesome to look at. And even as a
freshman, we can really rely on her
which is really cool to see someone
really take on that role as a leader
so young.”
So it doesn’t really matter that
Blair was one triple short of a cycle
on Sunday, because she has three
more years to achieve that. And
when she does, the spotlight will
shine straight on her, just like it has
been on Canfield, Romero and the
rest of the Michigan greats.
AKUL VIJAYVARGIYA
Daily Sports Writer
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Freshman outfielder Lexie Blair leads the team in batting average, doubles and runs-batted-in while the Wolverines have won 21 of their last 22 games.
There’s nothing
sweeter than
coming from
behind to win...
(Lexie’s) a
stud. She just
has so much
confidence.
Wildcat woes help Wolverines
complete a weekend sweep at home
Eight runs.
That’s
how
many
the
Michigan baseball team scored
off
Northwestern
mistakes
this weekend.
The Wolverines put runners
on base with walks and hit-
by-pitches,
advanced
those
runners on wild pitches and
stolen bases and kept them
alive on fielders’ choices and
errors. In a weekend series that
was closer than anticipated at
times, much of the Wolverines’
success came when they were
able to capitalize on their
opponents’ mistakes.
“You
take
anything
you
can get, whether it’s a walk,
or an error — anything,” said
Michigan coach Erik Bakich.
“You just try to do whatever
you can to get on base and put
pressure on the other team.
It’s why there’s such a high
importance of battling with
two strikes, because when you
put it in play, that’s what could
happen. A guy
could
make
an error, and
you could get
yourself
on
base.
“And
a
lot of times,
just
being
aggressive
and
putting
pressure
on
the
other
team
can
force errors. So, just by being
aggressive, we got some huge
opportunities today.”
In Saturday’s 4-1 game, just
two of Michigan’s four runs
were earned. The first was
from
sophomore
shortstop
Jack Blomgren, who reached
base on a walk before scoring
on a throwing error from
Wildcats
second
baseman
Shawn Goosenberg.
The first game of Sunday’s
doubleheader saw more of
the same. After advancing
to
second
when
Blomgren
walked and moving to third on
a fielders’ choice, sophomore
designated
hitter
Jordan
Nwogu scored on a fielding
error from Northwestern third
baseman Charlie Maxwell in
the bottom of the first inning
to
put
the
Wolverines up,
1-0.
In
the
seventh inning,
with the game
tied at 2-2, the
Wildcats’ errors
again
came
back to haunt
them.
Junior
centerfielder
Christian
Bullock walked
to lead off the bottom of the
inning. He then stole second
and advanced to third base
on a throwing error from
Northwestern catcher Michael
Trautwein before scoring the
deciding run on a fielding error
from Wildcats second baseman
Alex Erro to bring the final
score to 3-2.
“It just feels great scoring
runs for this team, for the
University
of
Michigan,”
Bullock said. “To score the
winning run today, it was just
amazing.”
In Sunday’s second game,
a 10-1 rout, Michigan finally
overpowered Northwestern to
run away with the series. They
beat up the Wildcat pitchers
for 10 runs on 14 hits, including
senior third baseman Blake
Nelson’s first home run of the
season and a three-run shot
from
junior
center
fielder
Christian Bullock. Both home
runs came in the bottom of the
second inning; Bullock added
an RBI on the day with a single
in the bottom of the eighth that
scored senior catcher Matthew
Schmidt.
As the team prepares for
next weekend’s home series
— another Big Ten matchup
against a Rutgers team that’s
won seven of its last 10 games
and is fighting to stay in the
race for the conference title —
the Wolverines may not be able
to rely as heavily on opponents’
mistakes.
But if they can keep finding
ways on base — and ways to
score — like they did this
weekend, they’re looking like a
tough team to beat.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Sophomore outfielder Jordan Nwogu leads the Wolverines in batting average.
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Sophomore shortstop Jack Blomgren scored on a throwing error Saturday.
ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer
To score the
winning run
today, it was just
amazing.