SPORTS 11
Thursday, June 20, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Christan Bullock showing he belongs in the starting lineup
OMAHA, Neb. – The Michigan
baseball team is having a good time.
They’re having so much fun, in
fact, that sophomore center fielder
Jesse Franklin has dubbed the
ballpark where they’ve been playing
their games “TD AmeriPlayground.”
No other Wolverine, perhaps,
is having more fun than Christan
Bullock. The junior left fielder made
some starts early in the season,
including two against Binghamton
on opening weekend as well as all
three games at The Citadel. After
some struggles, though, Michigan
coach Erik Bakich replaced him,
putting redshirt senior Miles Lewis
in left field instead.
But as the Wolverines have
continued to fight for their season,
coming up with clutch victories
when they needed them most – and
when they seemed least likely –
Bullock has been at the center of it
all. He’s been a regular starter since
late May and has played a key role in
several of those clutch victories.
He had three hits and scored
three runs in Michigan’s defeat of
Nebraska on May 25 in the Big Ten
Tournament. In the two victories
over Creighton in the regional,
Bullock combined for a single, a
double, and a home run as well as
three walks and another run scored.
And in the Wolverines’ win-or-go-
home victory over No. 1 UCLA in the
Super Regional, Bullock had a walk, a
double, a triple, two runs and a stolen
base.
Not too shabby.
“It’s exciting just to have the
opportunity to do things that help
the team win,” Bullock said. “I just
want to play for my brothers.”
As far as raw athletic ability
goes, Bullock is, as Bakich puts it,
“unbelievable.” He’s shown flashes
of power-hitting potential and stellar
defensive ability at times throughout
the season. Most importantly, he’s the
team’s fastest baserunner, something
that’s resulted in him being used as a
pinch runner in many situations. Not
to mention, he’s compiled 13 stolen
bases on the season.
“He’s a gamechanger with his
speed,” Bakich said. “He can turn
a walk into a triple within a few
pitches. He’s one of those guys that
when he puts it all together, I think
he’s got a chance to be one of the
more dynamic, explosive players, not
only in the conference, but maybe
in the country. I think he’s got an
incredible toolset.”
For Bullock, the bigger issue has
been consistency. Harnessing that
speed. Finding a way to control that
power-hitting and being able to tap it
when needed. The difference-maker
for Bullock during this time of the
season – and what’s helped him
make the jump back into the starting
nine – is discipline. He’s beginning
to understand the importance of not
just the games, but the practices, the
meetings, the training sessions. He’s
dedicated to the team, not just in the
big moments, but in every moment.
“Consistency is just his key to his
success,” Bakich said. “We’ve worked
really hard on that consistency,
starting in the training sessions
and carrying over into the games.
He’s always been a gamer, where he
wants to turn it on in the game. As
he’s matured in our program, he’s
understood the importance of all the
little things, the attention to detail.”
Now, Bullock is finally seeing
the payoff of that discipline, that
dedication. On the highest stage in
college baseball – one of the biggest in
collegiate athletics – he’s coming up
huge for the Wolverines with over-
the-shoulder catches, stolen bases
and clutch hits in tense moments.
“Being consistent always pays off,”
Bullock said. “I’m just trying to do
anything to help win a game.”
ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer
Erik Bakich named Coach of the Year
With the sun beating down on
Creighton’s patchy turf practice
field, the Michigan baseball team
walked to the left field line and
waited in the ranks for practice to
begin.
Slowly after them came the man
who would run practice, dressed
in the same clothes as each of the
players — distinguishable by only
a bright yellow string around his
neck. He blew his whistle, and the
players were off.
While
other
coaches
were
mingling about the infield or
watching the players warm up from
afar, Michigan coach Erik Bakich
was amidst the players, with them
every step.
On Saturday morning, three
hours prior to the Wolverines’ first
game in the Men’s College World
Series since 1984, Bakich was given
the National Collegiate Baseball
Writers Association’s Coach of the
Year Award.
“It means we’ve got great
players,
great
coaches,
great
support
staff,
great
player’s
parents, great coaches wives. We
talk about deflecting individual
honors all the time because they’re
not done by any one person,”
Bakich said. “All the credit, in
my opinion, goes to all the other
people that make this team great
and that touch our program. So it’s
a nice award, and I said this when I
accepted it, I accept this on behalf
of our team and all the people that I
just mentioned because they’re the
ones who did it.”
It’s always been about making
something bigger for this team. In
the team’s mind, this isn’t the 2019
Michigan baseball team, it’s team
153 — just another in a long line of
baseball teams for the program.
But don’t let Bakich’s deflection
take your mind off him. He’s the
one who created that culture, who
sets the tone.
He’s the one who tells freshman
left-hander Walker Cleveland after
his first collegiate win, “Remember,
it’s about the team.”
He’s taken those steps to make
this team bigger than a group of 35
students.
“You know, the first year I
was here, there were no minority
players on our team,” Bakich said.
“Maybe this is just a personal
philosophy or preference, but I just
feel that at this school, especially
given its legacy, our roster should
look like the United States of
America.”
Bakich’s
talents
go
beyond
culture
setting,
though,
and
throughout the year he’s made
tough calls and spent days working
with his team to put them in the
position they’re in. In the middle
of the Big Ten season, he switched
left-hander Tommy Henry to a
Saturday starter after a few games
of struggling, and Henry settled
back down in his new role.
As the playoffs began, he
dropped
season-long
closer,
freshman
right-hander
Willie
Weiss in favor of one of his two
starting pitchers. He also dropped
senior outfielder Miles Lewis from
the starting lineup, who started 59
games this year, in favor of a hot-
handed Christian Bullock.
The
Wolverines
may
have
gotten hot at just the right time.
They may have caught “lightning
in a bottle,” and shocked college
baseball with their run, but as
Bakich alternated between hitting
fly balls to the outfield and gently
knocking ground balls to his son
twenty feet away, it was clear that
Bakich was the one who put the
bottle there.
KENT SCHWARTZ
Daily Sports Writer
ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily
Michigan coach Erik Bakich has led the Wolverines to a 48-20 record this season.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Junior left fielder Christan Bullock has reemerged as a starter this postseason.