SPORTS 11

Thursday, June 27, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

OMAHA, Neb — In February, 
no one thought 
Michigan’s 
season would 
end on June 
26th. No one 
thought 
it 
would get its 
first 
50-win 
season 
since 
1987 and beat 
the No. 1 team 
in the country 
twice on the 
road to go to its first College 
World Series since 1984.
And most of all, no one thought 
that the feeling of losing in game 
three of the College World Series 
final against the No. 2 team in the 
country would be disappointing.
But it is.
On Wednesday, the Wolverines 
watched Vanderbilt storm the 
field and celebrate its second 
national title in five years, 
coming back to win the last two 
games in a three-game series for 

the championship. They were as 
close as it gets. 
A team that squeaked into 
the NCAA tournament as one 
of the “Last Four In”, and that 
was discounted in Corvallis, Los 
Angeles and Omaha, shocked 
college baseball. 
Since the walkoff win against 
Illinois, Michigan went 12-5 
against some of the best teams 
in the country. A hit that lit a 
flame inside the hearts of the 
Wolverines propelled them to 
simply be better than all but one 
team. 
They showed how much they 
had improved by crushing Texas 
Tech, a team that dominated 
them in March. They showed 
they 
could 
bounce 
back 
from crushing losses against 
Creighton and UCLA with win-
or-go-home victories. 
Junior 
left-hander 
Tommy 
Henry dominated on the mound 
in his last two starts, throwing 
a complete game shutout and 

a game one win, respectively. 
Senior first baseman Jimmy Kerr 
turned red hot, launching seven 
of his 15 home runs in the NCAA 
tournament 
while 
capturing 
the attention of baseball with 
the story of his father and 
grandfather. 
Coach 
Erik 
Bakich 
beat 
possibly the most storied coach 
of college baseball, Mike Martin, 
in his last year, when the world 
was on Martin’s side. In the 
meantime, Bakich made tough 
calls that paid off, such as moving 
Jeff Criswell to the bullpen and 
dropping closer Willie Weiss. 
Over and over, interview after 
interview in Omaha, Bakich 
was asked what this meant for 
Big Ten baseball — for northern 
baseball. 
“The more we can do this, I 
think the more the Big Ten in 
baseball can continue to grow 
and be perceived as a major sport 
on par with some of the other 
major conferences in baseball,” 

Bakich said.
In disbelief, reporters would 
ask how the team got here, how 
Michigan beat the teams that 
it did. The focus was on how 
excited they were, not how good 
they were. 
Bakich never once said, “We’re 
just happy to be here.”

As improbable as it was, the 
Wolverines won their way to 
Omaha. They were playing better 
than every team they faced along 
the way. 
Michigan made it. It was a 
long, uneven road but the eyes 
of college baseball might have 
finally turned north.

Don’t let the end distract from Michigan’s run
Wolverines national runners-up after being named one of last four teams into the College World Series

KENT
SCHWARTZ

Offense quiet as Michigan falls to Vanderbilt in CWS Finals

OMAHA, Neb. – It was almost 
enough.
Deft 
management 
from 
Michigan coach Erik Bakich. A 
batting order that had been hot all 
postseason. 
All of these were almost enough. 
But Vanderbilt’s pitchers were 
just too talented, too experienced, 
and Michigan’s upstart offense 
wasn’t 
up 
to 
the 
task. 
The 
Wolverines recorded just 2 runs 
on 6 hits in a 8-2 loss to the 
Commodores.
“The last two days in the red 
zone, I haven’t gotten it done,” 
said senior first baseman Jimmy 
Kerr. “I’ve been striking out with 
runners on base, less than two 
outs, when my team needed me. We 
haven’t got the two-out RBIs that 
we did early on. We didn’t have the 
clutch hits that we got early on.”
In the top of the first inning, 
it looked as if Michigan’s lineup 
would stay hot in the postseason. 
Senior 
second 
baseman 
Ako 
Thomas, thrust back into the 

leadoff role he had occupied 
in years past after an injury to 
sophomore 
designated 
hitter 
Jordan Nwogu, cracked a single 
to left field to kick off the title 
game. He advanced to third on 
a single from sophomore center 
fielder Jesse Franklin and scored 
on an RBI single from junior right 
fielder Jordan Brewer, putting the 
Wolverines on top, 1-0.
But that was all the success 
that Michigan’s offense saw for 
several innings. A few walks saw 
some baserunners, but Vanderbilt’s 
pitching retired the lineup each 
inning with clinical precision. 
The Commodores didn’t allow a 
runner past second base for six 
straight innings. They struck out 
14 Wolverines on the day.
The 
Wolverines 
didn’t 
get 
another hit until the eighth inning, 
at which point Vanderbilt already 
led, 7-1, a chasm that proved too 
wide for Michigan to breach. The 
Wolverines tacked on another run, 
but it was too late. Their bats had 
been quiet for too long. 
Though they ended up totaling a 
respectable six hits on the night – 

just three short of Vanderbilt’s nine 
– they could not capitalize on the 
opportunities they got. Michigan 
left eight runners on base. And as 
a volatile Commodore lineup beat 

up the Wolverines’ pitchers, those 
were 
opportunities 
Michigan 
could not afford to lose.
“We just didn’t execute the 
way we were supposed to,” senior 

second baseman Ako Thomas said. 
“We were kind of on our heels the 
rest of the game, didn’t maximize 
our opportunities. But we fought 
our hardest out there.”

ZACHARY GOLDSMITH/Daily
Michigan coach Erik Bakich led the Wolverines to the College World Series final

ZACHARY GOLDSMITH/Daily
Sophomore center fielder Jesse Franklin made the NCAA All-Tournament Team along with four other Wolverines.

ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer