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Wednesday, July 3, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS
A tale of two seasons: Michigan baseball’s turning point
It was a turbulent season for
the Michigan baseball team.
The
Wolverines
started
8-0, and then a troublesome
California trip brought them
back to the ground with back-to-
back losses. They had a hand on
the regular season Big Ten title
and lost their hold in the final
two weeks. And when they had
a 13-game win streak, they were
swept by Texas Tech — a series
that was their biggest test of the
season.
On
May
22nd,
it
looked
like their season was over — a
disappointment.
In
big
series,
Michigan
faltered against teams it was
better against, limping toward
Sunday wins to avoid being
swept behind first team all-Big
Ten pitcher Jeff Criswell.
There was no chance the
NCAA
tournament
selection
committee
would
choose
a
defeated Wolverine side that had
lost six of eight.
On
May
23rd,
Michigan
was born again. It made an
underdog run to the National
Championship series, proving
doubters wrong until June 25th.
There’s no way to look back
at the Wolverines’ season in any
way other than two splits: before
and after May 23rd.
Before, it was similar to 2018:
packed full of talent, but a team
that fell victim to momentum.
This year Michigan had the most
players awarded honors by the
Big Ten — three first team, one
second team, four third team and
one All-Freshman selection.
Sophomore
designed
hitter
Jordan Nwogu went on a streak
of 20 games averaging a near .500
on-base percentage. Criswell had
a sub-0.50 earned-run average
for the first half of the Big Ten
season. The Wolverines were
good, but when it mattered most
they had lost all momentum.
And then with what could
have been their last pitch of
their season in the Big Ten
Tournament, Nwogu saved it
with a double. It gave Michigan
momentum,
but
even
more
importantly it gave them a belief
they could overcome setbacks.
A ninth inning collapse, extra
innings mistakes — it didn’t
matter because this team had
figured out something it took
them two years to learn: it was
good.
It could win.
Jimmy Kerr hit seven of his
15 home runs in the 16 games
since May 23rd. Jack Blomgren
played through a broken finger.
Christan Bullock finally got a
starting spot, producing for the
bottom half of the lineup.
A
tale
of
two
seasons,
Michigan’s team 153 managed to
show its true self in just a month,
finishing as the third best team
in Wolverine baseball history.
KENT SCHWARTZ
Daily Sports Writer
Lack of pitching depth comes back to haunt Wolverines
OMAHA, Neb. – Pitching had
been an issue for this Michigan
team all season. Its No. 1 and No.
2 starters, juniors Karl Kauffmann
and Tommy Henry, have always
been clear – and clearly good.
The rest of the pitching staff had
been something of a question mark.
At the beginning of the season,
the biggest question was who
would fill the role of the No. 3
starter
with
sophomore
left-
hander Ben Dragani out for the
season with an injury. Sophomore
right-hander Jeff Criswell stepped
nicely into that role, converting
from a bullpen pitcher to a starter
with marked success.
“You
can
see
his
growth;
you can see his improvement,”
Michigan coach Erik Bakich said of
Criswell in March. “It’s been very
impressive, and we’ve certainly
needed it. Having a guy like Jeff on
Sunday gives us a great chance to
win or sweep every series that we
play.”
From then on, the biggest
question
about
this
Michigan
pitching staff had been its bullpen.
As the season progressed, it
became clearer and clearer that it
lacked consistency and, to some
extent, effectiveness.
For a while, it looked as if
Bakich had found a solution to
that, scraping out wins on offense
and taking advantage of the
College World Series’ structure
to
alternate
between
starting
Kauffmann and Henry. Criswell,
in the meantime, came out of the
bullpen for extended relief.
“We felt like he would better
serve our team finishing the game
off,” Bakich said. “It just kind of
got to a point where we said: This
really is a no-brainer. We need Jeff
at the back end of the game.”
But in the College World Series
final, a best-of-three affair, that
strategy finally caught up to
Bakich.
Game one went according to
plan, with Henry tossing 8.1 strong
innings. But Tuesday brought
game two, and with it, trouble.
Kauffmann, having pitched against
Texas Tech on Friday, could not
pitch again on such short rest. This
left Bakich in a dilemma: should
he pitch Criswell and have him
unavailable for a potential game
three, or should he use the pitch-
by-committee strategy and have
both Kauffmann and Criswell for
the final game?
Bakich chose the latter, starting
freshman
right-hander
Isaiah
Paige and using five other pitchers
in relief in what became a 4-1 game
two loss.
It was a bold strategy as it meant
that everything would ride on
game three. And when Kauffmann
threw a solid first two innings
Wednesday, it looked like it might
pay off. But when he, on short rest,
allowed three runs in the bottom of
the third, and a walk to lead off the
bottom of the fourth, Bakich sat
him for Criswell, who went on to
allow three more runs of his own.
But Bakich had no choice other
than to leave Criswell in. His
bullpen was depleted from game
two. Criswell settled down to an
extent after the fourth, throwing
two scoreless innings in the fifth
and sixth before allowing one run
in the bottom of the seventh as well
as the eighth.
“Unfortunately, we issued a few
too many free passes, especially
with two outs, and then they
capitalized and got the big two-out
hit,” Bakich said. “Unfortunately,
you give a team like that and an
offense like that free passes, they’ll
make you pay. And they made us
pay.”
The damage was done. The
Commodores had taken a lead and
expanded it into a chasm. They
would never surrender it.
Here, in game three of the
College World Series finals, the
Wolverines had to face the truth
— their pitching staff lacked the
depth it needed.
The seeds of a stronger and
deeper pitching staff have been
planted in players like Dragani,
Paige, and sophomore southpaw
Angelo Smith. And there’s plenty
of evidence that Bakich and
pitching coach Chris Fetter will be
able to shape them into a unit that
can bring the Wolverines back to
Omaha.
But for now, Michigan’s pitchers
were outmatched by a dangerous
Vanderbilt lineup and an opposing
pitching staff much deeper than
its own. And if Bakich wants to
cultivate a program that can get
back to the biggest stage, it’s an
issue he needs to fix.
ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Sophomore designed hitter Jordan Nwogu had a breakout season as a sophomore
ZACHARY GOLDSMITH/Daily
Junior left-hander Tommy Henry was consistent throughout the Wolverines’ run.