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Wednesday, July 3, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS

The one out that doomed Michigan’s championship dream

The 
selection 
show 
was 
projected on a screen for all 
gathered around to see. Upon 
seeing their school name put into a 
bracket slot, the Michigan baseball 
players erupted in a cheer.
Some jumped to their feet in 
joy while others looked around 
for recipients to their high-fives, 
because the Wolverines were one of 
the last four teams into the NCAA 
Tournament after a turbulent end 
to their season jeopardized their 
spot. Though a long shot, it was a 
chance for a shot at the title, and a 
chance was all they needed.
Twelve games later, one of the 
last teams in was poised to be the 
“last one out.”
But that title eluded them after 
a meltdown in game three of the 
College World Series finals. And 
it all originated from the game-
changing third inning. That’s not 
to say Michigan would have won 
if it had given up zero runs at the 
bottom of the third, but with a 1-1 
game at that point, the team was 

one out from keeping it that way. 
In a game where the Wolverines 
could only muster two runs, the 
third inning collapse defined the 
game. By the end of it, all of the 
smiles and jubilance from the 
Wolverines’ dugout were traded 
for grim looks and sighs.
“I just think that Vanderbilt 
got 
5 
two-out 
RBIs 
tonight,” 
said 
Michigan 
coach Erik Bakich. 
“We’ve been doing 
that all postseason 
and they did that 
tonight.”
Karl Kauffman 
had pitched two 
innings. 
Despite 
allowing a home 
run in the second 
inning, the junior right-hander 
looked steady on the mound. He 
started the third as he had finished 
the second — with a strikeout. A 
groundout to third base all but 
reaffirmed that Kauffman had 
recollected himself after allowing 
the dinger.
Then it came — the breakdown.

Three pitches outside, one pitch 
too low; Kauffman dealt a 4-0 walk. 
A single down the middle off an 
0-2 count escalated the situation. 
A strike would have ended it, 
shutting down the threat. Instead, 
the Wolverines put a runner in 
scoring position, prolonging the 
chance for the Commodores to 
take the lead. And 
after 
two 
more 
walks, they did.
“We 
issued 
a 
couple too many 
free 
passes,” 
Bakich 
said, 
“especially 
with 
two outs, and then 
they 
capitalized 
and got the big two 
out hit.”
Kauffman 
walked Vanderbilt’s Philip Clarke 
to load the bases, sparking three 
teammates to trot down the 
warning track. It was time to 
heat up the bullpen. A second 
walk ended the stalemate. The 
Commodores were in control and 
now led, 2-1, only for the very next 
pitch thrown to be hit down the 

middle and widen the gap, 4-1.
A prompt visit from sophomore 
catcher Joe Donovan and a popout 
in the next at-bat stopped the 
bleeding. But the damage was 
done.
It boiled down to one out. They 
were one out from ending the 

third inning threat, one out from 
keeping Vanderbilt from taking 
the lead, one out from potentially 
being the last one out — the College 
World Series champions. 
“They just played better than us 
tonight,” Bakich said. “That’s why 
they’re the champs.”

TIEN LE
Daily Sports Editor

Looking back at the historic wins that shaped the Wolverines’ run

Behind every deep tournament 
run are the wins that shaped the 
team. It was no different for the 
Michigan baseball team’s historic 
– and, at times, improbable – run. 
They don’t tell this team’s whole 
story. Nothing could. But they’re a 
good place to start. The Daily takes 
a look back of some of this season’s 
defining wins.
March 8 – Michigan 7, No. 2 
UCLA 5 
There’s a lot of talk in sports 
about “statement wins.” That’s 
what this was.
In a tough road environment 
against then-No. 2 UCLA, which 
spent most of the season as the 
best team in the country, junior 
left-hander Tommy Henry struck 
out ten over six innings of two-run 
baseball. Michigan scored four 
runs in the first inning, tacking on 
two in the third and one more in 
the eighth for insurance. 
This was the win that showed 
a flash of what this team could 
become, what they would become: 
a national contender. In the face 

and on the home turf of arguably 
the 
toughest 
competition 
the 
Wolverines 
faced 
all 
season, 
Michigan dominated the game. 
They never trailed.
It wasn’t the last time the two 
teams met this season either. 
May 23 – Michigan 5, Illinois 4 
One strike away.
Team 153 was one strike away 
from an early end to its season, 
one strike away from not making 
a postseason appearance at all, one 
strike away from this magical run. 
Luckily, sophomore designated 
hitter Jordan Nwogu had other 
ideas.
Michigan was down, 4-3, to 
Illinois in the bottom of the ninth 
inning. A loss to Ohio State the 
day before meant that falling to 
the Fighting Illini would send the 
Wolverines home for good.
Nwogu stepped up to the plate 
with two on and two out. With 
Michigan’s season on the line, he 
launched a two-run double to left 
center, and the Wolverines walked 
off with a 5-4 victory.
It was exactly the catalyst 
they needed. Since that win, the 
Wolverines have been hot. But 

it’s more than that. That was the 
win that introduced them to what 
Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin 
called their “playing personality”: 
free and loose, having fun, and 
playing to win – not just playing 
not to lose.
“We saw the end of our season 
right in front of us,” said senior 
first baseman Jimmy Kerr during 
the College World Series. “That 
kind of made the whole team 
appreciate every single game that 
we’ve had together since then. And 
that’s kind of the bigger picture. 
It’s not that we’re playing in a 
Regional, Super Regional, College 
World Series championship; it’s 
just that we get another game with 
each other.”
June 9 – Michigan 4, No. 1 
UCLA 2 
UCLA’s lineup was the best in 
the country. No one had been able 
to stop them all season. Michigan 
had as good as lost the game 
already.
Instead, the Wolverines pulled 
out a 4-2 victory to head to the 
College World Series. 
Henry, sick with the flu and 
pneumonia, and still recovering 

from the biceps tendonitis that 
rendered 
him 
inconsistent 
throughout much of the second 
half of the season, pitched seven 
innings 
of 
two 
run-baseball 
— containing a Bruins batting 
order 
that 
seemed 
practically 
unstoppable.
Sound familiar?
The first time Michigan played 
UCLA, it was just a flash of the 
team they could be. Three months 
later, they had gone even further.
June 15 – Michigan 5, Texas 
Tech 3 
The first time Michigan and 
Texas Tech met, it was proof of 
how far the Wolverines still had to 
go to be an Omaha contender. They 
were swept and outscored 29-10 
over three games.
Three 
months 
later, 
the 
Wolverines 
were 
an 
entirely 
different team — their bats hot, 
their pitchers cool and their 
defense firing on all cylinders. 
The Red Raiders provided the 
perfect litmus test: had Michigan 
really learned from its mistakes, 
and could it really compete at the 
highest stage in collegiate baseball?
The answer to both questions 

was 
an 
emphatic 
yes. 
The 
Wolverines got off to a quick start 
as a sacrifice fly from junior right 
fielder 
Jordan 
Brewer 
scored 
Nwogu in the top of the first. 
They tacked on three more in the 
third as Kerr launched a two-RBI 
triple down the right field line and 
scored on a single from senior third 
baseman Blake Nelson. 
Texas Tech made it close, 
scoring two runs in the bottom of 
the third and adding another in the 
bottom of the sixth, but Michigan 
was unshaken. They added a run 
in the top of the seventh when 
sophomore center fielder Jesse 
Franklin scored on an error for 
insurance, then cruised to a 5-3 
victory on the backs of solid 
pitching from junior right-hander 
Karl Kauffmann (7 innings, 8 
hits, 3 runs) and sophomore right-
hander Jeff Criswell (two solid 
innings of one-hit relief).
The Wolverines had made a 
statement: they were more than 
just a Cinderella team, and their 
run amounted to more than just 
luck.
Michigan, at long last, was a 
national contender again.

ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer

We issued a 
couple too 
many free 
passes ...

ZACHARY GOLDSMITH/Daily
Junior right-hander Karl Kauffmann started game three of the CWS championship

