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Thursday, July 18, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS
After a season filled with questions, some answers for Michigan
OMAHA, Neb. – For much of the
season, there were questions swirling
around the Michigan baseball team.
Now, on the far side of an improbable
ride that brought Team 153 to the
finals of the College World Series –
and on the far side of a crushing 8-2
loss at the hands of No. 2 Vanderbilt
– the answers to those questions are
starting to become clear.
For a long time, there were
serious doubts about whether any
school from the Big Ten belongs
in college baseball’s Top 25. They
struggled
with
cold
weather,
struggled losing recruits to southern
schools, struggled putting together
consistently successful teams.
But this season has proven that
that’s no longer the case. Michigan
was in and out of the rankings all
season. But this year has cemented
the fact that the Big Ten is quickly
becoming
a
relevant
baseball
conference again. Iowa, Minnesota,
Indiana and Illinois all put together
teams that looked as if they could
threaten to make postseason runs.
In a few years’ time, with continued
improvement from programs that are
investing more and more into being
national contenders, the Big Ten is
beginning to challenge the notion
that only warm-weather schools can
build baseball powerhouses.
Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan
have been ranked this season —
Illinois and Indiana for weeks at a
time. They’ve all proven that they’ve
earned those rankings.
So, yes, Big Ten baseball teams
belong in the top 25.
At the very beginning of the
season, it looked like Michigan might
be that Big Ten team. The Wolverines
were ranked – albeit in the last five of
the top 25 – and started the season
on an eight-game winning streak
with sweeps of Binghamton and the
Citadel. But after a rough California
swing and a devastating three-
game sweep at the hands of No. 8
Texas Tech, Michigan fell out of the
rankings, phasing in and out for the
rest of the season.
But this postseason run has made
one thing clear: this wasn’t just a top-
25 team. It was a top-five team. This
was a team that took down some of
the best ballclubs in the country — the
likes of UCLA and Texas Tech. This
was a team that had the potential to
be a national champion, a team that
was one game away from that result,
a team that was disappointed to finish
second in the country.
So, yes, Michigan belongs in the
top 25, at least.
At the beginning of the season,
junior left-hander Tommy Henry
looked untouchable, allowing no
earned runs in four of his first five
starts. But nagging bicep tendonitis
rendered him inconsistent through
much of the second half of the
season, and it became unclear if he
could show up for Michigan when it
mattered.
But in the postseason, when
his team needed him most, Henry
became the backbone of the pitching
staff. He threw a dominant, flu-ridden
seven innings over UCLA to send his
team to the College World Series,
a masterpiece 100-pitch complete-
game shutout of Florida State, and a
victory in Game 1 of the College World
Series Final. He finished the season
with a 3.27 earned-run average and
a legacy of massive games on the
collegiate sport’s highest level.
So, yes, Tommy Henry can pitch
when it matters.
He can. He did.
In his first three years with the
program that both his father and
grandfather played for, senior first
baseman Jimmy Kerr was a non-
starter who had his moments. He
fought to live up to the legacy of his
father and grandfather who both
went to the College World Series with
Michigan. But after an offseason
spent hard at work lifting weights
and putting on bulk, Kerr finally
came into his own.
He hit a team-leading 15 home
runs in his breakout senior season.
Seven of those homers came in the
NCAA Tournament. He started every
game this past year and captained a
team that made its first College World
Series trip since his father’s playing
days.
His father went to Omaha twice in
the eighties. His grandfather was the
backbone of the 1962 championship
team.
It’s a tall legacy – but yes, Jimmy
can live up to it.
He can. He did.
Above all, though, there was one
question surrounding this ballclub:
can Bakich build a powerhouse
program at Michigan?
He’s certainly planted the seeds of
one. This postseason run, this trip to
Omaha, this appearance in the finals
of the College World Series have
proven that.
But can he get back here? Can he
recruit well enough to replace the
losses of seniors like Jimmy Kerr and
Blake Nelson and draftees like Karl
Kauffmann and Tommy Henry? Can
he cultivate a winning culture and a
consistently-winning program that
bring future Michigan teams back to
Omaha?
It’s time to find out.
But as of now, all signs point to yes.
ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan players find new challenge in Cape Cod Baseball League
CAPE COD, Mass. — Jesse
Franklin smacked a single, then
motored into second on the throw
home.
Waiting for him there was none
other than Jack Blomgren. Reunited
briefly with his Michigan teammate,
Franklin took the opportunity to
mess around with Blomgren.
Franklin and Blomgren are two
of three Wolverines who headed
to Cape Cod for summer ball after
their second-place finish in the
College World Series. Franklin plays
outfield for the Brewster Whitecaps,
Blomgren is an infielder with the
Wareham Gatemen and left-hander
Angelo Smith pitches for the Orleans
Firebirds.
The Cape Cod Baseball League, a
summer league for college baseball
players, is in some ways a far cry from
Ray Fisher Stadium. Players trade in
their dorms for host families, joining
a team of high-level players from all
over the country. Sometimes, they
play against their own teammates.
The fields harken back to the old
days of baseball. Many are located at
high schools. Some still don’t have
lights. All have real grass, not the
turf to which Michigan players are
accustomed, and players on the home
team must tend to the field after
games. The sounds are different, too
— the “crack” of wood bats replacing
the “clink” of aluminum ones. But in
the end, it’s still the same game.
“It’s awesome,” Franklin — who
also spent last summer with the
Whitecaps — told The Daily. “It’s a
good shot to get a lot better, play with
really good players, meet different
guys from around the country and
guys I’ve played against and just kind
of share in baseball.”
The College World Series threw
a wrench into the Wolverines’ plans
this year. Michigan wasn’t expected
to even make it to Super Regionals,
so coaches expected to have them
right away. Instead, the Wolverines
didn’t come until halfway through
the season.
Franklin was in Ann Arbor for two
days after the final game, then went
home for a week before flying out to
the Cape. He didn’t appear in a game
until July 9, the 23rd of 44 games
for Brewster. Smith and Blomgren
didn’t play their first games until
July 11 and 12, respectively.
And there’s another element of
collateral
damage.
Right-hander
Jeff Criswell and outfielder Jordan
Nwogu were also slated to come
to the Cape, but Criswell decided
to eschew it for the USA Baseball
Collegiate
National
Team
and
Nwogu stayed home to rest a quad
injury he suffered against Vanderbilt.
Still, the coaches are happy to have
them — better late than never.
“I’m always gonna have Michigan
kids,” said Whitecaps manager
Jamie Shevchik. “Their coaches do
things the right way, I have a great
relationship with the Michigan
coaching staff. … Some of these
programs, their coaches do a great
job of understanding where they are
and what the Cape Cod means to
them.”
The Cape League is a little more
relaxed
than
NCAA
baseball.
Instead of the bright lights and the
pressure and the cheering fans like
the College World Series or a home
Michigan game, contests have an
intimate feel. Little kids come on
the field asking for autographs
afterwards. In some ways, that’s a
good thing, but it comes with its own
challenges.
“There’s no coaches here or
academic advisers or people like that
looking out for me,” Franklin said.
“I’ve gotta be responsible for myself
and warm up correctly and work out
by myself and eat the right things
and do things in my best interest.”
Many players struggle at first
on the Cape, whether because of
the new wood bats, playing against
different competition or simply
the adjustment of being in a new
place. That’s certainly been true of
Franklin, Blomgren and Smith so
far. Franklin is hitting .273 with a
.360 on-base percentage, but all of
his hits have been singles. Blomgren
is 1-for-5 with four strikeouts in
two games. Smith had a scoreless
2.1-inning appearance in a loss, but
then allowed two runs and two
walks and committed an error in just
0.2 innings in his next.
But no matter their final stats,
playing in the Cape League will help
each player improve against top-
notch competition and get used to
the way things are done in the pros
— whether that be wood bats, the
challenges of self-starting or playing
games almost every day. Ultimately,
that’s the most important part.
“Just the opportunity to get better
every day,” Franklin said. “You get
to play so often and it’s always a
challenge out here, so it feels like I’m
getting better and that’s what I want
to do the most.”
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Editor
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Michigan coach Juwan Howard has two more scholarship spots left for the 2019-