4B — February 17, 2020
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

The 2020 season started 
the way the No. 8 Michigan 
baseball team (3-1) hoped the 
2019 season would end.
Trailing by one run in the 
top of the ninth inning, first 
baseman Matt Schmidt stepped 
up to the plate. For the fifth-
year senior, this opportunity 
had been a long time coming. 
In the first game of the 
season in a rematch against the 
defending national champions, 
the story wrote itself. But 
Schmidt wanted to write the 
ending.
Schmidt blasted a go-ahead, 
two-run home run off of one of 
the nation’s premiere closers 
to give the Wolverines a lead 
they wouldn’t relinquish en 
route to a 4-3 victory over No. 
1 Vanderbilt. 
“It was kind of a surreal 
experience,” 
Schmidt 
said. 
“We fought and competed and 
got the win against a good 
Vanderbilt team. ... It was kinda 

good to get revenge there.”
Michigan rounded out the 
MLB4 Collegiate Tournament 
in Scottsdale, Ariz., with wins 
over Cal Poly, 8-5, and No. 3 
Arizona State, 5-0, and a loss in 
its final game of the weekend 
against UConn, 7-1. 
On the pitching side in the 
opening game, junior right-
hander Jeff Criswell got the 
start and fifth-year senior left-
hander Benjamin Keizer earned 
the win. Keizer came out of 
the bullpen in the sixth inning 
and finished with 1.2 shutout 
innings and gave up no runs. 
The pitching drama was 
saved for redshirt sophomore 
right-hander 
Isaiah 
Paige. 
Paige entered in the ninth 
inning after Schmidt’s heroics 
put Michigan back on top. The 
final three outs proved to be 
the hardest of the night as Paige 
gave up a single and hit a pair of 
batters. Despite this, he didn’t 
allow any runs and earned the 
save. 
The first game against the 
Commodores 
to 
open 
the 
weekend garnered the most 

attention — and rightfully so — 
but the three remaining games 
provided insight into what the 
rest of the season might hold. 
“There 
were 
so 
many 
different breakout candidates 
that could be on the horizon,” 
Michigan coach Erik Bakich 
said. “Just guys 
that had their 
moments 
in 
different games 
that 
could 
be 
positive 
contributors 
for 
the 
entire 
season.”
In 
the 
Wolverines’ 
second 
game 
of the weekend 
against Cal Poly, 
junior 
right-
hander 
Blake 
Beers, with the 
help of strong 
infield defensive 
play, didn’t allow a baserunner 
until the bottom of the fourth 
inning. Beers earned the win 
with no earned runs and just 
four hits. 

The 
top 
of 
the 
batting 
order provided strong hitting 
with three base hits from 
junior outfielder and leadoff 
hitter Jordan Nwogu. Junior 
shortstop Jack Blomgren added 
four hits of his own, helping 
Michigan to an 8-5 win.
Down 
the 
stretch 
of 
the 
game, 
the 
Wolverines’ 
defense started 
to 
become 
a 
little 
sloppy 
and 
allowed 
several 
extra 
bases. 
Bakich 
thought 
the 
game could have 
easily gotten out 
of 
hand 
with 
all 
the 
added 
baserunners, but 
freshman right-
hander Cameron 
Weston 
came 
out of the bullpen to earn his 
first career save. 
After 
its 
win 
over 
the 
Mustangs, 
Michigan 
immediately boarded the bus 

to head to Phoenix Municipal 
Stadium for its third game of 
the weekend, against Arizona 
State — an added game that only 
made the Wolverines’ weekend 
tougher.
The situation wasn’t the most 
conducive 
environment 
for 
redshirt freshman left-hander 
Steven Hajjar to start his first 
career game. But Hajjar took 
the game in stride, getting more 
comfortable as the innings 
went on and earning his first 
career win in the 5-0 victory. 
He pitched six innings with just 
three hits and seven strikeouts. 
In 
arguably 
its 
most 
impressive win of the weekend, 
Michigan 
looked 
toward 
players on last year’s bench. 
Sophomore left-hander Jack 
White pitched three scoreless 
innings in the relief effort. 
Senior pinch hitter Dominic 
Clementi provided the final 
boost for Michigan when he hit 
a two-run double in the ninth 
inning. 
“New guys stepping up, I 
think that was kind of the 
storyline throughout the entire 

weekend,” Criswell said. 
The Wolverines played their 
final, 
most 
physcially 
and 
mentally tough game against 
UConn. The Huskies scored 
first in the first inning and, 
despite a small rally in the 
fourth inning led by Nwogu 
and redshirt sophomore Danny 
Zimmerman, 
they 
wouldn’t 
relinquish their lead, as the 
Wolverines fell, 7-1. 
“This game was a learning 
lesson,” Bakich said. “It was 
good for them to experience 
how they felt being emotionally 
drained and physically drained 
and still try to have to compete 
with that, cause that’s how it’s 
going to feel months from now.”
Ultimately, 
Michigan 
finished its opening weekend 
3-1, including two wins over top 
ranked teams in the country. 
“I think we knew going into 
the weekend, if we came out of 
this thing 4-0 we’re probably 
not as good as it seems,” Bakich 
said. “If we came out 0-4 we’re 
not as bad as we seem. (There 
were a) lot of takeaways of 
growth opportunities.”

LILY ISRAEL
Daily Sports Writer

Lauren Esman wasted no time. 
Pinch-hitting 
in 
the 
sixth 
inning with the bases loaded 
and the score tied, the freshman 
utility player belted the first pitch 
she saw from Louisville’s Taylor 
Roby over the right-center field 
fence for a go-ahead grand slam. 
Esman’s heroics sealed an 8-4 
win for No. 11 Michigan softball 
(9-0) 
over 
Louisville 
(2-7), 
capping off a weekend sweep that 
also included a 6-2 win over the 
Cardinals and 4-3 and 4-0 wins 
over No. 25 North Carolina (5-5) 
in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. 

“I was just ‘see ball, hit ball,’ 
that was my mentality,” Esman 
said. “Just attack early. I knew 
I needed to score some runs 
because it was a tie ballgame, so 
I was just trying to hit it to the 
right side. It just happened to go 
out.”
Prior 
to 
taking 
the 
lead, 
the Wolverines had to claw 
themselves out of a 3-1 hole, 
their first and only deficit of the 
weekend. In its first turn at bat 
after Louisville took the lead, 
Michigan 
answered. 
Senior 
outfielder Thais Gonzalez drove 
in a run with a single to right field 
and junior infielder Taylor Bump 
blasted a two-run home run to 
center field. 

“This 
team, 
they’re 
very 
resilient,” Michigan coach Carol 
Hutchins said. “I’ve said that 
since the fall. You know, we 
accept that we’re not perfect, and 
we’re just going to keep working 
to be excellent.”
Esman might have provided 
the weekend’s most memorable 
moment, yet she was not alone 
in contributing at the plate. 
Across 
the 
four-game 
slate, 
production came from every spot 
in the lineup. Seven different 
Wolverines registered multi-hit 
games, with senior outfielder 
Haley Hoogenraad having two 
such performances. 
Michigan averaged 5.5 runs 
per game, a welcome sign after it 

mustered just three runs against 
USF and Fresno State to close out 
the USF-Rawlings Invitational a 
week ago.
“I have confidence in every 
player in our lineup when they 
come up,” Hutchins said. “We all 
know that there’s a chance to fail, 
so we don’t worry about that. We 
just go up there and try to get the 
best situation we can.”
Sophomore 
outfielder 
Lexie Blair had a bounce-back 
tournament, looking more like 
her freshman year self when she 
hit .405 as a unanimous All-Big 
Ten first team selection. Despite 
entering Friday’s game on a 
three-game hitless streak, Blair 
went 5-for-14 on the weekend, 

earning a hit in each contest. 
None was bigger than the 
infield hit Blair recorded in the 
seventh inning of Friday’s game 
against North Carolina. After 
two sacrifice bunts pushed the 
go-ahead run to third, Blair beat 
out a chopper to shortstop, giving 
Michigan the lead. 
“I was just trying to keep 
it simple,” Blair said of her 
approach. “I wasn’t trying to hit 
the ball so hard, so my swing isn’t 
how it normally is. Slow it down 
and just do my part, however I 
can.”
On 
the 
pitching 
side 
of 
things, sophomore Alex Storako 
and junior Meghan Beaubien 
continued to shoulder the load. In 

a 4-3 win against the Tar Heels, 
Storako relieved Beaubien and 
gave up only one hit across six 
innings, striking out 13. The next 
day, it was Beaubien’s turn to 
offer a dominant performance, 
going the distance with a three-
hit, nine-strikeout shutout. 
“They’re 
a 
great 
pitching 
tandem,” Hutchins said. “I’m 
pleased with that. … I think the 
fact that both of them appear to 
be quite selfless and are team 
oriented and are ready to do their 
part when they get the call is very 
impressive.”
Across 
the 
four-game 
challenge, 
the 
entire 
team 
certainly seemed ready to do its 
part.

JARED GREENSPAN
Daily Sports Writer

Michigan gets revenge on 
Vanderbilt in three-win
opening weekend

Wolverines move to 9-0 with sweep of Big 
Ten/ACC Challenge

Baseball

Softball

ALEC COHEN/Daily

ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily

We fought and 
competed and 
got the win 
against a good 
Vanderbilt 
team.

