The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Tuesday, February 25, 2020 — 7
‘M’ confident after UConn losses
Last week, Baseball America
ranked Michigan No. 1 for the first
time in school history — a first for
any Big Ten team.
Such a ranking is obviously
a high honor, but it comes with
expectations as well. Any time
a No. 1 team loses, it’s the kind
of upset that receives national
attention.
Still, Michigan coach Erik
Bakich made it clear that he sees
such a response as an overreaction
in the case of the Wolverines’ (4-3
overall) 2-1 series loss to UConn
(3-3) this weekend.
Bakich cited letting innings get
away from the team as Michigan’s
chief problem from the weekend.
The
Wolverines’
bullpen
struggled, and their hitters were
not as competitive in the box as
Bakich would have hoped in the
team’s two losses to the Huskies.
But Bakich emphasized that these
problems are uncharacteristic of
his team.
“It’s not like I’m seeing these
guys for the first time these past
two weeks,” Bakich said. “I’ve
learned a lot about the team and
their consistency through the
entire fall and how they go about
training up until this point, so I
do think we have a very tough,
hard-working and resilient group
of kids who had a tough weekend.”
The idea of staying the course
pervaded the Wolverines’ post-
game message, typifying the
team’s belief that this weekend
will be remembered as nothing
more than a mere blip in an
otherwise successful campaign.
“I’ve learned that the team
has a high level of believability
in themselves and a high level
of
confidence
after
opening
weekend,” Bakich said. “And
hearing them today when we were
down 9-1, I didn’t hear a team that
was defeated thinking they were
out of the fight. I mean the verbiage
coming out of the dugout, the way
we competed those first four at
bats in the ninth — if we had done
it every at bat of the weekend, we’d
have had a different result.”
Michigan’s current 4-3 record
looks unimpressive at first glance,
but the Wolverines feel that they
have all of the pieces necessary
to compete at the level of their
current ranking.
“We just have to get it out
consistently, we’re too good of a
team to have slip ups like this,”
Bakich said.
And Bakich has a plan to get
this consistency out of his team.
“We need to simulate situations
in the games that hurt us this
past week,” Bakich said. “Imitate
high-leverage situations and just
try to create an environment
that’s faster than the speed of the
game to recalibrate our eyes and
what we’re seeing. ... I think just
the more we can have training
reps that are random and chaotic
in nature and unexpected and
challenging then these situations
that arise in the games, we’ll be
able to handle them better than
we did this weekend.”
Bakich and his coaching staff
used that technique a lot last
season, and anyone who watched
Michigan play in last year’s
postseason saw its effectiveness.
Multiple
players
mentioned
before opening weekend that
the goal for this season was to
get back to Omaha and end the
season ranked No. 1. They never
mentioned wanting to be No.
1 in February, and while the
Wolverines may have just lost
their early season No. 1 ranking,
the team still believes it can
possess that title when it matters
most.
T
wo weeks, seven games
and one-tenth of a
championship-length
season have already trans-
pired. But
only some of
those games
are guar-
anteed, and
based on the
tinkering
Michigan
coach Erik
Bakich is
perform-
ing with
his pitch-
ing staff, it would appear he’s
gunning for game 70.
“On paper,” Bakich said,
“we have some key pieces that
we know that have a resume
that have had success in the
past, and then we have a
bunch of unknowns.”
Whether an entity is known
or unknown, the priority is
winning games. Bakich hasn’t
shied away from giving pitch-
ers role-defying work to that
end. No pitcher’s ego or desire
for a calcified position has
proven to be more important
than winning.
“I’m not worried about
where I fit right now in the
rotation,” junior right-hander
Blake Beers said after his first
appearance of the season.
“Our biggest goal right now as
a staff is to continue getting
better this week. Whatever
spot I’m pitching in, and what-
ever spot the rest of my team-
mates are pitching in doesn’t
really matter as long as we’re
contributing to our team and
contributing to wins.”
The team strategy when
dealing with hitters and the
lineup, on the other hand, is
often incongruous with that of
the pitching staff.
One might argue in favor
of the status quo on offense,
pointing to four of seven
games in which Michigan has
scored five or more runs. Look
closer.
Seven runs were accrued on
only four hits in game one of
the series against the Huskies,
including five off just one in
the first. Eight runs against
Cal Poly were scraped togeth-
er without a single extra-base
hit.
The problems at the plate
start with junior shortstop
Jack Blomgren, who hit into
three fielder’s choices in the
opening weekend alone and
who has hit just .250 on the
season, a far cry from his .314
clip last season — two quali-
ties undesirable for a table-
setter. They continue with
junior catcher Joe Donovan,
whose average and slugging
percentage are sitting at the
Mendoza line and sophomore
second baseman Riley Ber-
tram and his .176/.267/.176
slash line.
On the other hand, play-
ers in the back half of the
lineup — freshman outfielder
Clark Elliott, freshman third
baseman Ted Burton and
fifth-year senior first baseman
Matthew Schmidt to name a
few — have been powering the
offense, combining for 11 RBI.
Senior outfielder Dominic Cle-
menti started at the cleanup
spot in the first game, but has
since hit the cover off the ball
largely in the bottom third. All
are either freshmen or new to
seeing consistent game action.
Bakich stashed the fresh-
men at the bottom of the line-
up in the opening series, away
from the spotlight.
“I made the mistake of
shoving (junior center fielder)
Jesse Franklin up in the
four-hole his freshman year,”
Bakich said. “Probably not
smart on my part to put those
kinds of expectations on a
young kid. We did that again
to (freshman catcher) Jimmy
Obertop against Vanderbilt in
the fall game, put him in the
four-hole — that was a nice
four strikeout game.”
But with the end of the
season constantly staring
Bakich and the team in the
face, how many games will
it take for him to prioritize a
higher quality lineup in front
of dimming the spotlight
on his newbies? When will
the freshmen invade the top
half of the lineup, providing
increased protection to the
hitters around them than the
veterans currently installed in
those spots? Just like Burton
and company benefited from
beginning the year at the bot-
tom of the order, so too could
the struggling veterans.
Redshirt sophomore out-
fielder Danny Zimmermann’s
usage is certainly a bright
spot. He started the season
coming off the bench, but
Bakich has since begun to
allow him and his team-lead-
ing 1.059 OPS to do maximum
damage in the cleanup spot.
After redshirting the 2019
campaign, Zimmermann is an
example of a relative unknown
whose talents are being used
to the fullest.
“There were so many dif-
ferent breakout candidates
that could be on the horizon,”
Bakich said after the MLB4
tournament on Feb. 16. “Just
guys that had their moments
in different games that could
be positive contributors for
the entire season.”
The breakout candidates
have revealed themselves. It’s
time to use them in ways that
maximize win possibility:
benefiting from and providing
lineup protection, with more
chances to hit with runners
on base.
In other words, it’s time to
treat them like the pitchers.
Whitten can be reached at jackhw@
umich.edu or on Twitter @JackWhitten6.
Freshman right-hander Chandler
Dennis entered the circle. At
the plate stood Hannah Carter,
Dennis’ first collegiate opponent.
Shortly after, Dennis got the
Cyclone swinging — strike three.
That was it for Dennis’ first
time on the rubber. One batter.
She came in to relieve sophomore
right-hander Alex Storako on
Saturday in an inning where Iowa
State had put up four runs on
the Wolverines. Prior to Dennis’
entrance,
the
Cyclones
were
winning 5-1.
The stakes were low. Any
damage a freshman pitcher like
Dennis may have caused was
already done before she stepped
up to pitch. For Michigan coach
Carol Hutchins, this was the
moment she needed to give Dennis
a chance.
“Well we’ve been watching her
in practice since she got here,”
Hutchins said. “And at some point,
when we’re behind in the game, it
was a good opportunity to get her
in.”
It was.
In
her
small
opportunity,
Dennis showed enough to be given
another chance. Later that day,
Michigan played No. 22 South
Carolina, and Dennis was given a
bit more responsibility.
It was another relief situation
where the Wolverines were down,
but instead of only facing the final
batter, Dennis was handed the ball
with over an inning left to play.
She finished the one-and-a-
third innings of the game allowing
just one hit. Again, Michigan lost,
but Dennis had proven her ability
against a true opponent.
Hutchins had seen enough this
time to raise the stakes once more.
Sunday morning, Dennis was
given her first start.
“Getting my first start of course
got a little bit of the nervous juices
flowing,” Dennis said. “But I love
competing with my team, and
there was no doubt in my mind
that they had my back on defense.”
Dennis went through four-and-
a-third innings pitched allowing
six hits and one run with only
one strikeout. After Dennis put
two on in the fifth, Storako came
in to relieve and gave up a three-
run homerun, tacking two more
earned-runs onto Dennis’ total.
Her first start wasn’t perfect,
but Dennis knows that.
“I think I just need to work,”
Dennis said. “I think I could have
done better at getting ahead in the
count. I think I pitched to contact
a lot this week.”
On that, Hutchins and Dennis
are in lock-step. Where they aren’t,
is in whether the problems were as
isolated as Dennis seems to think.
“I think today’s performance
they got a lot of bat on the ball,”
Hutchins said. “We need to see
(Dennis) paint the corners.
“But to be fair, every one of
our pitchers has got to paint the
corners much better. All of our
pitchers are putting too much ball
over too much plate. And as you
see, we’ve given up too many big
hits and we need to dig in here.”
Despite
their
superior
experience,
starting
pitchers
Storako and junior left-hander
Meghan Beaubien threw similar
games to Dennis over the course
of the invitational.
This lackluster pitching no
doubt contributed to its 1-3 record
on the weekend. And while it is not
the result Hutchins would have
liked to see, it opened the door for
a third pitcher in the Wolverines’
rotation to show her worth.
“I think (Dennis) is really
capable of some great things,”
Hutchins said Jan. 28. “And I
think she needs to see herself as
great. She needs to have some
determination everyday and every
pitch — like all of them. They’re
always a work in progress.”
This weekend, Dennis made
her debut as a Wolverine. It wasn’t
perfect, but it was progress. And
that’s just what she needed.
When
something
doesn’t
work, you change it.
When it still doesn’t work, you
keep making changes in order to
find the solution.
Michigan
softball
was
searching for a solution this
past weekend. The problem: an
uncharacteristic lack of offensive
production. The solution: making
changes to the lineup.
Going into the weekend, the
Wolverines were averaging 5.22
runs per game, a respectable
number by any measure. But
in the first three games of
the
Gamecock
Invitational,
Michigan only managed to put
up two runs. Total.
“We didn’t do a real good job
at the plate of swinging well and
swinging free,” Michigan coach
Carol Hutchins said.
It was no coincidence that
in
those
three
games,
the
Wolverines suffered their first
two losses of the season. Their
only win on the weekend came
from a 1-0 victory over Liberty,
held together by pitching and
defense.
Hutchins
knew
something
needed to change.
“We moved people around as
we’re trying to find something
to spark our offense,” Hutchins
said.
Some sparks were found.
Senior Abby Skvarce found
a place in the batting order as
designated player and left fielder,
previously only getting a chance
as a pinch hitter. Skvarce hit .333
on the weekend in her new role.
Senior Thais Gonzalez was also
able to find success, producing
for Michigan wherever she was
placed in the lineup. Gonzalez
showed versatility by hitting in
the eighth, ninth and second spot
in the batting order over the four
game slate. The final game was
the one in which she took up the
most responsibility by batting
second, and still she produced,
batting 1-for-2 with one run in
the game.
Another notable adjustment
came from freshman second
baseman Julia Jimenez moving
into the lead-off position ahead
of struggling outfielder Lexie
Blair. The sophomore is hitting
just .175 this season — a stark
contrast to her .406 average a
year ago.
Here, the Wolverines may
have found one solution.
“Juju (Jimenez) I thought did
a really nice job,” Hutchins said.
“Juju didn’t make it any bigger
than it was. Which was, ‘I’m
batting.’ She doesn’t care when.”
Jimenez
echoed
Hutchins’
thoughts:
“I just have to be on my A-game.
No matter what happens, I just
have to keep rolling with it and
just do my best to stay up there.
Just help my team out.”
Skvarce,
Gonzalez
and
Jimenez were responsible for
10 of the team’s 20 hits on the
weekend as well as three of its
seven runs. Each member of
the trio — whether they were a
starter before this weekend or
not — found themselves in a new
position in the lineup. With their
new positions came new roles,
and they delivered.
That was the purpose of
Hutchins’
changes
—
move
players around and see what
works. So with Skvarce, Gonzalez
and Jimenez producing in new
spots,
one
could
reasonably
expect them to remain there.
For Hutchins though, it’s not
that simple. Because although
there were sparks, they didn’t
start a fire.
The
Wolverines
finished
the weekend 1-3, and they only
scored more than one run in
the final game. The trio made a
positive impact, but the entire
puzzle wasn’t complete.
“I don’t think there’s any
right answers or not,” Hutchins
said. “You know when our
offense definitely isn’t clicking,
it’s definitely difficult to know
who to put where. … We’re
going to continue to give people
different looks and different
opportunities.
“The people that can handle it
and compete when they’re called
upon are those who are going to
end up with it.”
New opportunities bring new
changes to the lineup. Hutchins
is prepared for that. She knows
that eventually, the lineup will
settle, but now is not that time.
Now,
Michigan
needs
solutions. And for solutions, it
needs change.
Freshmen must step up
New faces
Wolverines go 1-3 on weekend, trying different lineup combinations and throwing pitcher Chandler Dennis
NICHOLAS STOLL
Daily Sports Writer
NICHOLAS STOLL
Daily Sports Writer
JACOB COHEN
Daily Sports Writer
MILES MACKLIN/Daily
The Michigan baseball team is keeping its confidence high despite dropping a series to UConn last weekend.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Freshman second baseman Julia Jimenez moved into the lead-off spot.
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Freshman right-hander Chandler Dennis pitched in her first collegiate games over the weekeend as Michigan went 1-3.
JACK
WHITTEN
BASEBALL