Michigan plays assertively in win streak

The No. 25 Michigan baseball team is 

riding a five-game winning streak, which 

includes a series win over archrival Ohio State 

and a sweep at Minnesota. But the Wolverines 

still feel there’s room for improvement. 

 “I still don’t think we’re playing our very 

best baseball yet,” Michigan coach Erik 

Bakich said. “I still think there’s plenty of 

opportunity to get hot.”

Their best could still lie 

ahead, but by playing more 

assertively, 
Michigan 
has 

undisputedly heated up over 

the past five games.

Bakich 
saw 
a 
glaring 

weakness earlier in the season: 

complacency. 
Michigan 

often mirrored its opponents, 

trading scoreless innings and 

only scoring when trailing. It’s 

easy to overlook instances of 

this complacency because the 

result is usually a dramatic, 

late-inning victory. Consider the 10-inning 

win against Penn State on Mar. 27 — in which 

the Wolverines came back from a five-run 

deficit — or the 6-5 win against Maryland on 

Apr. 4, when the two teams traded runs and 

Michigan was simply the last to score. 

But sometimes, the strategy backfires and 

the Wolverines’ opponent is last to score. 

Such was the case in an 8-3 loss to Iowa 

on Mar. 7, when the Hawkeyes scored six 

unanswered runs in the final three innings, 

and a 10-inning, 3-2 defeat at Penn State on 

Mar. 26. 

Michigan has long been aware of these 

tendencies, but initially struggled to make a 

change.

“We can’t wait around to the ninth inning,” 

senior designated hitter Danny Zimmerman 

said on Apr. 5. The day before, the Wolverines 

trailed Northwestern 4-1 in the ninth but 

then loaded the bases for Zimmerman, who 

represented the winning run. He struck out.

“We can’t always win in the ninth; we’ve 

got to do it earlier.” 

Added Bakich on Mar. 22, after a 

comeback against Michigan State fell short: 

“You still have to have a sense of urgency 

each inning. You can’t just wait and expect 

that (a ninth-inning comeback) is always 

going to happen.”

Over the past five games, though, 

Michigan has played more assertively, 

scoring early, pitching well and keeping its 

opponent out of contention from the start. 

Its starters combined for a commanding 2.15 

ERA during that stretch. The bullpen never 

let the opponent back into any game. On 

defense, the Wolverines committed just four 

errors and turned 10 double plays. They also 

scored early and often, whether adding to a 

double-digit onslaught or sealing a win with 

a few insurance runs.

In the second game of last weekend’s series, 

when Michigan traded zeros with Minnesota 

for the first eight innings 

before breaking the scoreless 

tie with a four-run ninth, that 

complacency seemed to be back. 

But sophomore right-hander 

Cameron Weston contributed 

an assertive seven innings of 

shutout ball and junior right-

hander Willie Weiss earned the 

win with 1.2 innings in relief, 

striking out every batter he 

faced.

“It’s not always based on 

hitting,” Bakich said. “What 

Cam Weston and Willie Weiss 

did yesterday from the pitching side of things 

was very loud as well.”

The Wolverines are becoming assertive 

at the right time; they’ll need to play that 

way in upcoming matchups against Indiana 

and Nebraska, their two toughest opponents 

of the season, to keep their Big Ten 

championship hopes alive. 

“That’s what’s needed to be a successful 

team,” Bakich said. 

JACK WHITTEN
Daily Sports Writer

GRACE BEAL/Daily

While early in the season, the Wolverines relied on strong late-game 
performances, they’ve been scoring early and often in the past two series.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
 18 — Wednesday, April 21, 2021

‘M’ wins Big Ten title

On Saturday, the No. 3 Michigan field hockey 

team celebrated a senior class that had notched 

one postseason and three regular-season Big Ten 

titles, in addition to a Final Four appearance in 

2017. With such a decorated class being honored, 

the Wolverines were determined to send their 

seniors off with a win. 

They did just that. Michigan (10-2 overall, 6-0 

Big Ten) defeated Indiana (1-13, 4-3 Big Ten) 3-0, in 

a season-ending matchup designated as non-con-

ference due to COVID-19.

While the team’s final 

game at Phyllis Ocker Field 

was a celebration of the 

Wolverines’ departing vet-

erans, the younger players 

impacted the match early.

Freshman 
midfielder 

Pilar Oliveros scored the first 

goal of her Michigan career 

with about a minute remain-

ing in the first quarter. Redshirt junior forward 

Kate Burney extended the lead later on, netting her 

first of the season. Once again, the Wolverines were 

buoyed by the performance of its depth pieces.

“The Big Ten is a very difficult conference 

with some extraordinary teams, so being able to 

win the (regular season) championship has a lot 

to do with our depth,” Michigan coach Marcia 

Pankratz said. “We can really run two full lines of 

players and keep everybody fresh, so that versa-

tility has meant a lot and you can see it today with 

Pili and Burney getting those first goals.”

During the stretches of time between those 

two scores, the Wolverines continued to dominate 

the Hoosiers with possession but struggled to find 

the back of the net from scoring range. In physical 

matchups that leave many bodies in the scoring cir-

cle with more loose officiating on the field, frustra-

tions can mount. The Wolverines, however, stayed 

patient to eventually find both goals.

“Indiana’s goalie played a great game,” senior 

fullback Halle O’Neill said. “I mean, we had 29 

shots on goal and we only put in three, so I think 

she played out of her mind. When you’re getting 

opportunities like that, eventually a couple of 

them will go in and it doesn’t have to be pretty — 

but pulling out three goals 

when they played like that 

I think is still a good accom-

plishment.”

Michigan extended its 

lead with a third goal in the 

fourth quarter, notching a 

score off of a tip from the 

penalty corner by senior 

midfielder Kayla Reed. 

With an urgency to pre-

pare for bigger things ahead, the Wolverines 

sought to continue cleaning up their finishes on 

the attacking end in the closing minutes. While 

junior goalkeeper Anna Spieker never had to 

touch the ball, occasional chances to sharpen up 

on defense also emerged.

As the clock hit all zeros, Michigan sent its 

seniors off celebrating with the best parting gift 

possible: a Big Ten regular-season title. And in a 

hard-fought battle to find the scoring column, its 

tendency to stiff-arm adversity was at the center 

of it all.

JOEY GOODSIR
Daily Sports Writer

ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily

Michigan’s senior class has celebrated three regular-
season Big Ten titles during its four years in Ann Arbor, 
the last of which was clinched on Saturday night. 

SportsMonday: What we have

The last picture I have on my phone from 

inside The Michigan Daily newsroom is of 

a computer screen. I was laying out the last 

newspaper I ever made there. The headline 

on the top banner of the sports section reads, 

“THE END.”

In a normal place, with 

normal people, exporting 

that sports section at 1:05 

a.m. would’ve been the 

end for me too. I would 

have shut down the 

computer, gone home and 

retreated into months of 

quarantine.

But because The Daily is The Daily, that day 

— the day the world stopped — became one of 

my favorite college memories. For hours, long 

after the paper had been sent to the printer, we 

danced on tables, played cards and belted out 

Electric Love. One kid, who I’ll only name as 

Chunks, spent the evening eating cardboard 

and wearing an empty case of Bud Light over 

his head. The seniors hugged and cried, and I 

did too, because I knew it would be my last time 

seeing any of them as college students.

If I had been a little more prescient, I would 

have known to soak up the memories and take 

a picture or two for myself. Back then, though, 

we all assumed we’d be in the newsroom by 

September. So this week, when I went back to 

remember that night, I found my camera roll 

barren. The next photo after that last picture of 

InDesign is of an empty campus the next day, 

our new reality having already set in.

And yet, a year later, I’m not particularly 

upset I don’t have any pictures from that night. 

The memories and the friendships don’t need 

to be immortalized on a phone screen. I’ll 

remember them forever regardless.

As I searched for manufactured memories 

for this column, that’s the lesson I realized. 

None of the group pictures and planned events 

are what I’ll remember from college a decade 

from now. 

What I’ll remember is jumping in the 

Huron River in the middle of the night, soaked, 

shivering and laughing with my best friends. I’ll 

remember stuffing 11 people in a sedan on the 

way back from Denny’s because we didn’t want 

to pay for an Uber. I’ll remember going sledding 

in kayaks long after production had ended, even 

though I had an 8:30 the next day.

None of those moments fill up my camera 

roll or social media feeds. Just as importantly, 

none were planned more than a few minutes in 

advance.

As much as anything, that befits the last four 

years. For just about every freshman, going off 

to college is accompanied by some big dream 

manifested throughout their high school years.

For me, that dream was to major in statistics 

and work in an MLB front office. A major reason I 

chose to go to Michigan was its extracurriculars, 

but I was more focused on the sports analytics 

club than the student newspaper. 

Fortunately, my freshman year roommate 

joined the section, so I followed his lead and 

went to a mass meeting. But even when I 

started writing regularly as a freshman, 

eventually covering the baseball team, I never 

envisioned this. 

That summer, I had a conversation with 

Rian, a friend I’d met at The Daily, predicting 

our futures at the paper. I told him I was 

hopeful for a spot on the hockey beat, but that 

after sophomore year, I’d have to devote my 

attention to pursuits beyond journalism. He 

wanted to cover men’s basketball as a junior 

and football as a senior. 

Three years later, we’re still good friends. 

He’s been a fantastic editor but decided to 

pursue a career outside of journalism and 

didn’t do a beat after sophomore year. Instead, 

over the next few months, I was the one who 

fell headfirst into the career he had ordained 

for himself.

By my second semester, I was spending 

every moment I could at The Daily. I learned 

this strange “euchre” game I had never heard 

of. Even if it usually ended with Paige sticking 

a pair of 5s on her forehead in celebration, I 

played because it was an excuse to hang out 

with my new friends until the sun came up.

That spring will forever be the time I most 

associate with college. If, 70 years from now, I 

look back on it as the best time of my life, I won’t 

regret a thing.

But, like everyone in my grade, my college 

years will forever be inextricably tied to 

COVID-19. It’s easy now, with two weeks until 

graduation, to think about what the pandemic 

took from us. The Rick’s pushes we didn’t 

have, the stories we never told, the nights of 

production forced onto Zoom. 

Instead, though, I find myself thinking 

about what The Michigan Daily gave me 

over the past year. When online school felt 

meaningless, this job gave me a purpose. As 

a writer, I was able to tell the stories that gave 

Michigan fans an escape. As a leader of the best 

goddamn student sports section in the country, 

I was able to provide an outlet for freshmen 

entering an overwhelming campus with no 

in-person means of making friends.

On a personal level, The Daily gave me the 

group of eight friends that we turned into a 

social bubble from September to April. It may 

not have been the year anyone envisioned, but 

we laughed at Love It or List It, withstood some 

earth-shaking back cracks and got to watch 

Jared shotgun a Truly in Joe Pleasant’s name. 

And together, we got through it. As of 

this week, all nine of us are at least partially 

vaccinated. The end is finally in sight.

Equally close is the end of my college career. 

It would be easy to focus on that instead. The 

future is a scary thing. I’d be lying if I said I 

knew everything it holds.

It’d be easy, too, to focus on the year we 

didn’t have. When I look back on my camera 

roll, there won’t be photos from senior year 

inside 420 Maynard or at my last State News 

game. But I’ll always have the NYPD runs and 

the kayaking trips, the empty stadiums and the 

packed rental cars.

And that’s even better.

Mackie can be reached at tmackie@umich.

edu or on Twitter @theo_mackie. He wants 

to thank every person who’s made the last four 

years so special. That includes anyone who’s ever 

read one of his stories.

SportsMonday: Walls, memories and what The Daily means

Last October, Theo Mackie and I got 

invited to the newsroom one Friday morning 

to unpack boxes. It was great to get back in the 

building, but felt a little 

wrong that we needed 

someone to open a locked 

door to access a place that 

we spent most of college. 

That compounded once 

we got inside.

By 
some 
awful 

coincidence, The Daily 

redid its roof last summer, 

which meant that as we all sat locked in our 

homes, the newsroom had to be stripped bare 

of its personality. The posters and random odes 

to inside jokes long forgotten were packed in 

boxes, to avoid anything getting ruined by 

falling dust and debris. 

We were supposed to be there to do our best 

to put it back together.

I stressed about the cork boards next to the 

sports desk and the posters that went nearby. I 

wanted it to look and feel the same, but I could 

just draw from my memory. I taped Kevin 

Santo’s old ID to the cork board, next to Jake 

Lourim’s notebook and the Santa hat Tien Le 

took from Madison Square Garden. No one 

who returns there in the fall will have any real 

connection with those items, but part of me still 

worries they’re in the wrong place, next to the 

wrong thing.

I’d try to explain the significance of that, but 

that would require explaining the significance 

of The Daily. And despite having spent the last 

three years daydreaming about what I’d write 

in this column while bored in class or in the 

car, I’m still really struggling to do that. It’s less 

something I can articulate, but rather than a 

flood of memories crashing down. 

Nervous emails to Kevin and Betelhem 

Ashame and Max Marcovitch about joining 

months before school started, quickly fast-

forwarded to two years later, dropping 

everything to meet Max at Hunter House in 

the middle of the day to piece together an atom 

bomb dropped in the middle of our first month 

as Managing Sports Editors. A 3 a.m. phone 

call from Tien — “come play basketball” — then 

migrating to West Quad to hang out with Lily 

until the sun came up. Drives through the 

night that bleed together, with Max and Mike 

Persak, with Theo and Aria Gerson. Waiting 

for the building to clear out as production 

wound down so we could sit and play euchre 

until Paige set her timer to go home. Tapping 

idiots on the shoulder at a party and telling 

them to come to The Daily so maybe they’d 

eventually understand this place the way I do. 

Coming out of the closet and having my worst 

fears dissolve.

I never expected The Daily to be any of that 

for me. It was supposed to be a way to advance 

my career, to do sports journalism. The Daily 

would help get me there, and in the meantime 

I’d stay holed up in my room watching games. 

That was my plan for college. A standing 4 p.m. 

Sunday meeting was, at best, an inconvenience 

to be worked around. If I walked quickly, I 

could get back for kickoff of the next window 

of football games.

Then something funny happened. I 

started skipping NFL Sundays — and if you 

knew me at all at that age, you’d know that 

wasn’t a thing I ever did. I once made my 

poor mother drive an eight hour round trip in 

one day instead of staying the night because 

the place we were going didn’t have access 

to watch Monday Night Football. But here 

I was, at 5 p.m. on a Sunday, sitting at the 

sports desk with my back to the television, 

not caring about what I was missing.

When they ran for MSE, Mike and Orion 

Sang said they wanted The Daily to be a place 

people went when they didn’t need to be there, 

to do homework or just hang out. I took that to 

the greatest extent I could and started showing 

up every night. It was one of the best decisions 

I ever made, because the best memories 

originated from when I didn’t have to be there.

It was a little bit tempting to write this 

column about the pandemic, and I think 

there’s a part of every kid in college right now 

(or at least those among us with the extreme 

privilege that COVID-19 hasn’t touched our 

lives in a more direct way) that will always 

feel bitter over losing some percentage of the 

best time in our lives. But my overwhelming 

emotion from the last 13 months is a deep 

appreciation for everything I had in college 

beforehand, the memories I’ll always hang 

onto and those I made this year because of 

friends I met at The Daily. 

One of my fears is that, post-COVID-19, 

The Daily will change into a place people don’t 

go unless needed. Zoom is convenient. So is 

cutting down on print, doing less work and 

staying in so you can watch football or catch up 

on school. Caring about the minute details of 

the items surrounding the sports desk feels like 

a manifestation of that fear. 

I want people to get out of The Daily what I 

got out of The Daily, and that’s at least a small 

part of it I can control.

But that fear is, of course, completely 

irrational. The Daily works because people 

who come into it get more than just a place 

to build a resume, and nothing will change 

that. Whether the sports desk looks right 

to me or not doesn’t matter, because when 

people come back to the building and make 

their own memories, it will look right to 

them. 

And it will always look like home.

Sears can be reached at searseth@umich.edu 

or on Twitter @ethan_sears. He’s so grateful 

to everyone who made this such a rewarding 

experience. You can find his work this summer 

at the Los Angeles Times.

ETHAN 
SEARS

THEO 
MACKIE

Photo courtesy of the Sears Family.

Photo courtesy of Theo Mackie.

